Washington: Signalman 1st Class Bert Falardeau had just taken a sip of coffee in the radio hut of the USS Castor when the first wave of Japanese bombers screeched across Pearl Harbour.

"I remember the fellow standing next to me saying, 'They're not kidding around - you'd better go wake up the captain'," said Falardeau, now 85. As he raced through the ship, the bombers unleashed a torrent of fire that still reverberates through Falardeau's memory "like it happened yesterday. It's always seemed that way".

It was a sentiment echoed by the two other Pearl Harbour survivors who joined Falardeau on Sunday at a wreath-laying ceremony at the US Navy Memorial to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the attack, which claimed more than 2,300 American lives and prompted the United States to enter Second World War.

Rear Admiral Ted Walker, only 9 at the time, said he was more excited than frightened when explosions shook his Honolulu neighbourhood. While his father, a naval officer, drove off toward the harbour, Walker climbed onto the roof of his house to get a better view.

"We lived in such a benign world until then," Walker said. "We didn't even have violent movies. It just didn't occur to me what danger we were facing."

By contrast, the ramifications were immediately clear to retired Commander John Budzik, then a 25-year-old ensign. Budzik, now 91, said that at the first news of the attack, he and his bunkmates hailed a taxi to get from their on-shore quarters to the harbour. They arrived as the second wave of bombs hit.

"It was terrible. We saw the planes dive-bombing, we saw the ships going up in flames. More than anything it was just horribly frightening."

All three men said that as survivors, they felt a special responsibility to keep alive the memory of those who perished.

Wreath

"I feel very strongly that I represent them," said Budzik, who was chosen to stand a wreath of red and white flowers before the memorial's statue of the lone seaman as a Navy bugler played Taps. "It's the greatest honour anyone can receive."

Falardeau, who left the Navy after the war and worked in a photographic film plant before retiring to his hometown of Rochester, New York, recently completed a first novel based on his naval service.

"I wanted to let people know what we went through down there," he said. "Most books are about the officers. This is about the enlisted men. We're the guys that won the war."

Walker, who gave a short speech as part of the ceremony, said he also hoped to honour the sense of solidarity with which Americans responded to the attack. "For those of you who are in the audience and don't remember Pearl Harbour but do remember 9/11, just remember the unity of the American people after that terrible event," he told the crowd of several dozen onlookers.

"Double it or triple it and you will see what the impact of Pearl Harbour was on this nation."