Seventy years ago, two local Navy men, unknown to each other and serving on separate ships, were attacked by the same kamikaze suicide plane at the battle of Okinawa.

On April 2, 1945, Howard Cederlund, 88, of Wiscasset was a gunner’s mate aboard the USS Menard when a kamikaze attacked just after midnight.

“We fired at it, but it barely missed us, going over the deck and hitting the USS Achernar directly behind us,” said Cederlund.

George Hanna, 90, of Round Pond, was on the Achernar manning a 20 mm gun when the plane hit. The resulting explosion killed five crew members and injured 41, but Hanna was not hurt, and his ship, although severally damaged and on fire, was saved.

“I watched that kamikaze come at us, and I thought we’d had it,” Hanna recalled.

Neither man knew each other, and it was not until a few years ago that a strange twist of fate had them meet in Damariscotta. They learned then that they had both been in the same place, at the same time, during that horrific attack during the battle of Okinawa.

During the weeks that followed the war’s end, both men continued with their service. Cederlund recalled, with some regret, missing the jubilant celebrations at home, as his ship was assigned to bringing back returning troops.

“I never enjoyed all the cheers and flag-waving as the Menard was busy getting the boys back from the Pacific area,” he said.

But both men agree, as the 70th anniversary of the war’s end is celebrated this year, that they will remember it another way: “The war was over, we had done our job, and we were alive.”