COEUR d'ALENE — It's been exactly 75 years since Ray Garland was raising the colors on a calm morning aboard the USS Tennessee as a 19-year-old Marine when hell broke loose in Pearl Harbor.

"We never did get the flag raised," said the Coeur d'Alene man, the lone surviving member of the Lilac City Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association that had 125 members 25 years ago.

"I watched the Arizona (battleship) blow up, then the Oklahoma turned over. The West Virginia took the torpedoes and it would have turned over if it was not tied up to us. My ears have rung forever (due to the thunderous bombing). I still don't hear too good to this day."

Because he was topside when the onslaught arrived, Garland, 94, said he has been asked by several other Pearl Harbor survivors to describe the surprise attacks by Japanese aircraft that led to the United States' entry into World War II and killed 2,403 Americans. Many military personnel, he said, were down below and didn't witness the attacks.

The three ships that had the bulk of the casualties in the Hawaiian harbor were within 75 to 100 feet of the Tennessee.

"Tennessee was a lucky ship," Garland said, adding that it still sustained damage. "Our guns were pointed at Ford Island, so we couldn't shoot at anything. They weren't anti-aircraft guns; they were surface guns."

Garland said he was just finishing up the 4 a.m. to 8 a.m. watch when he saw dive bombers coming in from one side and torpedoes from the other.

"I looked back over my shoulder and I saw these planes coming in and this corporal says, 'Hey, turn around Garland,' so I turned around, and the next thing I knew, from about here to across the street, here comes a Japanese dive bomber. I could see the goggles of one of the (Japanese) pilots. They bombed all the airfields first."

During that fateful day in 1941, when the second attack came, Garland went below decks to grab a fire hose to fight off the flames. The blaze was so intense that it knocked him back and he suffered facial injuries.

"I couldn't see for a good 10 days," said Garland, whose eyesight returned. "That was the last thing I remembered. I spent several days in sick bay."

For his efforts, Garland received the first of his two Purple Heart medals.

"It was just part of the job — nothing heroic about it," he said. "We were trying to keep the burning oil away that was coming from the Arizona."

The other Purple Heart was for being shot in the leg during the Korean War.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Garland spent another 30 months at sea before returning home to Butte, Mont., and working in the mines. Later, he became a bomb disposal technician in the Marines and went on to serve in Korea, fighting at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.

Garland is happy to show visitors the man cave in the basement of his modest home that has his military medals, photos and certificates displayed along with the model airplanes he's built, hunting mounts, golf trophies and other memorabilia.

As a testament to his humble attitude, he gives his hole-in-one trophies and the account that he shot a deer, mountain goat and elk in the same day in Montana as much of a mention as the Bronze Star he earned in Korea for restoring a bridge so that comrades could escape danger after the structure had been damaged.

Today, for the 75th anniversary of the attacks at Pearl Harbor, Garland will attend a ceremony in Spokane with several family members. He'll reflect on the solemn reminder that he's the lone survivor of the local Pearl Harbor group and share other hard war facts.

Garland has visited Pearl Harbor twice in the past 75 years — for the 55th anniversary and four years ago.

"I had a chance to go back this year with my airfare paid, but I don't want to go back," he said. "I've seen enough salt water and sand, and I don't need to sit on a beach."

Garland said on many days he reflects on Pearl Harbor.

"I don't dwell on it, but it's there," he said. "It's always there."