On Dec. 7, 1941, Staff Sgt. Alvis Taylor, an 18-year-old Army medic stationed at Schofield Barracks, literally plunged into the horror of war when he jumped into the waters of Pearl Harbor to retrieve the dead and dying.

Seventy-two years later, Taylor, now 90, could finally bring himself to return for the first time to the scene of that horrific day, the images of which have continued to haunt him.

"I just couldn’t do it," said the retired Army major from Davenport, Iowa. "I didn’t say a word about this to anybody until 2002."

Taylor was one of 50 Pearl Harbor survivors to attend Saturday’s ceremony to commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Oahu, and one of an estimated 2,000 to 2,500 still living.

Taylor recalls 37 ambulances went to Pearl Harbor, transporting 19 people to Schofield for brain surgeries, and countless dead to Wheeler and Hickam fields and to the morgue.

Unlike Taylor, 94-year-old retired Chief Petty Officer Bill Hendley, of Wilmington, N.C., has returned to Pearl Harbor every year for the past 17 years, alone for the past 12 years since his wife, Ila, died.

"I come in memory of my best friends that I lost," said Hendley, who served on the USS Oklahoma. "We lost a lot of friends in the boiler room. I keep them in mind every time I come."

Hendley’s eyes welled with tears as he recounted the calm and bravery of Chief Petty Officer Francis Day, who "pushed eight guys out the portholes," but who went down with the ship.

"He was so calm, knowing full well he was too heavy to get out," since no hatches were open below deck, and the portholes were the only way out when the ship capsized, Hendley said. "I thought about him all these years."

Hendley had been placed in charge of the ship’s No. 5 Fire Room (boiler room) when the chief boiler technician went on leave to get a divorce. The man returned just two weeks before the attack.

Had the attack occurred earlier, Hendley would have been trapped inside the boiler room.

"If he hadn’t gotten back from his divorce, I wouldn’t be here today," he said.

Saturday’s ceremony included a 10-second whistle from the guided missile destroyer USS Halsey, which began a moment of silence, and ended with a flyover by a World War II vintage aircraft — a 1944 North American SNJ-5B.

Kahu Kauila Clark performed a chant and the Rev. Kakuhan Enami, with the Japan Religious Committee for World Federation, prayed aloud for peace and forgiveness.

Keynote speaker Max Cleland, secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, received a standing ovation for his personal story, told with great detail, humor and emotion, of his father, assigned to shore patrol in Aiea Barracks after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Cleland’s voice broke with emotion as he recounted his father’s return from Pearl Harbor on Dec. 8, 1945, and his mother declared, "Daddy’s home."

"For all the Pearl Harbor survivors, thank you for teaching us all how to survive, how to not just survive, but how to ultimately thrive in life," said Cleland, himself a veteran who lost his legs and part of his right arm in the Vietnam War. "I am the direct beneficiary of the greatest of the great generation."

Hundreds attended the ceremony from all over the country and the world, including Finnish army Maj. Jan Haavista, who listened intently to the survivors’ stories. Some asked for autographs from the survivors, while others posed for photos with them.

World War II buff Thomas Fischer, of Billings, Mont., attended the ceremony, topping off the celebration of his 40th birthday on Dec. 6, and was excited to visit the USS Arizona.

He said the speech by Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was "very moving" and wished "all of our children could hear his speech and understand why we fight for the freedoms we have."

His wife, Elizabeth, called the ceremony "emotional and powerful," adding, "Not that we didn’t already, but it made us appreciate the survivors."

Ewalt Shatz, a 90-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor who got bumped off a United Airlines flight on his way to Hawaii from California, arrived in time for the ceremony.

"It really turned out nice," he said.