The concrete warmup ramp for warplanes is cracked now, and kiawe encroaches on its edges. But for aging survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese aerial attack on Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, the old airfield’s heart still thrums.

Eugene Leonard, 98, was a Marine mechanic on guard duty when strafing planes winged through on the quiet Sunday morning. He was supposed to guard an ammunition shed across the runway, and he jumped into a flatbed truck to get there.

“When we got right in the center where the runways crossed, a fighter pilot came in and machine-gunned the pickup I was in,” Leonard said. “I jumped out and went to the area that was my work area. I knew there were some concrete holes there — and I jumped down in with the spiders and scorpions and everything else.”

John Hughes, now 97, alternated between helping to push undamaged aircraft away from burning ones, and taking shots at attacking Japanese planes with a Springfield bolt-action rifle.

“This area here was where all the airplanes were parked, lined up,” Hughes said at a commemoration Tuesday on the warmup ramp. “(The) Japanese came right down the runway, strafing the planes.”

Some of those strafing runs are still visible in the pocks that run across the concrete. Daniel Martinez, chief historian for the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, told more than 350 people who came out that Ewa Field “is a place that echoes history.”

“For those of us that pause and wonder what it was like — this field can speak to you. It can touch you, and in many ways, bring the past vaulting forward,” Martinez said.

There were about 49 aircraft at Ewa at the time of the Japanese attacks, including SBD Dauntless dive bombers and F4F Wildcat fighters, according to battlefield studies. Ewa served as the forward Marine Corps airfield in the Hawaiian Islands during World War II, shipping off planes and pilots to more remote locations around the Pacific.

At the time of the attack, Ewa Field was still under construction, and many of its operations were conducted out of tents.

Japanese planes that attacked Wheeler Field followed up with the raid on Ewa, historian John Bond said. Nine of 11 Wildcat fighters, 18 of 32 dive bombers, and other planes were lost on the ground as Marines fired back with Springfield rifles and handguns, battlefield studies state.

Four Marines were killed, along with two civilians. Thirteen Marines were wounded. Japanese planes were attacked over Ewa by celebrated Army pilots George Welch and Kenneth Taylor, who took off from Haleiwa Auxiliary Airfield in P-40 fighters.

The overgrown runways of Ewa Field remain in the northeast corner of the former Barbers Point Naval Air Station, unknown to most. Development came close to paving over the old base, and still threatens it, but what is also known as the Ewa Plain Battlefield was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 23.

“Long forgotten and almost overlooked, Ewa Field has recently found its rightful place in history,” retired Air Force Col. Garry Van der Veer said Tuesday.

Simon Nasario, 98, who was born and raised on nearby Ewa Plantation, also was at the commemorations. He had just completed basic training in the Army and was on his first weekend pass when the Japanese attacked Ewa Field. A bullet hit the front of his family’s house. Upon hearing that all military personnel were being ordered to report, Nasario hitched a ride up to Schofield Barracks in the back of a truck.

Hughes, who retired as a Marine major, said returning to Ewa Field “is a great experience in remembering our people that were there.”

“Seeing this massive damage that was done — it’s stuck in my mind ever since. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it,” he said. Hughes also said he has no ill feelings toward the Japanese.

American Veterans (AMVETS), a leading veterans service organization with more than 250,000 members, has become a key sponsor of the Dec. 7 commemorations. The ceremony included the laying of wreaths, a rifle salute and taps. Martinez noted that Ewa Field not only had a key role on Dec. 7, 1941, but also “played a critical role in the Battle of Midway.”

“For those of the ill-fated Torpedo Squadron 8 — they took off from here (while on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet),” Martinez said. “This was the last part of America they would ever see. Only one survived — George Gay. The rest of the squadron was wiped out in that climactic battle.”