[CNN] As bombs fell on Pearl Harbor during a shocking attack, transforming serene Hawaiian waters into a graveyard of twisted metal, burning wreckage and the roar of destruction, Earl “Chuck” Kohler did not hesitate to fight back.

He was 17 when Japanese bombers descended from the sky, killing 2,403 Americans and catapulting the United States into World War II. It was a brutal, unforgiving assault that left the US Pacific Fleet in ruins and the memory of that day seared into history as, in President Franklin Roosevelt’s words, “a date which will live in infamy.”

Kohler had disobeyed direct orders to shelter in a ditch and remain in place. Instead, he ran to retrieve ammunition. Armed and determined, he and his comrades fought fiercely to repel the second wave of Japanese bombers attacking Ford Island.