That’s Pearl Harbor survivor Bill Greenhouse’s description of Dec. 7, 1941.

And though I was talking to him at the Orange County Great Park I’m pretty sure he wasn’t commenting on the development plan at the old El Toro base. Just kidding. I don’t want to scratch at those scabs. I can’t believe people are still debating that issue seven or eight years later. Though it is worth noting that Greenhouse, who was assigned to the El Toro Marine Corps base in 1943, didn’t object to a regional airport at the base. The 94-year-old said he understands time marches on.

But there are much weightier issues on the minds of everyone, particularly our service men and women past and present, as Veterans Day approaches. For one thing we’re all wondering how we solve the increasing violence in Afghanistan — troop surge or withdrawal? But even more present on our minds is this week’s massacre at Fort Hood in Texas where Major Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 and wounding many more. The violence brought back memories of Greenhouse’s brother.

“I had a brother killed at Fort Hood,” he said, referring to his sibling Arthur who died in 1944 doing tank maneuvers at the base. The tank turned over and he was run over by a truck, Greenhouse said.

“He was 22 years old with two children,” he said.

I asked him what he thought of speculation from investigators that Hasan, a psychiatrist, snapped in part after counseling veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“We never heard of psychology” during World War II, Greenhouse said. “There was no such thing as mental illness. If someone was acting a bit strange someone would talk to him, that’s it.”

To understand that sort of thinking you have to appreciate this man, who still has an iron grip when he shakes hands, made it through Pearl Harbor and the battle of Guadalcanal. He caught malaria at Guadalcanal and got shipped to El Toro where he was stationed for six months.

The West Texas native couldn’t believe his eyes when he got to California.

“I thought this must be the most beautiful place in the world,” after he saw the orange groves, the avocado trees and the bean fields, Greenhouse said.

When he got out of the service he studied aviation in Chicago for a year and returned to Los Angeles. Today he lives in Fallbrook and jokes, “I signed a 100-year contract. I plan to renew it.”

The Great Park folks honored Greenhouse and hundreds of other veterans today in their second annual Veterans Day tribute to the El Toro base and its service men and women.

I tagged along with Mona who was there to help one of her clients, Elliott and Cathy Pavlos, the owners of Lucca Cafe, serve up the grub to the veterans. Cathy told us she likes to serve the food at this and other events for veterans because they do a job no one else wants to do that too often goes unappreciated. Amen to that. We pay a lot of lip service to our veterans — it’s pretty common now to hear folks tell a veteran, “Thank you for your service,” but it’s great when we go a little further to express our gratitude.

Marines present the colors

Mona mugs next to the vintage cars on display (isn’t she cute?)

Torch singer leads the big band (where are the other two Andrews Sisters?)

Where’d I get that Clint Eastwood scowl? Oh yeah, I lost my sunglasses.

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