New Delhi, May 25 -- On the day of the Pearl Harbor attack, the country's oldest living survivor of the Japanese bombing was far below deck helping repair one of the boilers of the USS St. Louis.

Freeman Johnson, who turned 106 in March, never witnessed the surprise attack. He never heard his shipmates firing anti-aircraft guns at the attacking planes - shooting down a torpedo plane. By the time he was topside, the St. Louis, a light cruiser, had evaded midget submarines and safely set out to sea.

"While all the rigamarole was going on topside, I was inside a steam drum. Couldn't see anything, absolutely nothing," said Johnson, a Centerville, Massachusetts, resident whose living room is filled with mementos and photos of his Navy servic...