Burdell S. Hontz was born in May 1922 in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. He gradated high school in Pen Argyl in 1939 and decided to join the service. The following year he elisted and was sent to Camp Upton, Long Island, New York for his basic training. In November 1940, he recieved orders to report to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he boarded the USAT Republic for transportation to Hawaii. Upon arriving in Hawaii, Hontz was assigned to the 17th Air Base Group. After joining the 17th Air Base Group, Hontz attended clerical school and worked for a time in the base library. After the 11th Bomb Group was formed, Hontz was assigned to that unit's Headquarters Squadron [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group]. Hontz had arrived in Hawaii in November 1940 and spent nearly his entire time in Hawaii at Hickam Field [Annotator's Note: now Hickam Air Force Base, part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam]. Hawaii was good duty. They had weekends off and there was a lot to do in their down time. On Saturdays, the entire group would line up for inspection. Though the war taking place in Europe was rarely a topic of conversation, a few weeks prior to the attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941], Hontz was assigned to Fort Kamehameha and put on a machine gun crew. He returned to Hickam Field on 6 December [Annotator's Note: 6 December 1941]. While at Hickam FIeld, Hontz worked in the group message center so he was aware of what was going on around him. On Saturday's, they would go to Pearl Harbor for the band concerts taking place aboard the battleships.

After he was assigned to the 11th Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group], Burdell S. Hontz could see Pearl Harbor from his barracks room at Hickam Field. On 7 December [Annotator's Note: 7 December 1941], a squadron-mate from Nebraska named Leon asked Hontz what was going on outside. When Hontz replied that the aircraft they were seeing were Japanese, Leon took off. At the time of the Japanese attack, Hontz would usually be at breakfast but something, perhaps "the Man Upstairs", caused him to not go at his usual time that morning. He was making his bed when the attack began. More than 30 men were killed in the mess hall when it was hit. Hontz could see the smoke rising from Pearl Harbor. Things were happening so fast that he did not know what to think. When Hontz returned from Fort Kamehameha the previous day [Annotator's Note: Hontz had been temporarily assigned to a machine gun crew at Fort Kamehameha for about two weeks before returning to Hickam Field the day before the attack], he and the others had turned their rifles in to the supply room. On 7 December they broke into the supply room, took guns and ammunition, and began firing at the planes. Some of the men also fired on the B-17s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] that, working in the message center, Hontz knew were coming in. When Hontz first arrived in Hawaii, his unit had B-18s [Annotator's Note: Douglas B-18 Bolo medium bomber] and they were to get the first B-17s. The planes at Hickam were all lined up like they were out for Saturday inspection and the Japanese just flew down the line shooting them. After the start of the attack, Hontz went outside to see what was going on. The Japanese were still attacking the airfield at the time. It was somewhat chaotic. Hontz does not recall what he did for the rest of the day after the attack but thinks he returned to his barracks.

Burdell S. Hontz does not recall what the base [Annotator's Note: Hickam Field, now Hickam Air Force Base which is part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam] looked like the day after the attack [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 December 1941]. The building Hontz was housed in at the time of the attack is still standing and evidence of the battle can still be seen to this day. There were 35 guys killed while they were having breakfast [Annotator's Note: in the 11th Bombardment Group mess hall]. It was quite some time before Hontz and the others in his group were allowed off base. When they were finally allowed out, they went into downtown Honolulu. Hontz does not recall any official announcement from senior officers explaining what had taken place at Pearl Harbor. Hontz remained in his duty position [Annotator's Note: in the Headquarters Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group message center] until July 1942 when the group got orders to ship out. At that point, he was part of a 100 man forward echelon that was sent to the New Hebrides. There, they lived in tents and had foxholes dug next to them to protect against Japanese air attacks. Hontz served as a clerk his entire time in the service. While deployed, he spent all of his time in headquarters with the colonels and general. Whenever General Saunders [Annotator's Note: US Army Air Forces Brigadier General Laverne G. Saunders] went to New Zealand he would bring whiskey back with him and would lock it in the field safe and some of the guys in headquarters would get into it. Hontz was not a drinker. Some guys would drink anything they could, including de-icer fluid.

Burdell S. Hontz and his unit [Annotator's Note: Headquarters Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group] were shipped back to Hawaii in December 1943 at which time Hontz was asked if he wanted to finish out his enlistment with the 11th Bomb Group or return to the United States and be assigned to a new unit. Hontz opted to return to the United States. After reporting to the depot in Salt Lake City, he was given a 30 day leave after which he was assigned to the 396th Bomb Group [Annotator's Note: 396th Bombardment Group] in Moses Lake, Washington. When they were able to take leave they would go to Spokane or Seattle. They then went from Washington to Florida. Again, Hontz was selected to be part of the forward echelon. It was his first ride in a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. They flew from Moses Lake, Washington to Rapid City, South Dakota where they were held up by bad weather Then they continued on to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois where they were again held up by bad weather. They finally arrived at Drew Field in Tampa, Florida where Hontz spent the remainder of the war. Even though he had enough points to be discharged by the time he arrived in Florida, he decided to stay in and was not discharged until September 1945. He left the service with the rank of Tech Sergeant [Annotator's Note: Technical Sergeant, E-7]. After being out for about a year, Hontz decided to enlist in the Enlisted Reserve Corps because he would be able to retain his rank if he were called up for duty. He went into the Reserve and served with the 9544th Air Reserve Squadron [Annotator's Note: probably the 9544th Air Reserve Recovery Squadron based in Allentown, Pennsylvania]. Hontz spent 15 years in the Reserves which gave him 20 years of service total and eligible for a pension. Hontz was called up for the Korean War but when he requested to be released from active duty his request was approved so he did not have to go.

Burdell S. Hontz was a witness to one of the most historical days in this nation's history [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, 7 December 1941]. He was at Drew Field in Tampa, Florida when the war ended. While serving at Drew Field, he met a WAC [Annotator's Note: a member of the Women's Army Corps] from Allentown [Annotator's Note: Allentown, Pennsylvania] named Elizabeth Taylor and they became friends. When they would go on leave, her father would pick them up then Hontz would ride the train back. Hontz has been back to Pearl Harbor a few times since the war. He was even once able to go back up into the same building he was in at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor. While he was stationed at Hickam Field [Annotator's Note: now Hickam Air Force Base, part of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam] he kept a scrap book about the base. When he left to go to the Pacific, he left the scrap book in his barracks on Hickam and he never saw it again. Hontz sees a lot of changes to Hawaii since the war. Hontz still has no good feelings toward the Japanese. While serving in the 11th Bomb Group's [Annotator's Note: Hontz served as a clerk in the Headquarters Squadron, 11th Bombardment Group message center] building at Hickam Field, everything they needed was inside the building. They had a mess hall, barber shop, and most other amenities. He had transferred to the 11th Bomb Group from the 17th Air Base Group and had been living in fairly rustic conditions. Hontz lost two good friends on 7 December [Annotator's Note: during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941], one of who was from Philadelphia. While serving in the South Pacific, Hontz worked in group statistics tracking bombing runs. Hontz was never able to locate anyone who lives near him who was in Hawaii at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack but he did encounter a guy named Wehlan Getz [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] who he had serve in Florida with. Hontz really feels sorry for the guys who served in Europe on D-Day [Annotator's Note: the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944] and in the winter.