“Girls, get into your uniforms at once! This is the real thing!” Navy Capt. Ruth Erickson, a nurse stationed at Naval Hospital Pearl Harbor, recalled being told. It was Dec. 7, 1941.

The Sunday morning started as a clear, quiet day, but the skies quickly darkened as smoke rose from burning ships. Confusion and fear filled the air as enemy planes dove to begin what would become one of the worst attacks in American history. Medical staff and civilians prepared for the inevitable influx of wounded. Erickson put on her uniform and dashed across the street through a shrapnel shower and waited with a few doctors to gain access to the facilities.

“I felt like I were frozen to the ground, but it was only a split second,” said Erickson in an interview for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED)’s oral history program.

Now, 75 years later, the Military Health System honors the anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in recognition of all service members, civilians and medical staff who bravely manned their post that day.

André B. Sobocinski, a historian for BUMED, said one of the biggest takeaways from the Pearl Harbor attacks is the notion of readiness and being able to handle an unexpected medical crisis.

“Readiness is certainly a concept that we take pride in at Navy Medicine,” said Sobocinski, “It is certainly something that the attack on Pearl Harbor offers a fine example of. Our medical staff really shined that day.”

By 1941, Pearl Harbor had a large medical community that included hundreds of well-trained hospital corpsmen, dentists, physicians and nurses. It was also home to the U.S. Naval Hospital, two mobile hospitals and the hospital ship USS Solace, as well as dispensaries at naval and Marine air stations nearby.

When the attack began, hospital beds were cleared and many patients discharged in order to make room for the growing number of casualties. Aid stations and field hospitals were set up and supplied in the area as casualties were being collected and transported to medical facilities.

By 8:25 a.m., the first patient arrived at the naval hospital. Operating teams and burn units went to action. A Navy physician, recovering from his own major surgery, got up and returned to duty to work on incoming patients. Soon, burn patients streamed into the hospital.

“The experiences we had treating these burn patients and flash burn injuries truly inspired the Navy Medical Department to explore new treatments for burns and also pioneer special protective gear and clothing used in World War II,” said Sobocinski. Roughly 60 percent of the casualties seen that day were treated for burns.

As medical staff on land tended to the wounded, those left fighting on ships did what they could to tend to the injured. Harold Mainer, 20 years old at the time, was standing on the main deck of the light cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) when Japanese planes swooped in. Three bombs fell nearby. Everyone ran to their battle stations. The Helena was hit by a torpedo, but a neighboring ship took the brunt of the blast. Mainer was soon given orders to wash the deceased off the deck.

“We did what we had to do. We all did what we could to help the wounded on the ship” said Mainer, now 95 years old. “During the battle, we were trying to get the wounded onto the beach to get them to the hospital and take care of the dead as best as we could.”

The attack left 2,403 military personnel and civilians dead, including 26 hospital corpsmen, two Navy dentists and two Navy physicians.

In the days to follow, Mainer and countless others took part in the grueling recovery efforts – picking up the dead and injured, and transporting them to hospitals.

“This is really a national tragedy and something that we will always remember,” said Sobocinski. “Pearl Harbor represents this notion of resilience, which is a key component of the American character and thematic of the historical narrative of this country. Not only did we survive this devastating attack, we came back stronger.”