Pearl Harbor Attack Survivor Remembers the Day

Pete Petiprin was there the day America was plunged into the Second World War and he was close by on the day Japan surrendered.

He's 101 now and lives in Winter Park. His son Eric Petiprin, is like his father, a Navy veteran.

An order to demagnetize his ship, The USS Helm, had the ship underway December 7, 1941, before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Not long before that, the ship was buoyed next to the Battleship Arizona. More than a thousand men on that battleship died that day.

Pete Petiprin fought many wars in the Pacific and the Navy Captain's uniform that his son says he will be buried in bears an Asiatic-Pacific ribbon with stars to recognize the 13 major battles he fought in in the Pacific.

Petiprin wants to be remembered as someone who proudly fought for his country and won.