America in WWII Special 2011 - Winter

PEARL HARBOR

STORIES 1941-2011 A 70TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL LIMITED EDITION

From the Editors of

AM E RICA I N

WWII

DAY OF

INFAMY , What it was like to be there when a brutal attack swept America into World War II

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PEARL HARBOR STORIES FLASHBACK

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NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

O F F I C E O F WA R I N F O R M AT I O N

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ARTIST: ALLEN SAALBURG

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The Calm before the Storm

The Forgotten One, painting by Tom W. Freeman

December 7, 1941: Day of Infamy

On a quiet Sunday morning, US servicemen relaxed in and around Oahu’s Pearl Harbor. A few hours later, they were either casualties or survivors, and America was at war. By Tom Huntington

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Thunder Fish

The torpedoes that wreaked havoc on December 7 were ingeniously designed to deliver maximum devastation in Pearl Harbor’s shallow waters. By Daniel A. Martinez

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Midget Subs to the Attack

As Japan’s warplanes roared over Pearl Harbor, another deadly menace targeted the American ships from beneath the waves. By Burl Burlingame

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The Fallen

A staggering 2,390 Americans died in the attack of December 7, 1941, and the events that surrounded it. Here are their names.

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Lone Survivor

Painting by Jack Fellows

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Ghosts of Pearl Harbor

Photos and artifacts in the collection of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and Museum are eerie reminders of lives interrupted by violence.

The News Hits Home

Word of the shock attack in Hawaii hit the mainland American public like a tidal wave. Suddenly, the “sleeping giant” was awake. By Carl Zebrowski

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Reactions Under the Rising Sun

To the naval officers of Imperial Japan, the Pearl Harbor attack was hard-hitting proof of Japan’s military might. But a success…? By J. Michael Wenger

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The Resurrection Fleet

Japanese torpedoes wrecked 21 US ships in Pearl Harbor. But amazing salvage efforts put nearly all of those ships back in action in World War II. By Joe Razes

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Remember Pearl Harbor!

Americans in 1941–1945 had a good reason to go to war. And everywhere they turned, something reminded them: Remember Pearl Harbor!

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Voices of December 7

For the Americans who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, remembering was—and for some, still is—painful. But forgetting was never an option.

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Fact Versus Fake

No moment in history would be complete without conspiracy theories and legends—especially not a moment as important as December 7, 1941. By Amanda Elise Carona

departments 1 FLASHBACK 4 INTRODUCTION 6 JAPAN’S PACIFIC BLITZ: The Rising Sun sets Asia and the Pacific ablaze 84 HISTORY, MEET HOLLYWOOD: Pearl Harbor movies 90 PEARL HARBOR TODAY: Where to find traces of December 7 96 THE DAY AFTER: The Sleeping Giant Awakens COVER SHOT: The battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) collapses, burns, and sinks after the explosion of her forward magazines at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

THIS SPREAD: If America needed provocation to join the war against the Axis, here it was: Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, with (from left) USS West Virginia (106 dead), USS Tennessee (5 dead), and USS Arizona (1,177 dead) ravaged by Japanese attacks. NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

PEARL HARBOR

STORIES A Special 70th Anniversary Collector’s Edition from the editors of

AM E RICA I N

WWII

PEARL HARBOR

STORIES A special publication of AMERICA IN WWII magazine

www.americainwwii.com EDITORIAL EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

The Bolt from the Blue LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES, young men and women busy themselves with finding a tolerable way to make a living so they can concentrate on the important thing: romance. For most of them, the natural process of maturation leads from romance to marriage, kids, and, ideally, a happy and long life.

James P. Kushlan MANAGING EDITOR AND WEBMASTER

Carl Zebrowski ASSISTANT EDITOR

Terry W. Burger ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR

Jeffrey L. King ASSISTANT GRAPHIC ARTIST

Victoria Brobst EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Gabrielle R. Kushlan ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

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PO Box 4175, Harrisburg, PA 17111-0175 717-564-0161 (phone and fax) [email protected]

ADVERTISING Sales Representative

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CIRCULATION Circulation and Marketing Director

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310 PUBLISHING, LLC CEO Heidi T. Kushlan EDITORIAL DIRECTOR James P. Kushlan

Copyright © 2011 by 310 Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission of the publisher. Contains some content previously published in America in WWII magazine, copyright 310 Publishing LLC © 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 & 2010, used with permission.

That’s just what America’s young people had in mind as they came of age in the brightening days after the hard-knocks Depression. Jobs were available, life was better, things were looking up. What these young people didn’t realize, however, was that not everyone in the world felt so sanguine about things. In Germany, people had felt crushed and humiliated after a failed empire grab and defeat in the Great War. Their despair became fertile soil for a pathological political movement to grow, and by the 1930s, a new Germany was back at war. Americans didn’t want anything to do with another war. Who could blame them? They preferred to let Europe fight its own battles. But seeing Allies such as France and especially Great Britain being pounded by merciless aggressors ate at Americans. Before long, the United States was offering its allies material support that blurred the boundaries of neutrality. While isolationist groups such as the enormous America First Committee (800,000 members at its peak) advocated butting out of Europe’s troubles, the United States began preparing for seemingly inevitable involvement in the war. By October 1940, men were being drafted into the military. The final shove, however, came not from Europe, but from an ultra-militarized island empire whose leaders aspired to dominate Asia. Back in the 1850s, Commodore Matthew C. Perry had used naval supremacy and cutting-edge weapons to threaten Japan into grudgingly opening relations and trade with the United States. Imperial Japan eagerly embraced Western weapons and technology, and nine decades later she was making threats and demands of her own. Perry’s meddling republic would soon learn it had no place in the up-and-coming Asian empire. To the thousands of American men and women in uniform on Hawaii’s island of Oahu, 1941 was a time to enjoy being young and alive in one of earth’s most beautiful settings. Sure, they were there to operate the island’s fleet, harbor, bases, and air stations—to be a deterrent to any rash action by Japan. But what they hoped was to enjoy Hawaii on Uncle Sam’s ticket, finish their enlistments, and go home with stories to tell—perhaps even a husband or wife. None of them expected what happened on December 7, 1941. Like a true bolt from the blue, Japanese planes tore through Oahu’s skies to annihilate ships, planes, buildings, and 2,390 human beings. On the USS Arizona alone, 1,177 men died. Americans discovered a mixture of grief and outrage unlike anything they had felt before (or would feel again until September 11, 2001). With the people who died on December 7, a dream of life, love, and happiness almost died, too. But instead of surrendering to despair, Americans stood up, stepped forward, and took action—action that helped save the world.

Pearl Harbor Stories and America in WWII magazine do not endorse and are not responsible for the content of advertisements or letters to the editor that appear herein.

www.americainwwii.com Printed in the USA by The Ovid Bell Press Distributed by Curtis Circulation Company

Jim Kushlan Editor and Publisher, Pearl Harbor Stories

Japan’s

Pacific Blitz Bent on building an empire,

Japan went on a fiery rampage in December 1941— not only at Pearl Harbor, but across Asia and the Pacific. by Brian John Murphy

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DECEMBER 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor was horrific and crushing. The United States Pacific Fleet was crippled in a matter of two hours. As big as that was, however, it was only the beginning. The Pearl Harbor raid was just one part of the Japanese plan for the day, the centerpiece of a comprehensive assault on the United States and Great Britain. Japan had planned its day of attacks to address several tactical and strategic goals in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. Japan was going to war because its supply of oil from the United States had been embargoed; the island nation needed to clear the way to replace American petroleum with oil from the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). Tactical and strategic threats to that new oil supply, posed by the US Commonwealth of the Philippines, had to be addressed, too. American outposts such as Guam and Wake Island had to be converted into Japanese strongholds to guard the eastern approaches of the expanding empire. The British could not be allowed to hold on to their base at Hong Kong in southern China. The tin and rubber produced in Malaya were required for the war effort, and the threat of the British military base in Singapore had to be eliminated. This was a lengthy and ambitious list. The Japanese army, navy, and air force would have to be everywhere at once and attack in a coordinated manner so that the HE

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enemy powers could not simply shift resources from point to point to meet the emerging crises. The Japanese had to put all the Allied holdings in jeopardy simultaneously, largely by using air power to fix the enemy in place. The Japanese hardly disguised their intentions as December 7 approached. Planes from Japanese-held Formosa (present-day Taiwan) scanned the Philippine coast and even flew over some strategic locations, drawing no armed response from the US air forces stationed on the island of Luzon. Guam was also the site of curious Japanese air reconnaissance; again there was no response. Guam got into the war when it was struck by an island-wide Japanese air raid on December 8. (Guam and many other Pacific islands, along with Japan, are on the other side of the International Date Line from Hawaii and the continental United States. Hence, what was December 7 east of the line was the 8th west of it.) The capital city of Agana was hit. Among the places struck was the Pan American hotel at Orote Point, where two workers were killed. The USS Penguin offered antiaircraft resistance, but to little avail. One ensign was killed and the ship was subsequently scuttled. The Japanese planes returned the next day to hit military targets and the Pan American air terminal. To completely neutralize the island required an invasion. Fortunately for Japan,

US forces on Guam were completely inadequate. There were only 547 sailors, marines, and other guardians, all of whom were lightly armed. On December 10 they were pitted against about 5,900 Japanese army and naval landing force troops commanded by Major General Tomitara Hori. After a brief resistance, Guam surrendered at 7 A.M. About 10 Filipino divisions with about 100,000 men and about 30,000 Americans defended the Philippines. All were under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, who divided his forces on Luzon into two major commands. Major General Jonathan Wainwright commanded the

WWW.GEORGETOWNBOOKSHOP.COM

In an early-war propaganda piece, a stern Japanese soldier drives meddling Western powers out of Asia, slashing the tentacles off octopi that symbolize US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

northern Luzon force, and Major General George Parker commanded the force that defended the southern and eastern portions of the island. Major General Lewis Brereton, head of the US Far East Air Force in the Philippines, was warned by a message from US Army Air Forces commander Major General Hap Arnold not to let his force be caught napping if the Japanese attacked. Brereton had under his command the largest force of B-17s outside the United States—35 bombers—and 107 P-40 War-

hawk fighter escorts. Even though there was also a large number of obsolete craft, the force as a whole was an invaluable resource if the United States hoped to hold on to the Philippine islands. Brereton was warned specifically not to be caught with planes on the ground. The idea of a preemptive attack on Formosa was proposed, but MacArthur insisted that no attack be launched unless the Japanese fired on the Philippines first, an idea that left Brereton aghast. The Japanese were going to be allowed to strike first.

War came to the Philippines only hours after the Japanese finished with Pearl Harbor. Brereton’s pilots heard rumors about what had happened in Hawaii, but they were never sent on defensive patrols, much less to attack Formosa. Instead, at 12:35 P.M. on Monday, December 8, the Japanese caught the American planes on the ground. They struck with 196 planes. Anti-aircraft defenses were poor, and the Japanese had a field day. The sitting-duck bombers and fighter planes were almost completely wiped out. (Surviving aircraft PEARL HARBOR STORIES 7

NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

A banner headline announces Japan’s multi-pronged Pacific onslaught in the late city edition of the New York Times on December 8, 1941.

and crews that escaped to Australia were later organized into the Fifth Air Force). The Japanese were quick to follow up their victory with ground force landings. They took the island of Batan on December 8 and two days later the 14th Japanese army, under General Masaharu Homma, landed on Luzon. The defense forces on Luzon had a preexisting plan to retreat to the Bataan peninsula, north of Manila, and hold out there and on the nearby island of Corregidor until relief forces from the States arrived. Unfortunately, no relief forces were available, and the battleships to escort them were on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. Wainwright’s forces on Luzon nonetheless did a superb job holding back Homma’s army while the southern force under Parker marched north to link up with them for the defensive holdout at Bataan. “Again and again, these tactics would be repeated,” MacArthur later wrote. “Stand and fight, slip back and dynamite.” Once 8

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inside their Bataan redoubt, the AmericanFilipino forces gave ground only grudgingly. Not until the end of April 1942 would Bataan fall, and it would be early May before the Japanese took Corregidor. With the fall of Corregidor would come the surrender of US forces in the Philippines, but their prolonged resistance would inspire the Allied war effort.

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great inspiration from the heroic resistance on Wake Island, another first-day target of the Japanese. Wake was on Japan’s hit list because it would make a good base on the eastern perimeter of the developing Pacific empire and because the US base there threatened Japanese control of the Marshall Islands. Wake was also home to a squadron of F4F Wildcat fighters, marine squadron VMF 211, under the command of Major Paul Putnam—another threat that had to be eliminated. MERICANS ALSO TOOK

It was still early morning on December 8 when word of the Pearl Harbor attack reached the V-shaped atoll. In charge of the defenses there were navy Commander Winfield S. Cunningham and marine Major James P.S. Devereux, commanding officer of the Wake detachment of the marines’ 1st Defense Battalion. On hearing of the Pearl Harbor raid, Devereux called his marines to arms. Batteries were manned and stocked with ammunition, small arms were passed out, and planes took off on patrol. Sailors and marines dug emplacements and beefed up defenses with help from civilian construction workers from the Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) seaplane base, which shared the island. Some of the civilian workers volunteered to serve in combat and were issued small arms. Devereux met with his officers and warned them that Oahu had been attacked and that Wake could expect the same treatment at almost any moment. The first Japanese attack was launched from an airbase at Roi in the nearby Marshall Islands: 34 Mitsubishi G3M2 Type 96 land attack planes (known as Nells) took off at 7 A.M. on December 8, approaching the Wake atoll from the south just before noon. The island had no radar and relied on lookouts to either see the enemy or hear his approach. But the roaring surf masked the sound of aircraft engines and, cruising toward Wake at 13,000 feet, the approaching raid was masked by cloud cover. No one spotted the planes until they dropped down to 1,300 feet to make their attack. The Japanese did not surprise the alert defenders, who opened up on the Nells with everything they had as the planes unloaded their bombs and strafed the marines. Three-inch anti-aircraft guns proved ineffective against the planes, which were attacking at very low altitude. The marines were also plagued by the concussions of some of their big guns collapsing the walls of their emplacements. Still, they damaged eight of the attacking planes during the seven-minute raid. The Pan Am seaplane facilities were wrecked, though the one seaplane present came through with only a few bullet holes and was evacuated to safety. The Japanese aircrews believed they had destroyed all the US aircraft on Wake. They had succeeded in killing many marines and civilians, and in destroying two 25,000-gallon

The flagship Yubari came to within 4,500 yards of the shore; still the American batteries of five-inch coastal artillery guns remained quiet, but they tracked the flagship and the other approaching vessels. At 6:10 A.M. the marines suddenly let loose their fire, blowing up the Japanese destroyer Hayate and damaging three others. The assaulting squadron turned south, away from the atoll. Then the surviving Wildcat fighters pounced. A bomb dropped by Captain Henry T. Elrod sank the destroyer Kisaragi, for which Elrod, who would be

commander in chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, sent the carriers Hiryu and Soryu, two heavy cruisers, and two destroyers from the Pearl Harbor strike force. Meanwhile, a special unit, Task Force 14, was organized around the carrier USS Saratoga and dispatched from Pearl Harbor. It was expected to reach the atoll on the 24th to remove civilians and reinforce the island defenses. Part of that reinforcement was earmarked for VMF 211, in the form of F2A3 Brewster Buffalo fighter planes. The Buffalo was a difficult plane to operate from

150 and 300 men, respectively. That the Japanese had underestimated the determination of the 1,500 marines and civilians on Wake Island soon became apparent. On the morning of December 11 the Japanese fleet was just off Wilkes and Wake. At 5:22 the ships began shelling Wake as they crept closer and closer to shore. The attackers were sure their heavy air raids of the past three days had all but knocked out the American defenses, and the silence on shore seemed to confirm that assumption.

mortally wounded two weeks later, earned a posthumous Medal of Honor. The repulse of the Japanese assault captured the imagination of the American public. Newspapers reported that when the marines were asked after the attack whether they needed anything, they replied, “Send us more Japs.” If the Japanese were discouraged, they remained undaunted. The following days saw continued air raids on Wake as the high command decided to beef up the assault force there. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto,

good facilities, and after the raid, the facilities on Wake were far from good. While Task Force 14 sailed, time was running out for Wake. On December 21 Kajioka set out for the island from the Marshalls with an augmented naval task force. His squadron included destroyers to replace the two sunk in the original assault and four heavy cruisers that had been used in the invasion of Guam. On each destroyer in the assault force were 250 soldiers, fresh from landing exercises at Kwajalein. That day, the planes from Hiryu and

DREAMLINE CARTOGRAPHY/ DAVID DEIS

fuel tanks and all the supplies and spare parts for VMF 211's Wildcats—but not all the Wildcats themselves. The next two mornings the Nells were back, wreaking more havoc on the island as the marines prepared for what they were sure was a coming invasion. The marines were right: under Rear Admiral Sadamichi Kajioka, an invasion squadron had sailed from Kwajalein on December 8 and was approaching Wake from the south. The Japanese intended to land on the atoll’s two southern islands, Wilkes and Wake, with

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tive counter to the Japanese landing: two ships recently arrived from the Atlantic, the battle cruiser Repulse and the battleship Prince of Wales. Designated Force Z, the ships were on hand December 8 when an air raid struck Singapore. Force Z was sent out that afternoon to attack Japanese convoys in the South China Sea and, if possible, destroy the Japanese beachhead.

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command of Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, sailed without air cover. Phillips was aware of the losses among the battleships at Pearl Harbor, but was convinced his ships would not be in danger from enemy air attack, because no capital ship had ever been sunk at sea by aircraft. On December 9, a Japanese submarine sighted Force Z and radioed the British squadron’s position over the next five hours. Recalled to Singapore, Force Z turned to the southeast, but its fate was

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

HE SHIPS , UNDER THE

The Philippines were a main focus of Japan’s aggression after the Pearl Harbor attack. This building in Parañaque, on the island of Luzon, burns after a December 13 air raid.

sealed. At 11:13 A.M. on the 10th, the first of several air attacks struck. Repulse was hit with slight damage by land-based Nell bombers. At 11:40 the Prince of Wales was hit by torpedoes and lost both the ability to steer and the power to operate her turrets. A force of 26 Mitsubishi G4M2 Betty torpedo bombers renewed the attack on the Repulse, which was fatally struck. The World War I–vintage battle cruiser rolled over and sank at 12:23 P.M. Six more torpedoes fatally injured the Prince of Wales, which sank at 1:18 P.M. Air cover for Force Z, Brewster Buffalos of the Australian No. 453 Squadron, arrived just as the Prince of Wales sank. At the cost of only three air-

craft shot down by Force Z, the Japanese had sunk the two battleships; 840 British sailors were killed. Singapore itself would fall on February 15, 1942, in the biggest British surrender of the war. Malaya was not the only trouble spot for the British on the first day of the war. Less than eight hours after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese assaulted the crown colony of Hong Kong on China’s south coast with air and ground forces. By December 13 the defenders had been forced out of the mainland parts of the colony and continued to resist from Hong Kong island. The Japanese were brutal. They massacred one group of 20 gunners after it surrendered, and they murdered the captured medical staff of a Roman Catholic Salesian Mission on Chai Wan Road. The British deemed resistance hopeless by mid-afternoon on Christmas Day, and the surviving forces surrendered. The ancient kingdom of Siam was also on the Japanese roster of first-day targets. Japan invaded Thailand by land from Cambodia and by sea at seven different points along the coast. Fighting was fierce but brief. The military ruler of the kingdom, Field Marshal Phibun Songkhram, offered a ceasefire, and the Japanese proceeded to occupy the entire country. Historians suggest that with the sinking of the Repulse and the Prince of Wales, Phibun concluded that Thailand would benefit from an alliance with the Japanese. On December 14 he made a secret pact with the Japanese to help invade Burma. He announced his alliance with Japan formally on the 21st, and on January 25, 1942, Thailand declared war on the United States and Britain. The Japanese ran wild in the Pacific through the long winter of 1941–1942, but they would have barely six months of victories before the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway reversed the tide permanently in the Allies’ favor. Before that demise, however, history had never seen an empire so huge established so quickly by force of arms as the one the Japanese began to amass in early December 1941. And never before had such an empire fallen so completely and disastrously as this one would. A BRIAN MURPHY of Fairfield, Connecticut, is a contributing editor of America in WWII.

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN AMERICA IN WWII, DECEMBER 2006

Soryu attacked Wake at 9 A.M., the Japanese veterans of Pearl Harbor giving the marines below a taste of dive-bombing. They followed up with an air raid by the land-based Nells later in the day. When the Japanese carrier planes returned on the 22nd, the last two working Wildcats left on Wake struck back. The Japanese lost three planes, but the marines lost their only planes and one pilot. There would be no replacements. Task Force 14 had been ordered back by navy higher-ups who feared the ships would be sacrificed without changing the outcome on Wake. So, with no planes left, the personnel of VMF 211 reported for duty as infantrymen. Under cover of darkness on the 23rd, a Japanese landing force hit the beach near the marines’ airstrip around 2:30 A.M. Heavy fighting continued through the predawn hours and daylight. At 6:52 A.M. the marines radioed Pearl Harbor, “Enemy on island. Several ships plus transport moving in. Two DD [destroyers] aground.” That would be the last transmission from the Americans on Wake. The island surrendered later that morning. The British were not left off Japan’s agenda for her first hours at war. On December 8, Japanese forces landed on the northern shores of Malaya, then a British colony. They wanted the tin and rubber that the colony offered, but they also wanted to knock out the naval base on the island of Singapore, at the southern tip of the Malay peninsula. Fifteen-inch guns defended the seaward approaches to Singapore, and the island housed a garrison of 88,000 soldiers. Air power consisted of 158 planes, many obsolete. The British navy was said to be able to send a relief fleet within six months, but ammunition supplies would be exhausted long before then. Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Japanese army had only 30,000 men, but his materiel and especially the air forces at his command were superior to those of the British. Yamashita also bested the British strategically. Singapore, called “the Gibraltar of the East,” was ready to handle an attack from the sea, so Yamashita decided to invade Malaya and take Singapore from the landward side, where the fortified 15-inch guns could not be pointed. The British believed they had an effec-

PEARL HARBOR

STORIES The Calm Before The Storm

© TOM W. FREEMAN. WWW.TOMFREEMANART.COM

The Forgotten One, by Tom W. Freeman. Watercolor. B LUE SKIES AND CALM REST over Pearl Harbor’s clear waters just before 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941. The gunnery training ship USS Utah (BB-31, foreground) and the seaplane tender USS Tangier (AV-8) stand moored at quays off Ford Island’s northwest shore, their men going about their Sunday morning routines in peace. But Japanese “Kate” torpedo bombers, not yet recognized, are about to shatter that peace, starting with the Utah. A single torpedo will capsize Utah, making her the first ship to fall prey to the Japanese raiders. Tangier will fight back, claiming gunnery hits against three Japanese planes and a midget submarine. She will go on to earn three battle stars in World War II. But the Utah will ultimately be left to settle and rust, a tomb for her 54 lost crewmen. A

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STORIES COVER STORY

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The battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) sinks in Oahu’s Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, after a 1,760-pound Japanese bomb triggered a massive ammunition explosion on board.

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R.C. MCCLOY SAW what appeared to be a periscope in the dim moonlight flickering on the water at 3:42 A.M. on December 7, 1941. McCloy was officer of the deck aboard the USS Condor, a converted minesweeper on patrol from the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He flashed a signal to the destroyer USS Ward, on patrol nearby. The Ward fruitlessly sought McCloy’s periscope for an hour before the captain, 35-year-old Lieutenant William Outerbridge, released the ship from general quarters (preparation for attack). Around 6:30 the mysterious sub reappeared in the water behind a supply ship on its way toward the harbor entrance. A Consolidated PBY Catalina (a Canadian-built US Navy seaplane) had also spotted the intruder, and as it dropped signal flares, Outerbridge ordered his ship back to general quarters and attacked. The destroyer’s second shot slammed home at the base

of the sub’s conning tower. Then the Ward dropped depth charges and sent the sub to the bottom. Outerbridge reported the encounter, but nothing was done about it. Word didn’t trickle up to Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, commander in chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, until around 7:30. “We have had many reports of submarines in this area,” Kimmel later testified. “I was not at all certain that this was a real attack.” It was real, but there was little Kimmel could have done at that point, anyway. Japanese planes were already well on their way Right: Japanese planes made the attack from carriers 230 miles away. Here, Zeros prepare for takeoff on the Akagi. Above: Pearl Harbor was already in ruins when Japan’s White House envoys—seen here in November 1941—delivered their country’s rejection of US demands. 14

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ALL IMAGES FOR THIS STORY COURTESY OF NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

NSIGN

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toward Pearl Harbor. Some 200 miles north of the island of Oahu, the planes had begun roaring down their carriers’ flight decks at 6:00 A.M., as the rising sun began coloring the Pacific horizon a blood red. The Japanese strike force had six carriers: the flagship Akagi, Kaga, Shokaku, Zukaku, Hiryu, and Soryu. In addition, the fleet included two battleships, two cruisers, nine destroyers, plus various attending vessels. In advance were 27 submarines, 5 of which carried mini-subs.

assignment he had assumed with some misgivings after war games indicated the attack would cost him two carriers.

The attack had been concocted by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of the combined Japanese fleet, to eliminate the American forces at Pearl Harbor in one decisive blow, leaving Japan unimpeded to pursue its military plans in the Pacific. On November 26, the strike force set out from the isolated port of Tankan Bay in the Kurile Islands of northernmost Japan, on a northerly route across the Pacific, braving rough wintry weather to take advantage of empty seas that promised few witnesses to its passage. Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was in command, an

turn back. If sighted after that, he was to use his own judgement. It was a decision Nagumo never had to make. His ships sighted only a single vessel—a Japanese one—during the entire voyage. Fluttering from the Akagi’s mast on the morning of December 7 (December 8 in Japan) was the flag that Admiral Heihachiro Togo flew on May 27, 1905, when his fleet defeated the Russians in the battle of Tsushima Strait. That victory had signified Japan’s arrival as a modern military force. Now, the Japanese once again planned to demonstrate their military might against a Western power.

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DECEMBER 1, AS HIS SHIPS slogged across the stormy Pacific, Nagumo received a coded message from Yamamoto. “Niitake Yama Nobore” (Climb Mount Niitake), it said, meaning Nagumo should proceed with the attack. If the Americans detected the fleet before December 6, Nagumo was to N

national archives

Above: Aboard the carrier Akagi, A6M Zeros prepare to take off in the second attack wave against Pearl Harbor. They will strafe US aircraft on the ground at Hickam and Wheeler fields, Ford Island, Kaneohe, and Barber’s Point. In the Zero marked AI-101 is Petty Officer First Class Tadao Kimura, wingman for the Zero group leader. Opposite: Seen from a Japanese bomber at 10,000 feet, smoke rises from Battleship Row. The ships are, from the bottom, Nevada (alone), Vestal (left) and Arizona, West Virginia (left) and Tennessee, and Oklahoma (left) and Maryland. 16 PEARL HARBOR STORIES

associated press

A wave of 183 planes began roaring down the carrier decks shortly after 6:00, with Commander Mitsuo Fuchida in overall command. Almost half, 89, were Nakajima B5N2s, known to the Americans as Kates. Forty carried torpedoes that had been modified specifically to work in the shallow waters of Pearl Harbor, and the rest had bombs. There were also 51 of the Aichi D3A2 dive bombers the Americans called Vals. The remaining 43 planes were Mitsubishi A6M2 fighters, known as Zekes or Zeros. Around 7:15 a second wave of planes began leaving the carriers. All told, 353 Japanese planes participated in the attack.

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the military installations on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, primarily Pearl Harbor, the home base of the American Pacific fleet. The harbor opened up like a fan from Oahu’s southern coast. Inside the narrow channel entrance lay Ford Island and the naval air station there. A peninsula with Pearl City at its tip jutted out toward the island from the north, surHEIR TARGETS WERE

rounded by the waters of the East and Middle Lochs. To the east, pointing like a finger towards Ford Island, was the Southeast Loch. Moored alongside Ford Island, directly opposite the Southeast Loch, were seven of the navy’s battleships and some smaller vessels. More ships were on the island’s opposite side, including the cruiser Raleigh and the Utah, a former battleship converted into a target ship. Other ships were scattered throughout the harbor—96 in all, from tenders that didn’t even rate names to the Pacific Fleet’s flagship, the USS Pennsylvania, undergoing maintenance in a dry dock she shared with two destroyers, the Cassin and the Downes. Significantly absent were the fleet’s three aircraft carriers. The Enterprise was returning from Wake Island after having delivered planes for the navy, the Lexington had gone to Midway with marine planes and pilots, and the Saratoga was on the West Coast. Their absence was a stroke of luck for the American navy. Even with the carriers gone, the Japanese didn’t lack targets on Oahu. Hickam Field, where the army based its bombers, lay

Above: Sailors aboard a cutter pull a survivor from fiery waters alongside the sunken USS West Virginia (foreground) and the damaged USS Tennessee. Opposite: The Arizona burns wildly just after her forward magazine blew up. Only relentless firefighting saved the Tennessee (left of the Arizona) from burning up due to flaming oil drifting from the exploded ship. The West Virginia is sinking left of the Tennessee. 18 PEARL HARBOR STORIES

to the east of the harbor. The army kept its fighter airplanes—62 P-40s—at Wheeler Field near the island’s center, close to Schofield Barracks. The army had another, smaller airbase at Bellows Field, on the eastern coast. Kaneohe Naval Air Station, to the north, had 33 PBY Catalina flying boats, while the marines kept their aircraft west of the harbor at Ewa (pronounced Evva). The army also had a small airstrip to the northwest at Haleiwa. All these installations lay unaware of the approaching threat, though the danger signs were there to be noticed. The Ward’s encounter with the sub should have provided one warning. The army could have provided another. Shortly after 7:00, its mobile radar station at Opana on Oahu’s northern tip picked up a large flight of planes to the north. The two privates on duty reported the contact to the radar information center, but the lieutenant on duty told them they shouldn’t worry, that they had obviously detected a flight of 12 B-17 flying fortresses en route from California. When Fuchida realized the Japanese had achieved complete surprise, he radioed the prearranged signal “Tora! Tora! Tora!” (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!) to alert the strike force of that fact. “Pearl Harbor was asleep in the morning mist,” recalled Commander Shigeru Itaya, who led in the first fighters. “It was calm and serene inside the harbor, not even a trace of smoke from the ships at

Oahu. The orderly groups of barracks, the wriggling white line of the automobile road climbing up to the mountain-top; fine objectives of attack in all directions. In line with these, inside the harbor, were important ships of the Pacific Fleet, strung out and anchored two ships side by side in an orderly manner.” Aboard the battleship California, at the head of Battleship Row, Musician First Class Warren G. Harding had just missed the launch to shore. As he waited for the next one, he watched a ship’s company preparing to raise the colors at 8:00. “I looked over to the right because I heard this drone, a ROAR-R-R-R-R,” he said. “It was a plane diving. I thought: ‘My goodness, this is a Sunday! Who practices dive bombing on Sunday?’ I’m looking up in the air, and immediately I spotted that red ball [the Japanese Rising Sun emblem]. I said: ‘That’s a Zero!’ I’d been aircraft identifying, and I knew immediately that it was a Zero.” Then Harding saw the first Japanese bomb explode on Ford Island. At first, many people in the harbor and its environs were unable to recognize that the planes skimming across the water toward the battleships, diving from the sky, or zooming low above the ground to strafe aircraft and personnel, were hostile. Officers, infuriated by what they thought were hotdogging pilots, tried to note the planes’ registration numbers so they could PEARL HARBOR STORIES 19

ing and acting in a genuine moment of history.” (The Pearl Harbor attack would later provide Jones with the climax of his novel From Here to Eternity.) The explosions, fireballs, and bullets soon dispelled all illusions. Ships began sounding general quarters. At 7:58 navy headquarters on Ford Island sent out a message. “Air raid, Pearl Harbor,” it read. “This is no drill.” As realization sank in and anger began to swell, sailors and soldiers began offering what resistance they could. They broke open ammunition lockers, grabbed machine guns, and manned anti-aircraft batteries. (A few overly officious personnel refused to dispense ammunition without proper authorization.) One boatswain’s mate aboard the destroyer Monaghan threw wrenches at the low-flying planes.

report them. Navy personnel assumed that army pilots were flying some kind of practice at the navy’s expense. Army personnel thought it was the navy. Aboard the Pennsylvania, an excited sailor told Machinist’s Mate William Felsing the Japanese were attacking. Felsing snorted, “So are the Germans.” A member of a PBY squadron on Ford Island watched a hangar explode into fragments and thought, “Boy, is somebody going to catch it for putting live bombs on those planes.”

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JONES WAS A 20-YEAR-OLD army private at Schofield Barracks, the army base in Oahu’s interior. He was enjoying Sunday breakfast with its extra half-pint of milk when he heard the sound of explosions in the distance. Someone asked, AMES

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“They doing some blasting?” Jones recalled, “It was not till the first low-flying fighter came skidding, whammering low overhead with his MGs [machine guns] going that we ran outside, still clutching our half-pints of milk to keep them from being stolen, aware with a sudden sense of awe that we were see-

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Kaiwi Channel The Kates roared low across the water of the Southeast Loch and released their torpedoes at the ripe targets lined up along Battleship Row. Several slammed into the West Virginia, which began to flood and list to port. Quick-thinking officers started counterflooding, filling compartments on the

Opposite, top: Seen from a Japanese plane, a torpedo slams into USS Oklahoma. Repeated torpedo strikes caused the Oklahoma to capsize, trapping hundreds of men inside. Although 429 men died, 32 were rescued over the next two days—11 from a single compartment. Opposite, bottom: On a Ford Island pier around 9 A.M., with Battleship Row smoking in the background, a launch prepares to debark survivors. USS California, at the left, would sink over the next days due to bomb and torpedo damage. In the distance on the right, USS Neosho steams to safety. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 21

starboard side so the ship would settle evenly and not turn over. The Oklahoma was not so lucky. Five torpedoes struck home. The huge ship heeled over. Within eight minutes of the first hit, she was upside down, her superstructure jammed into the harbor bottom.

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MORTENSEN OF the Oklahoma’s boiler division and several other men were thrown into the upside-down ship’s dispensary, its tile floor now the ceiling, where a pocket of air kept them alive in the otherwise submerged compartment. Mortensen found a porthole below the water, and the men squirmed through one by one. Finally only Mortensen and the ship’s carpenter remained, but the carpenter couldn’t fit through the narrow opening. He held the heavy cover open so Mortensen could squeeze through to safety. “His was the most noble and DOLPH

warriors of a rising empire

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HE JAPANESE AIRMEN who rained death on Pearl Harbor were products of strange times. During the Great Depression, Japan fell into an economic slump complicated by a population boom, during a period of tension between Western and traditional values. Authoritarian nationalists, rooting themselves in a legendary glorious past and offering martial solutions to national problems, gained power. Soon Japan was invading China’s Manchuria to appropriate its resources. Since the late 1800s, Japan’s military had modernized to become one of the best; it beat Russia in war in 1905. By the 1930s, the revived samurai honor code pervaded the Japanese military to such an extent that the rank and file held a quasi-religious devotion to duty and preferred death to capture. As the 1940s began, Japan’s militarists tired of American and British opposition to their expansionism. They cast these Western powers as foreign meddlers that had to be expelled from Asia. When the United States sent a note to Tokyo on November 27, 1941, demanding that Japan leave Manchuria and Indochina, the aircraft carriers that would launch the Pearl Harbor raid were already under way—their seamen and airmen confident that they were helping to clear the way for Japan’s manifest destiny. Above: Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the Pearl Harbor raid, urged a third attack wave when he landed on the Akagi; his superiors disagreed. Left: Shocked sailors at the PBY (flying patrol boat) ramp at Ford Island Naval Air Station stare at a fireball from the exploding USS Shaw, half a mile away, around 9:30 A.M. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 23

heroic act a man could perform, knowing full well that his minutes were few,” Mortensen said later. Other torpedoes slammed into the California, raising so much dust on board that some crewmembers thought they were being gassed. “So somebody went and got some gas masks and brought them down,” remembered Fireman First Class James Hamlin. “On the canister of this gas mask, there’s a piece of tape. When you wear it, you’re supposed to take the tape off. Two or three guys didn’t take the tape off, and they found ’em later dead—suffocated.” Seaman Glen Turner felt exposed in his perch 125 feet up in the California’s foremast, where he helped direct defensive fire. As the battleship listed and burned, Turner heard an order to abandon

blood started to flow real fast. It was then that general quarters was sounded over the speaker and everything became automatic.” Phraner was below getting ammunition for his five-inch gun when a bomb plunged through the battleship and ignited the forward magazine. The Arizona blew up. “I had begun lifting shells into the hoist when a deafening roar filled the room and the entire ship shuddered,” he said. “One and a half million pounds of gun powder exploding in a massive fireball disintegrating the whole forward part of the ship. Only moments before I stood with my gun crew just a few feet from the center of the explosion. Admiral Kidd [Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd], Captain Van Velkenburg [Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh], my whole gun crew was

ship. He climbed down to the deck, took off his shoes, jumped overboard, and swam through heavy oil that made him sick. On shore he grabbed a pair of dungarees from a clothesline and changed out of his oil-stained dress whites. He later volunteered to return to the California and help save the ship. Back on board, the first thing he did was find his shoes. When the attack started, George D. Phraner, an aviation machinist’s mate aboard the Arizona, went topside to see what was happening. “At first there was a rush of fear,” he said. “The

killed. Everyone on top.” More than 1,000 sailors died. Phraner made his way topside through the darkness and the choking smoke, the hot metal ladders burning his flesh. Finally he reached the deck, jumped off the fantail, and swam to Ford Island. Commander Cassin Young was captain of the Vestral, a repair ship moored next to the Arizona. When the battleship exploded, the blast blew Young and many of his officers and men overboard. The small vessel was soon on fire and taking water. The crew began to abandon ship. Then, Young recalled, “a figure,

As it did on Batttleship Row, chaos reigned at the army and air bases on shore around Pearl Harbor. Above: Bewildered and overcome by the surprise attack, GIs at Schofield Barracks struggle to make sense out of what has just happened. Opposite, top: At Kaneohe Naval Air Station, sailors try to save a burning PBY. Opposite, middle: Hangar No. 11 at Hickam Airfield suffered bomb damage; a salvaged plane out front shows a mangled tail. Opposite, bottom: After the first wave of the attack, sailors at Kaneohe turn a fire hose on a blazing PBY. 24 PEARL HARBOR STORIES

like some sea creature, rose from the water and stood athwart the gangway.” Young had climbed back aboard his command. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded of one sailor. “You don’t abandon ship on me!” Young rallied what remained of his crew and the Vestral began rescuing survivors from the Arizona until Young took the sinking ship across the harbor and beached her. Some of the battleships were moored side by side, and the outboard vessels shielded those on the inside from torpedoes. Both the Maryland and the Tennessee were spared torpedo damage, but they did not escape the dive bombers. Jack Kelley was a seaman aboard the Tennessee, moored next to the West Virginia and in front of the Arizona. “The oil from the Arizona kept coming in our direction, and there was a sea of fire around us,” he recalled. “The old paint on the ship—fifty coats of paint on it—was burning, and the deck was burning.” Kelley manned a hose to keep the fires under control, but had to throw it down periodically to take cover from strafing Japanese planes.

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from a bomb that hit the Tennessee ripped through the West Virginia, mortally wounding Captain Mervyn Bennion on the bridge. Bennion died slowly from a stomach wound, but remained conscious and continued to ask questions about his ship. Mess Attendant Doris Miller and another man moved the dying captain to a safer position away from approaching flames. As a black man in the US Navy, Miller had few options outside of being a mess attendant. While not literally segregated, the navy had no room for black men beyond basic support services. Still, Miller found an unmanned .50mm machine gun on the West Virginia and took it over, firing at the attackers even though he had never trained on the weapon. He received the Navy Cross for his actions. In the middle of this chaos, the dozen B-17s under Major Truman Landon arrived from the West Coast. It had been a long flight—14 hours—and the planes, stripped of weapons to save weight, were almost out of fuel. They had taken off in peacetime, but had flown directly into a war, without guns, ammunition, or armor. Some of them came in to land at Hickam, their crews startled by the smoke over the harbor, the sight of burning airplanes on the airfield below, and especially by the Japanese planes that swooped in for the kill. Others sought safety at other airfields on Oahu. One even landed on a golf course. The Japanese had been particularly effective against the army’s aircraft, with some unwitting help from the army. Lieutenant General Walter C. Short had worried that local Japanese might sabotage his planes, so he had ordered them lined up wingtip to wingtip, so they could be guarded more efficiently. The neat rows made fine targets for the attackers, who soon had the planes wrecked and burning. Two army pilots managed to get off the ground and into the fight. Lieutenants George Welch and Kenneth Taylor made a beeline for their P-40s at Haleiwa and were quickly in the air. Over the course of the morning, they landed three times at Wheeler for more fuel and ammunition, and together they accounted for seven AGGED SHARDS OF METAL

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to pho avy us n

US personnel returned fire with anything they could lay hands on during the attack—from anti-aircraft guns to pistols—and scored some victories. Above, right: This Zero crashed at Fort Kamehameha. One plane downed that day yielded evidence of the hatred inspired by fascist propaganda: a primitive but graphic hand-drawn cartoon cursing the Americans at Pearl Harbor.

downed enemy airplanes. Pilots at Bellows were not as lucky. Three pilots tried to take off, but the Japanese shot them all down. One was hit before he could even leave the runway. At Kaneohe Naval Air Station, the Japanese made short work of the navy’s 33 PBY Catalinas. Marine Private First Class James Evans climbed up a ladder to get onto a hangar roof to fight back. “From my perch on the roof I had a great view of the action down by the hangars and the seaplane ramp, Jap Zero’s strafing the PBYs moored in the bay and on the ramps,” he said. “I could see the tracer bullets from the planes and from the ground, as the

sailors were returning the fire by now. Everything down there seemed to be burning.”

an answer to infamy

colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago…. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. …There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger…. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress to ask for a declaration of war against Japan. By 4:10 that afternoon, Congress had one ready for his signature. Below are highlights from FDR’s moving speech.

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ESTERDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his

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the destroyer Helm had been one of the few ships already under way when the attack began. She surged forward up the channel and out the harbor entrance, where she fired at a Japanese midget submarine that had gone aground. Before the destroyer’s crew could train guns on the target, the sub slipped beneath the water. Around 8:30 the Monaghan attacked another midget sub that had made its way into the harbor. The

us navy

Death wasn’t confined to the military bases in the Pearl Harbor raid. The three civilians found dead in this car, which was pierced by shrapnel from a Japanese bomb, weren’t near any military target. A total of 49 civilians, ranging in age from 3 months to 66 years, were killed on December 7, some by “friendly fire”—shrapnel from fallen US anti-aircraft shells.

destroyer attacked the sub with guns and depth charges and sank it, but in the tumult the ship went aground. Around that time the first wave of torpedo planes and dive bombers subsided. It had been a brutal 30 minutes for the Americans. “Half an hour after the battle opened, Arizona was a burning wreck, Oklahoma had capsized, West Virginia had sunk, California was going down, and every other battleship (except the Pennsylvania, in dry dock) had been badly damaged,” wrote Samuel Eliot Morison in The Rising Sun in the Pacific, 1931–April 1942, the third volume of his history of US naval operations in

World War II. “By 0825 the Japanese had accomplished about 90 per cent of their objective—they had wrecked the Battle Force of the Pacific Fleet.” After a relatively quiet 15 minutes, the second wave of bombers and fighters resumed the destruction. Sometime around 9:00, the Nevada managed to get under way and leave her mooring at the tail end of Battleship Row. From the Pennsylvania, marine private Art Wells watched the old battleship emerge from the smoke, guns blazing, near misses raising geysers around her and direct hits sending debris flying. “The old ship fighting her way down harbor was the most inspiring sight I saw

they saw it coming

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HE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK wasn’t a complete surprise. On March 31, 1941, Oahu’s air commanders—Major General Frederick Martin (right) and Rear Admiral Patrick Bellinger— issued a prophetic report. It stated: A declaration of war might be preceded by: 1. A surprise submarine attack on ships in the operating area. 2. A surprise attack on Oahu including ships and installations in Pearl Harbor. 3. A combination of these two…. The most likely and dangerous form of attack on Oahu would be an air attack…. Such an attack would most likely be launched from one or more carriers which would probably approach inside of three hundred miles…. In a dawn air attack there is a high probability that it could be delivered as a complete surprise…. What could be done, then? Little, admitted Martin and Bellinger: “The aircraft at present available in Hawaii are inad-

equate to maintain, for any extended period, from bases on Oahu, a patrol extensive enough to insure that an air attack… cannot arrive…as a complete surprise.” In mid-December, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered an investigation of Oahu’s chief commanders, Lieutenant General Walter Short and Admiral Husband Kimmel. Accusers said the Martin-Bellinger Report had warned Kimmel the attack would come from the north. The report said no such thing. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 27

national archives. inset images: courtesy of the martin jacobs collection

Sailors aboard the USS Ward pose around one of their destroyer’s 4-inch/50 guns sometime after the Pearl Harbor attack. The Ward made the first American kill of the December 7 attack, sinking a mini-sub trying to sneak into Pearl Harbor at 6:30 A.M. Many of the other GIs who stood out for their service on December 7 were dead, like the three shown on these Candyland Company bubblegum cards.

during the entire war!” Wells remembered years later. The Japanese took notice of the Nevada, too, and the planes moved in for the kill. If the battleship sank in the narrow harbor channel, she would block traffic for months. Signal flags ordered the battleship to avoid the channel, and the crew grounded the ship at Hospital Point.

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the Pennsylvania had been largely spared, but around the time the Nevada made her gallant run, the attackers went after the flagship and the two destroyers that shared her dry dock. A bomb hit the Pennsylvania, and more rained down on the Cassin and Downes. The Pennsylvania’s captain ordered the dry dock flooded, worried that if the watertight door should burst, the resulting inrush of water would push his ship into the destroyers. Instead, the oil-covered water that flowed into the dry dock ignited, and the heat began exploding munitions aboard the destroyers. The destroyer Shaw was in a floating dry dock near the

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Pennsylvania. Sometime around 9:30 a bomb hit the Shaw and she exploded into a huge ball of smoke and flame and smoke trails. One five-inch shell went spinning crazily across the sky and landed near the seaplane ramp on Ford Island, almost half a mile away, without detonating. By this time the defenses had become more aggressive, adding black puffs from anti-aircraft guns to the dense clouds of smoke from burning ships and installations. More than a few anti-aircraft shells went flying into downtown Honolulu, about six miles east of Pearl Harbor, destroying buildings there and panicking citizens. Then it was over. By 9:45 the last Japanese plane, flown by Fuchida, was heading north over the sea toward the carriers. The attack had lasted less than two hours, but in that short time Japan had inflicted terrible losses on the American forces. A total of 2,403 people had been killed or mortally wounded or were missing. Another 1,178 were wounded. The vessels along Battleship Row had been devastated, all of them either sunk or badly damaged. The raiders had also cut a wide swath through the army and navy aircraft on Oahu, destroying 188 and damaging another 159.

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN AMERICA IN WWII, DECEMBER 2006

With Ulupao Crater towering behind them, sailors drape leis on the grave markers of fallen sailors buried near the shore at Kaneohe Naval Air Station, during Memorial Day observances on May 27, 1942. A total of 2,390 Americans died in the Pearl Harbor attack; 1,177 of them were aboard the USS Arizona; 429 died on the Oklahoma; 49 were civilians. Hundreds more were wounded.

The Japanese had lost only 29 planes and 55 men. It was indeed a lopsided victory and Fuchida, the last pilot to land, urged a second attack. Nagumo, still worried about his carriers despite the reports of success, declined. The Japanese strike force turned about and headed back toward Japan. On Oahu, rumors spread that Japanese paratroopers were landing on the island and that enemy troopships lurked offshore. When six airplanes from the carrier Enterprise reached the harbor around 7:30 that night and prepared to land on Ford Island, gunfire erupted from all directions and shot down five of the planes. “You could have read a newspaper by the tracer bullets,” said a seaman on Ford Island. “The air was completely filled with gunfire and sirens.”

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for the United States, but the attack on Pearl Harbor had suddenly clarified the world situation. “I remember thinking with a sense of the profoundest awe that none of our lives would ever be the same, that a social, even a cultural watershed had been crossed which we could T HAD BEEN A LONG JOURNEY INTO WAR

never go back over,” James Jones later wrote, “and I wondered how many of us would survive to see the end results.” Japan had delivered a devastating blow at Pearl Harbor, but the attacker would ultimately prove to be the loser. It had not sunk any American carriers, nor had it destroyed the vital supplies of fuel at the navy’s tank farm. The American forces in the Pacific had been bloodied, but they remained unbowed. Even more important, the attack had galvanized and united the nation. For the Japanese, wrote Samuel Eliot Morison, the Pearl Harbor attack was “a strategic imbecility. One can search military history in vain for an operation more fatal to the aggressor. On the tactical level, the Pearl Harbor attack was wrongly concentrated on ships rather than permanent installations and oil tanks. On the strategic level it was idiotic. On the high political level it was disastrous.” Americans would remember Pearl Harbor. A TOM HUNTINGTON, one of America in WWII’s contributing editors, is a Pennsylvania-based free-lance writer and the former editor of Historic Traveler and American History magazines. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 29

THUNDER FISH The torpedoes that wreaked havoc on December 7 were ingeniously

designed to deliver maximum devastation in Pearl Harbor’s shallow waters. by Daniel A. Martinez

© 2011 ZACK ANDERSON AND BIGZDESIGNS LLC. WWW.AFTERMATHPEARLHARBOR.ORG

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SWORDFISH BIPLANES rose from the British carrier HMS Illustrious on November 11, 1940, and lumbered off into the Mediterranean night. Each of the old-fashioned torpedo bombers carried beneath it a new and ingenious weapon: a shallow-water torpedo. That night, the new weapon—and new flying tactics that went along with it—would open a new chapter in the history of war. Normally, air-dropped torpedoes plunged into the water to a depth of 125 feet or more before turning upward and starting toward the target. That was suitable for attacks at sea, but not for shallow harbors. So the British developed a mix of torpedo modifications and air tactics to remedy that shortcoming. The planes from the Illustrious would put the new system to the test in the harbor of Taranto, on Italy’s east coast. There, in water just 39 feet deep, lay a troublesome Italian fleet. From Taranto, Italian battleships had threatened the sea lanes used by the British and their forces in Africa. No more. In less than 40 minutes, the Swordfish and their torpedoes shifted the balance of power in the Mediterranean, sinking one battleship and heavily damaging two others along with one cruiser. Within a month, a Japanese military delegation in Berlin traveled to Taranto to investigate and review, and subsequently reported its findings to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet. Buoyed by the idea that ships could be attacked in shallow water, Yamamoto set in motion two important processes: the creation of a tactical plan to attack the US Pacific Fleet in shallow Pearl Harbor, and an accelerated effort to develop shallow-water torpedoes. The Japanese weren’t the only ones impressed by the British success. The attack on Taranto was of grave concern to American officials and the US Navy. On February 5, 1941, Navy Secretary Frank Knox dispatched a letter to Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, then commander in chief of the US Fleet, and Rear Admiral Claude C. Bloch, commandant of the 14th Naval District. The letter presented a disturbing picture: The security of the US Pacific Fleet while in Pearl Harbor…has been under renewed study…. If war eventuates with Japan, it is believed easily possible that hostilities would be initiated by a surprise attack upon the Fleet or the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. In my opinion, the inherent possibilities of a major disaster to the Previous spread: Skimming over Pearl Harbor just 30 feet above the water, Seaman First Class Fukuji Inoue releases a modified Type 91 torpedo toward USS West Virginia from his B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber, in artist Tom W. Freeman’s The Storm Is Unleashed. Torpedoes from two previous Kates slice through the water. Above: Wooden fins attached to the torpedoes kept them from diving too deeply before streaking toward their targets. Right: A Japanese aerial photo shows torpedo wakes reaching Battleship Row.

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fleet or the naval base warrant taking every step, as rapidly as can be done, that will increase the joint readiness of the Army and Navy to withstand a raid of the character mentioned above. Secretary Knox clearly understood the ramifications of the

NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

PREVIOUS SPREAD: PAINTING BY TOM W. FREEMAN. COURTESY OF WWII VALOR IN THE PACIFIC NATIONAL MONUMENT

WENTY-ONE

Taranto raid for the US Pacific Fleet. Admiral James O. Richardson, the fleet’s commander, had given similar reasons for opposing President Franklin Roosevelt’s decision to move the force from San Diego to Pearl Harbor. But FDR hoped a powerful US naval presence in the Pacific would deter Japanese aggression, and Robertson was replaced by Kimmel in February 1941. Kimmel, far from sharing Robertson’s fears, seems not to have absorbed Knox’s assessment of the threat to the Pacific Fleet. In fact, he would draw the fleet in at Pear Harbor on December 5, 1941, and relax his forces’ defensive posture despite a war warning issued from Washington just nine days earlier. Historian Gordon Prange, author of the 1981 book At Dawn

We Slept, summed up the strategic and military situation as it stood in early 1941 with this passage: It is fascinating to note the gradual buildup to the eventual design. First, and for a long time, American thinking and maneuvers were predicated entirely on the terms of a possible Japanese strike on Hawaii. Second, after the object lesson of Taranto, came the awareness in Washington that the prime target of such an attack would be the ships in harbor. Thirdly, Admiral Richardson’s endorsement of January 7 conceded the possibility—albeit unlikely—of an aerial strike at Pearl Harbor if Japan and the United States went to war. Now, as the fourth step, Knox’s prophetic letter pinpointed a carrier-borne bombing and/or torpe-

do force ripping into the Fleet “without warning prior to a declaration of war.” While US military leaders were slowly coming to understand the Pacific Fleet’s vulnerability, Japan prepared and planned for war. A critical element of the Japanese attack plan for Pearl Harbor was the development of special weapons and tactics based on the lessons of Taranto, to be used against the American battleships. The most effective weapon available was the Type 91 aerial torpedo. The Type 91 sped through the water and smashed through the side of a ship below the waterline with terrific explosive force to maximize destruction. But the Type 91 was designed for use in the open ocean, not the shallow waters of a harbor, where it would simply slam into the sea floor. To work against the ships in Pearl Harbor, both the torpedo and the aerial tactics for delivering it would have to be altered.

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8:08 A.M.

The Type 91, or Thunder Fish, proved lethal for US ships on Pearl Harbor’s Battleship Row. One victim was the battleship USS Oklahoma (BB-37), which capsized with a loss of 429 men. This diagram shows the chronology of her demise. The first three Thunder Fish struck her at 7:56 A.M., and she immediately began to list. A second volley, followed by a single strike, sealed her fate.

The Type 91 torpedo was an engineering marvel. Nearly 18 feet long, it weighed 1,870 pounds and had a maximum speed of 42 knots and a range of 2,187 yards. The Japanese called it Gyorai— Thunder Fish.

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RDINARILY, AIR CREWS DROPPED

Type 91s from 100 meters (330 feet). Underwater, the weapon would dive to nearly that depth before leveling off and running to the target. For use in Pearl Harbor, with an average depth of 40 feet, the torpedoes were modified by the addition of wooden aerodynamic fins that caused the torpedoes to hit the water at a more horizontal attitude. This ensured that they wouldn’t sink too deeply before streaking toward the American ships. Pilots, meanwhile, were trained to drop their torpedoes from 10 to 20 meters (33 to 66 feet) above the water. (During the actual attack, the altitude would range between 30 and 40 feet). The plane assigned to the task was the Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 attack bomber (the “Kate,” as Americans called it), which had a three-man crew—pilot, observer/bombardier, and rear gunner/radioman.

34

PEARL HARBOR STORIES

230 miles north of Oahu in the early hours of December 7, 1941, after a nearly 4,000-mile voyage. The carriers would hurl two aerial attack waves against Oahu. The first wave would take off at 6 A.M., followed by the second wave around 7. The torpedo bombers would be used only in the first wave. With their low altitude and relatively low air speed, they would be easy targets once the Americans began firing back. There were 40 torpedo bombers in all: 12 from the carrier Akagi, 12 from the Kaga, 8 from the Soryu, and 8 from the Hiryu. The first wave reached the north shore of Oahu off Kahuku Point at about 7:40 that quiet Sunday morning, and received a pre-arranged signal from Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, overall commander of the Oahu air raid, to commence the attack. Despite confusion and misinterpretation of the attack signal, the Japanese achieved complete surprise. Fuchida’s first wave of 183 aircraft began its assault on Oahu at 7:45. Initially, explosions erupted along the flight lines at Wheeler Field, at the naval air station at Kaneohe Bay, and at the US Marine Corps airfield at Ewa. The 40 torpedo bombers split off from the main body to begin their torpedo runs on the warships surround-

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7:56 A.M.

Training was intensive and difficult. Ensign Takeshi Maeda recalled: Our flight training focused on launching torpedoes at nonmoving targets… The hard training continued from morning until night every day. When I looked at my flight records for that time period, in October (1941) alone I flew 128 hours. Night time training focused mainly on landing on the carrier pitch black and doing torpedo attacks. We had only one day off every week, so our training was really intense. By late November, the attack force began gathering in northern Japan. A force of 31 ships assembled in the Kurile Islands within Hitokappu Bay. Six large aircraft carriers would deliver the offensive punch to the Pacific Fleet. Early on the morning of November 26, the fleet steamed for the Hawaiian Islands. Moving rapidly across the northern Pacific, the force reached its launching point

NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

A group of three-man Nakajima B5N1 “Kate” torpedo bombers heads for the sky somewhere in Asia or the Pacific, probably sometime in 1941. The planes, which have not yet retracted their landing gear, are toting Type 91 torpedoes that haven’t been modified for shallow-water use. The Japanese navy would use the B5N’s next generation, the marginally faster B5N2, in the Pearl Harbor attack.

ing Ford Island. Their attacks began at 7:53, with the seaplane ramp at Naval Air Station Pearl Harbor on Ford Island as the first target. The ships on the west side of Ford Island and along 1010 Pier sustained torpedo attacks moments later, shortly before 7:55. Six torpedo bombers attacked the gunnery training ship Utah (BB31) (the first ship hit at Pearl) and light cruiser Raleigh (CL-7) north of Ford Island, and five more descended on the light cruiser Helena (CL-50), moored alongside 1010 Pier. Shortly thereafter, torpedo planes from the Akagi began their assault on the Pacific Fleet’s battle line at the mooring quays along Ford Island’s eastern shore. Leading the way were two torpedo planes piloted by Lieutenant Commander Shigeharu Murata and Lieutenant (JG) Jinichi Goto. They were the vanguard of 29 torpedo bombers that would smash the formation of ships forever known as “Battleship Row.” Following quickly after Murata was Seaman First Class Fukuji Inoue. Just 30 feet above the harbor’s surface, he adjusted his airspeed to 160 knots and leveled his aircraft. Through his forward windscreen he saw the majestic battleship West Virginia (BB-48) looming ahead. The fruits of all his training were compressed into the 25 seconds of his run. As the torpedo fell away, Inoue felt his lightened aircraft lift upward. The torpedo dropped perfectly and slapped the water on a horizontal plane. The specially designed wooden fins broke, having ensured that the torpedo penetrated the water at the proper angle, thus reducing its dive

and allowing it to run at a depth of 25 feet at 40 knots. Inoue pulled back his stick and kicked the rudder to the right so he and his crew could watch the torpedo’s run while they flew away from Battleship Row. Successive splash marks, torpedo wakes, and concussion rinds accumulated on the surface of the water. Within 15 minutes, 40 torpedo planes would sink the battleships West Virginia, Oklahoma (BB-37), California (BB-44), the auxiliary Utah and the minelayer Oglala (CM-4). Torpedoes would damage the battleship Nevada (BB-36), and light cruisers Helena and Raleigh. Planes dropping aerial bombs would complete what the torpedo bombers had begun, sinking more ships. The Japanese claimed that 38 of the 40 Type 91 Thunder Fish used on December 7 found their mark, at the cost of five planes and 15 crewmen, all from the Kaga. Although the actual number of hits was somewhat lower, it mattered little. The revolution begun at Taranto had come to the Pacific, and the era of the battleship had come to end. The era of the aircraft carrier and naval air war had begun. A Historian DANIEL MARTINEZ is the co-author of Kimmel, Short, and Pearl Harbor: The Final Report Revealed (2004). He was a host of the Discovery Channel’s Unsolved History series (2002–2003), and has appeared in other TV programs about Pearl Harbor. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 35

midget subs to the As Japan’s warplanes roared over Pearl Harbor, another deadly menace targeted the American ships from beneath the waves. by Burl Burlingame

a

N EMPIRE ’ S FUTURE SAT SQUARELY

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ATTACK!

on the shoulders of one man as 1941 drew to a close: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Japan had big ambitions in Asia, but the US Pacific Fleet, based in Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands, posed a serious threat to those plans. To Yamamoto, commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s Combined Fleet, fell the task of neutralizing the American threat. He would have only one chance to knock the United States out of the war before the war even began. Yamamoto settled on a two-fisted strategy. He would place the US fleet between a hammer and an anvil, a rock and a hard place. Striking the initial blow would be massed fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes from six aircraft carriers—the greatest striking force in history to that point. The aerial assault would either sink ships in Pearl Harbor or drive them out to sea. That was where the second fist would fall. Secretly waiting for the American ships, just outside Pearl Harbor, would be dozens of Japanese submarines. They would fall upon the US ships like wolves and send them to the bottom of the ocean, never to be recovered. Yamamoto sensed that the Imperial Navy would have this one clear shot at crippling the American navy long enough so that Japan’s hold on its Asian targets could be consolidated. It was a gamble, but it was also the only option. Nearly half of Japan’s submarines had arrived in Hawaii by December 6, 1941, the day before the attack. They took up positions, waited, and watched the Americans through telescopes. They could hear music wafting offshore from Waikiki’s nightclubs. These submarines included five “midget” subs, two-man craft capable of sprinting through the waves and launching a pair of torpedoes. They were designed as the underwater equivalents of aerial torpedo bombers, but their range was severely limited. They were fast-attack craft meant for use in the open ocean, and needed to be carried to a battle site aboard surface ships. At first Yamamoto banned their use, fearing they’d be spotted by American patrols prior to the attack. But the designers and crews of the midget submarines were anxious to see them proved in battle, so, they devised an underwater method of launching the midget subs from the backs of “mother” submarines of the new I-16 class, and Yamamoto reluctantly approved their use. The concept was so new that the voyage to Hawaii served as the shakedown cruise for a couple of the I-16-class subs. One barely avoided disaster when a workman’s tools jammed the forward dive plane in the down position. The five mother submarines moved in closest to Pearl Harbor, releasing the midgets and their crews within sight of the harbor mouth while avoiding US destroyers and minesweepers. Ironically, the Americans were well-prepared for a submarine assault. German U-boats were attacking Allied Lend-Lease ships in the Atlantic, often within sight of the East Coast, so US military planners had assumed that if war came in the Pacific, Japan’s first move would be to attack Hawaii with submarines. US Navy ships One of five Japanese midget submarines dispatched to sink ships in Pearl Harbor, the Ha-19 ran aground on a reef on Oahu’s windward side, near Bellows Field. One of her two crewmen, Petty Officer Second Class Kiyoshi Inagaki, was swept out to sea, but the other, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, became America’s first WWII prisoner of war. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 37

in Pearl Harbor constantly practiced anti-submarine drills. Underwater nets were strung across the harbor entrance, and destroyers paced the ocean off Pearl Harbor 24 hours a day. Because of this high state of alert, Yamamoto’s fears nearly came true. The midget submarines, launched in the middle of the night from their host submarines, made their way stealthily toward the harbor entrance. But American ships spotted the midget subs’ periscope wakes and gave chase, only to lose the small craft in the darkness. Just after dawn on Sunday, December 7, the patrolling destroyer USS Ward (DD-139) spotted a small submarine trying to shadow an American cargo ship into Pearl Harbor, bypassing the nets. The destroyer gave chase and at 6:45 A.M. fired on the submarine, hitting the small conning tower. The Ward also dropped depth charges on the suspected submarine, as did a patrol airplane investigating the sighting. The submarine slipped beneath the water and the destroyer reported the incident to authorities ashore.

One large submarine, I-70, began to stalk the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) and her task force, en route to Oahu. On the morning of December 10, however, an SBD Dauntless divebomber from the Enterprise attacked and disabled the sub. Later that afternoon, an SBD of VS-6 flown by Lieutenant (JG) Clarence E. Dickinson nailed I-70, which quickly sank. This submarine was the first Imperial Navy ship sunk by United States aircraft during World War II. The day after the Pearl Harbor attack, one of the midget submarines was discovered stuck on a reef on the eastern shore of Oahu, and the skipper, Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured. He became the first US prisoner of war in World War II. Another midget submarine was discovered at sea in 1960; it was raised and returned to Japan. The midget submarine rammed by the Monaghan was raised after the battle and used as landfill at Pearl Harbor with the bodies of the crewmen still aboard. The midget submarine sunk by the Ward was discovered on the seabed in 2002 by scientists from the University of Hawaii. The fifth midget submarine is still missing. There is evidence HE WARD ’ S REPORT WAS IN CODE , however, and it took sevgleaned from aerial photographs that this submarine may have eral minutes to rouse the decoders on a Sunday morning. As entered Pearl Harbor and participated in the torpedo attack on navy intelligence officials pondered the meaning of the Battleship Row. There is also a disassembled and scuttled Japreport, bombs began falling on Pearl Harbor. anese midget submarine on the seabed outside Pearl Harbor. It Another midget submarine was soon spotted in the harbor, raises more questions than answers, speeding toward the berthing areas because there are no records of this for the fleet’s aircraft carriers craft. (which were absent) northwest of The large submarines the AmerFord Island, in the middle of the icans chased away on December 7 harbor. Destroyer USS Monaghan remained in the Hawaiian Islands (DD-354), steaming out of the harfor weeks, sinking ships, shelling bor, bore down on the submarine, Hawaiian communities on the firing her guns. USS Curtiss (AV-4), “neighbor islands,” and launching anchored nearby, also fired at the reconnaissance flights over Pearl midget, one round smashing through Harbor in fold-up aircraft. Exactly the conning tower and decapitating Inagaki and Sakamaki had tried in vain to blow up their a month after the December 7 the Japanese skipper. Seconds later, mini-sub after they realized its battery was dead. Their sub attack, a Japanese submarine torpethe Monaghan slammed headlong was noticed on the reef the day after the December 7 attack. doed the aircraft carrier USS Sarainto the submarine, rolling over it as toga (CV-3), knocking her out of the fight during the most critical metal screeched. The submarine was “crushed like a cigarette,” and period of the war. the destroyer rolled depth charges on it to complete the kill. Pearl Japanese submarines also harassed shipping on the US West Harbor is shallow, however, and the depth-charge explosions lifted Coast and shot up facilities ashore. At midnight on Christmas the destroyer’s stern completely out of the water, exposing the screws Eve, 1941, a dozen Japanese submarines surfaced in the darkness and rudder. Out of control, the Monaghan slammed into a repair raft. just off cities from British Columbia to Mexico, preparing to ranThe mini-subs had been foiled. The shooting by US gunnery domly shell civilians. At the last second, they were ordered to crews that morning had been extremely accurate, punching holes in stand down by navy officials in Tokyo. Killing so many civilians the tiny moving targets—a tribute to the gunners’ pre-war training. would have been bad public relations, they reasoned. Japan was The Japanese air attack, meanwhile, turned out to be overwhelmstill hoping America would surrender and give up the Pacific. ingly successful, beyond its planners’ expectations. Most of Pearl Japanese submarines were supposed to play a key part in the Harbor’s battleships and cruisers were sunk or damaged at their opening rounds of the Pacific War, but they wound up accommoorings. Now came the second blow of the two-fisted attack—the plishing little over the course of the conflict, victims of confused submarine feeding frenzy on US ships that exited the harbor. Except strategy and overly complicated design programs. A for the cruiser St. Louis (CL-49), however, all of the ships that came charging out of Pearl Harbor that morning were anti-submarine destroyers. They managed to scatter the large Japanese subs, and Writer and historian BURL BURLINGAME is the author of a 2002 one fleet-sized submarine was ensnarled in netting and sank to the book about the midget subs, Advance Force Pearl Harbor. The bottom. It surfaced in daylight and Japanese sailors on deck hurson of a US Air Force command pilot, he grew up on an abanriedly cut away the nets before American destroyers were within doned Japanese fighter base in Taiwan, and next to Pearl Harbor, range. The sub dove just as the Americans opened fire. where he witnessed the filming of Tora! Tora! Tora!

t

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38

PEARL HARBOR STORIES

The Fallen A staggering 2,390 Americans died in the attack of December 7, 1941, and the events that surrounded it. Here are their names. CIVILIANS Yaeko Lillian Oda. Francisco Tacderan. John Kalauwae Adams. Joseph Kanehoa Adams. Nancy Masako Arakaki. Patrick Kahamokupuni Chong. Matilda Kaliko Faufata. Emma Gonsalves. Ai Harada. Kisa Hatate. Fred Masayoshi Higa. Jackie Yoneto Hirasaki. Jitsuo Hirasaki. Robert Yoshito Hirasaki. Shirley Kinue Hirasaki. Paul S. Inamine. Robert Seiko Izumi. David Kahookele. Edward Koichi Kondo. Peter Souza Lopes. George Jay Manganelli. Joseph McCabe, Sr. Masayoshi Nagamine. Frank Ohashi. Hayako Ohta. Janet Yumiko Ohta. Kiyoko Ohta. Barbara June Ornellas. Gertrude Ornellas. James Takao Takefuji, aka Koba. Yoshio Tokusato. Hisao Uyeno. Alice White. Eunice Wilson. Robert H. Tyce. Kamiko Hookano. Isaac William Lee. Rowena Kamohaulani Foster. Chip Soon Kim. Richard Masaru Soma. Tomoso Kimura.

FEDERAL WORKERS August Akina. Philip Ward Eldred. Virgil P. Rahel. Tai Chung Loo. Daniel LaVerne.

FIREFIGHTERS John Carreira. Thomas Samuel Macy. Harry Tuck Lee Pang.

US ARMY Henry C. Blackwell. Clyde C. Brown. Warren D. Rasmussen. Joseph A. Medlen. Claude L. Bryant. Eugene B. Bubb. Oreste DaTorre. Donat G. Duquette, Jr. Private Edward F. Sullivan. Arthur A. Favreau. William G. Sylvester. Paul J. Fadon. Theodore J. Lewis. Walter R. French. Conrad Kujawa. Torao Migita.

US ARMY AIR FORCES Hans C. Christiansen. George A. Whiteman. Lawrence R. Carlson. Donald F. Meagher. Louis Schleifer. George P. Bolan. Richard A. Dickerson. Alfred Hays. Richard E. Livingston. George M. Martin, Jr. Harold W. Borgelt. Daniel A. Dyer, Jr. Sherman Levine. James M. Topalian. Robert L. Avery. Robert S. Brown. Edward J. Cashman. Donal V. Chapman. Monroe M. Clark. Robert H. Gooding. James A. Horner. George F. Howard. Lawrence P. Lyons, Jr. Wallae R. Martin. William W. Merithew. George A. Moran. Herman C. Reuss. Robert M. Richey. Harry E. Smith. Edward F. Vernick. Marion H. Zaczkiewicz. Jerry M. Angelich. Malcolm J. Brummwell. Jack A. Downs. Paul R. Eichelberger. Arnold E. Field. Joseph Jedrysik. Andrew J. Kinder. Herbert E. McLaughlin. Emmett E. Morris. Joseph F. Nelles. Willard C. Orr. Halvor E. Rogness. Leo H. Surrells. Joseph Bush. John H. Couhig. Harold C. Elyard. Willard E. Fairchild. Paul V. Fellman. Homer E. Ferris. Stuart H. Fiander. James J. Gleason. Otto C. Klein. Harry W. Lord, Jr. Joseph Malatak. Russell M. Penny. Allen G. Rae. George J. Smith. Elmer W. South. Hermann K. Tibbets, Jr. George W. Tuckerman. Martin Vanderelli. Walter H. Wardigo. Lawton J. Woodworth. Thomas M. Wright. Virgil J. Young. Garland C. Anderson. Manfred C. Anderson. Gordon R. Bennett, Jr. Frank G. Boswell. Frank B. Cooper. John E. Cruthirds. Robert C. Duff, Jr. Lyle O. Edwards. Russell E. Gallagher. James E. Gossard, Jr. Johon S. Greene. Earl A. Hood. Theodore K. Joyner. Edmund B. Lepper. Durward A. Meadows. LaVerne J. Needham. Paul L. Staton. Anderson G. Tennison. William T. Anderson. William T. Blakley. Russell C. Defenbaugh. Joseph H. Guttmann. John J. Horan. Carl A. Johnson. Olaf A. Johnson. Doyle Kimmey. James I. Lewis. William E. McAbee. Stanley A. McLeod. Walter D. Zuckoff. Arthur F. Boyle. Billy O. Brandt. Rennie V. Brower, Jr. William J. Brownlee. Brooks J. Brubaker. Weldon C. Burlison. Leroy R. Church. Jack H. Feldman. Leo E. A. Gagne. Allen E.W. Goudy. William E.

Hasenfuss, Jr. James R. Johnson. Robert H. Johnson. Marion E. King, Jr. Roderick O. Klubertanz. John H. Mann. James J. McClintock. Horace A. Messam. Victor L. Meyers. Edwin N. Mitchell. Thomas F. Philipsky. William F. Shields. Ralph S. Smith. John B. Sparks. Merton I. Staples. Jerome J. Szematowicz. William F. Timmerman. Ernest M. Walker, Jr. Lee I. Clendenning. Richard L. Coster. Byron G. Elliott. William Hislop. Howard N. Lusk. Lionel J. Moorhead. Francis E. Campiglia. Herbert B. Martin. Joseph G. Moser. Frank St. E. Posey. Raymond E. Powell. William T. Rhodes. Maurice J. St. Germain. James E. Strickland, Jr. Joseph S. Zappala. Walter J. Zuschlag. Felix Bonnie. Clarence A. Conant. Frank J. DePolis. Patrick L. Finney. Elwood R. Gummerson. Vincent J. Kechner. Robert H. Markley. Jay E. Pietzsch. Antonio S. Tafoya. Robert H. Westbrook, Jr. Jack W. Fox. Frank J. Lango. William M. Northway. Felix S. Wegrzyn. William R. Schick. Leland V. Beasley. William Coyne, Jr. Eugene B. Denson. Robert R. Garrett. Charles l. Hrusecky. Joseph N. Jencuis. Robert R. Kelley. Hal H. Perry, Jr. Carey K. Stockwell. Ralph Alois. Louis H. Dasenbrock. John T. Haughey. Clarence E. Hoyt. Henry J. Humphrey. Lester H. Libolt. Harell K. Mattox. William H. Offutt. Edward R. Hughes. John J. Kohl. George Price. Louis G. Moslener, Jr. Daniel J. Powloski. Dave Jacobson. Mathew T. Bills. Joseph J. Chagnon. Carlton H. Hartford. Ardrey V. Hasty. Donald E. Bays. George K. Gannam. Andrew A. Walczynski. Eugene L. Chambers. John G. Mitchell. Robert L. Schott. Robert R. Shattuck. Russell P. Vidoloff. Lumus E. Walker. Theodore F. Byrd, Jr. James H. Derthick. Joseph C. Herbert. William H. Manley. George R. Schmersahl. Robert O. Sherman. Anson E. Robbins. Robert G. Allen. Robert P. Buss. Donald D. Plant. Gordon H. Sterling, Jr. John L. Dains. Edward J. Burns. Malachy J. Cashen. Dean W. Cebert. William C. Creech. James Everett. Paul B. Free. Joseph E. Good. James E. Guthrie. Robert L. Hull. George G. Leslie. John A. Price. James M. Barksdale. Vincent M. Horan. Morris E. Stacey.

US MARINE CORPS John A. Blount, Jr. Roy E. Lee, Jr. Shelby C. Shook. Earl D. Wallen. George E. Johnson. Thomas A. Britton. Francis C. Heath. Orveil V. King, Jr. Jack L. Lunsford. Edward F. Morrissey. Keith V. Smith. Richard I. Trujillo. Marley R. Arthurholtz. Waldean Black. Walter L. Collier. Alva J. Cremean. Elmer E. Drefahl. Harry H. Gaver, Jr. Ted Hall. Otis W. Henry. Robert K. Holmes. Vernon P. Keaton. John F. Middleswart. Robert H. Peak. Raymond Pennington. Charles R. Taylor. Thomas N. Barron. Morris E. Nations. Floyd D. Stewart. Patrick P. Tobin. Jesse C. Vincent, Jr. George H. Wade, Jr. William E. Lutschan, Jr. William G. Turner. Edward S. Lawrence. Carlo A. Micheletto.

US NAVY Howard L. Adkins. Moses A. Allen. Thomas B. Allen. Wilbur H. Bailey. Glen Baker. James W. Ball. Harold W. Bandemer. Michael L. Bazetti. Albert Q. Beal. Thomas S. Beckwith. Henry W. Blankenship. Edward D. Bowden. Robert K. Bowers. Robert L. Brewer. Samuel J. Bush. James W. Butler. Elmer L. Carpenter. Cullen B. Clark. Francis E. Cole. Kenneth J. Cooper. Herbert S. Curtis, Jr. Lloyd H. Cutrer. Edward H. Davis. John W. Deetz. Marshall L. Dompier. Norman W. Douglas. Guy Dugger. Billie J. Dukes. Thomas R. Durning, Jr. Robert W. Ernest. Alfred J. Farley. Marvin L. Ferguson, Jr. Stanley C. Galaszewski. Robert S. Garcia. Thomas J. Gary. George H. Gilbert. Tom Gilbert. Helmer A. Hanson. Gilbert A. Henderson. John A. Hildebrand, Jr. Merle C. J. Hillman. Paul E. Holley. Richard F. Jacobs. Ira W. Jeffrey. Melvin G. Johnson. Ernest Jones. Herbert C. Jones. Harry Kaufman. Arlie G. Keener. Harry W. Kramer. John T. Lancaster. Donald C.V. Larsen. John E. Lewis. James E. London. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 39

Pearl Harbor Casualties and Where They Fell OAHU • D ECEMBER 7, 1941

Eas t L o ch

A i ea Bay

USS Dobbin

Pearl City

4 USN

USS Chew 2 USN

USS Utah

Mi d d l e L o ch

58 USN

USS Curtiss

USS Arizona

21 USN

1,104 USN • 73 USMC R o

FOR D Shot down by friendly fire 11 USN

Pearl

le

USS West Virginia

B

4 USN

USS Vestal

106 USN

a

USS Maryland

50 USN • 7 USMC

7 USN

sh

5 USN

ISLAND

USS Enterprise

ip

USS Tennessee tt

Planes from

USS Nevada

w

USS Oklahoma

USS California

415 USN • 14 USMC

98 USN • 4 USMC

Harbo r

Kuahua

USS Helena 33 USN • 1 USMC

WA I P I O

USS Shaw 25 USN

PENINSULA

So u th eas t L o ch

USS Tracy 3 USN

USS Pruitt 1 USN

USS Pennsylvania

Hospital Point

USS Downes

18 USN • 6 USMC

USS Sicard 1 USN

12 USN

N AV Y YAR D

US Navy

Other Casualties on Oahu

1,999 USAAF

USMC

217

109 Wahiawa

Civilian

US Army

49

16

Wheeler Field Schofield Barracks

OAHU Waipahu

Pearl City

Red Hill Pearl Ford Island Harbor Fort Ewa Fort Shafter Barrette Hickam Field Ewa Camp Malakole MCAS Honolulu Fort Fort John Rodgers Weaver Kamehameha Airport

Kaneohe Bay NAS

2,083

Bellows Field

307

shipboard casualties in Pearl Harbor

other casualties on Oahu

dreamline cartography / david deis

Howard E. Manges. John W. Martin. George V. McGraw. Clyde C. McMeans. Aaron L. McMurtrey. James W. Milner. James D. Minter. Bernard J. Mirello. William A. Montgomery. Marlyn W. Nelson. Wayne E. Newton. June W. Parker. Kenneth M. Payne. George E. Pendarvis. Lewis W. Pitts, Jr. Alexsander J. Przybysz. Roy A. Pullen. Edward S. Racisz. Thomas J. Reeves. Joseph L. Richey. Edwin H. Ripley. Earl R. Roberts. Alfred A. Rosenthal. Joe B. Ross. Frank W. Royse. Morris F. Saffell. Robert R. Scott. Erwin L. Searle. Russell K. Shelly, Jr. Frank L. Simmons. Tceollyar Simmons. Lloyd G. Smith. Gordon W. Stafford. Leo Stapler. Charles E. Sweany. Edward F. Szurgot. Frank P. Treanor. Pete Turk. George V. Ulrich. George E. Vining. David Walker. Milton S. Wilson. Steven J. Wodarski. John C. Wydila. Mathew J. Agola. Clarence A. Wise. Joseph I. Caro. Lee H. Duke. Clifton E. Edmonds. John W. Frazier. Nickolas S. Ganas. George H. Guy. Kenneth J. Hartley. Edward S. Haven, Jr. Anthony Hawkins, Jr. Thomas Hembree. Andrew Kin. Robert S. Lowe. James E. Massey. Maurice Mastrototaro. Jesse K. Milbourne. Dean B. Orwick. William J. Powell. Wilson A. Rice. Howard A. Rosenau. Benjamin Schlect. Joseph Sperling. J.W. Baker. Howard F. Carter. Roy A. Gross. Andrew M. Marze. James E. Bailey. Benjamin L. Brown. Marvin J. Clapp. Thomas W. Collins. Edward C. Daly. Albert J. Hitrik. George E. Jones. John A. Marshall. Nolan E. Pummill. William H. Silva. Perry W. Strickland. James Vinson. Mitchell Cohn. Fred J. Ducolon. Manuel Gonzalez. Leonard J. Kozelek. William C. Miller. Sidney Pierce. John H. L. Vogt, Jr. Walter M. Willis. Eric Allen, Jr. Frederick F. Hebel. Herbert H. Menges. Salvatore J. Albanese. Thomas E. Aldridge. Robert A. Arnesen. Loren L. Beardsley. Regis J. Bodecker. William J. Carter. Luther E. Cisco. Allen A. Davis. Ernest B. Dickens. Richard H. Dobbins. Robert N. Edling. Leland E. Erbes. Robert J. Flannery. Eugene D. Fuzi. Arthur J. Gardner. Robert D. Greenwald. Arvel C. Hines. Donald W. Johnson. Ernest G. Kuzee. Carl R. Love. Marvin W. Mayo. Orville R. Minix. Edo Morincelli. Hugh K. Naff. John C. Pensyl. Joe O. Powers. Ralph W. Thompson. Edward B. Uhlig. John J. Urban. Benjamin F. Vassar. Hoge C. Venable, Jr. Oswald C. Wohl. Michael C. Yugovich. Claire R. Brier. Howard D. Crow. James B. Ginn. Warren H. McCutcheon. Arnold L. Anderson. Zoilo Aquino. James R. Bingham. Herman Bledsoe. Lyle L. Briggs. Harold J. Christopher. Joseph W. Cook. Leon J. Corbin. Leo P. Cotner. Frederick C. Davis. Lonnie W. Dukes. Edward W. Echols. Harry L. Edwards. George L. Faddis. Kay I. Fugate. Samuel M. Gantner. Thomas R. Giles. Herman A. Goetsch. Arthur K. Gullachson. Johnie W. Hallmark. Charles W. Harker. Gerald L. Heim. Edwin J. Hill. Edgar E. Hubner. Robert C. Irish. Flavous B.M. Johnson. Kenneth T. Lamons. Wilbur T. Lipe. John K. Luntta. Andres F. Mafnas. Dale L. Martin. Frazier Mayfield. Lester F. McGhee. Edward L. McGuckin. William F. Neuendorf, Jr. Alwyn B. Norvelle. Elmer M. Patterson. Eugene E. Peck. Mark C. Robison. Emil O. Ronning. Harvey G. Rushford. Herbert C. Schwarting. Donald R. Shaum. Adolfo Solar. Herman A. Spear. Delbert J. Spencer. George J. Stembrosky. Charles E. Strickland. Lee V. Thunhorst. Ivan I. Walton. Marvin B. Adkins. Willard H. Aldridge. Hugh R. Alexander. Stanley W. Allen. Hal J. Allison. Leon Arickx. Kenneth B. Armstrong. Daryle E. Artley. John C. Auld. John A. Austin. Walter H. Backman. Gerald J. Bailey. Robert E. Bailey. Wilbur F. Ballance. Layton T. Banks. Leroy K. Barber. Malcolm J. Barber. Randolph H. Barber. Cecil E. Barncord. Wilber C. Barrett. Harold E. Bates. Ralph C. Battles. Earl P. Baum. Howard W. Bean. Walter S. Belt, Jr. Robert J. Bennett. Harding C. Blackburn. William E. Blanchard. Clarence A. Blaylock. Leo Blitz. Rudolph Blitz. John G. Bock, Jr. Paul L. Boemer. James B. Booe. James B. Boring. Ralph M. Boudreaux. Lawrence A. Boxrucker. Raymond D. Boynton. Carl M. Bradley. Oris V. Brandt. Jack A. Breedlove. Randall W. Brewer. William Brooks. Wesley J. Brown. William G. Bruesewitz. James R. Buchanan. Earl G. Burch. Oliver K. Burger. Millard Burk, Jr. Rodger C. Butts. Archie Callahan, Jr. Raymond R. Camery. William V. Campbell. Murry R. Cargile. Harold F. Carney. Joseph W. Carroll. Edward E. Casinger. Biacio Casola. Charles R. Casto. Richard E. Casto. James T. Cheshire. Patrick L. Chess. David Clark, Jr. Gerald L. Clayton. Hubert P. Clement. Floyd F. Clifford. George A. Coke. James E. Collins. John G. Connolly. Keefe R. Connolly. Edward L. Conway. Grant C. Cook, Jr. Robert L. Corn. Beoin H. Corzatt. John W. Craig. Warren H. Crim. Samuel W. Crowder. William M. Curry. Glenn G. Cyriack. Marshall E. Darby, Jr. James W. Davenport, Jr. Francis D. Day. Leslie P. Delles. Ralph A. Derrington. Francis E. Dick. Leaman R. Dill. Kenneth E. Doernenburg. John M. Donald. Carl D. Dorr. Bernard V. Doyle. Stanislaw F. Drwall. Cyril I. Dusset. Buford H. Dyer. Wallace E. Eakes. Eugene K. Eberhardt. David B. Edmonston. Earl M. Ellis. Bruce H. Ellison. Julius Ellsberry. John C. England. Ignacio C. Farfan. Luther J. Farmer. Lawrence H. Fecho. Charlton H. Ferguson. Robert A. Fields. William M. Finnegan. Francis C. Flaherty. James M. Flanagan. Felicismo

Florese. Walter C. Foley. George P. Foote. George C. Ford. Joy C. French. Tedd M. Furr. Michael Galajdik. Martin A. Gara. Jesus F. Garcia. Eugene Garris. Paul H. Gebser. Leonard R. Geller. George T. George. George H. Gibson. George E. Giesa. Quentin J. Gifford. George Gilbert. Warren C. Gillette. Benjamin E. Gilliard. Arthur Glenn. Daryl H. Goggin. Jack R. Goldwater. Charles C. Gomez, Jr. George M. Gooch. Clifford G. Goodwin. Robert Goodwin. Duff Gordon. Claude O. Gowey. Wesley E. Graham. Arthur M. Grand Pre. Thomas E. Griffith. Edgar D. Gross. Vernon N. Grow. Daniel L. Guisinger, Jr. William I. Gurganus. William F. Gusie. Hubert P. Hall. Robert E. Halterman. Harold W. Ham. Dale R. Hamlin. Eugene P. Hann. Francis L. Hannon. George Hanson. Robert J. Harr. Charles H. Harris. Daniel F. Harris. Louis E. Harris, Jr. Albert E. Hayden. Harold L. Head. Robert W. Headington. William F. Hellstern. Floyd D. Helton. Jimmie L. Henrichsen. William E. Henson, Jr. Harvey C. Herber. George Herbert. Austin H. Hesler. Denis H. Hiskett. Joseph P. Hittorff, Jr. Frank S. Hoag, Jr. Herbert J. Hoard. Joseph W. Hoffman. Kenneth L. Holm. Harry R. Holmes. James W. Holzhauer. Edwin C. Hopkins. Chester G. Hord. Frank A. Hryniewicz. Charles E. Hudson. Lorentz E. Hultgren. Robert M. Hunter. Claydon I.C. Iverson. Willie Jackson. Herbert B. Jacobson. Challis R. James. George W. Jarding. Kenneth L. Jayne. Theodore Q. Jensen. Jesse B. Jenson. Charles H. Johannes. Billy J. Johnson. Edward D. Johnson. Joseph M. Johnson. Jim H. Johnston. Charles A. Jones. Fred M. Jones. Jerry Jones. Julian B. Jordan. Wesley V. Jordan. Thomas V. Jurashen. Albert U. Kane. John A. Karli. Howard V. Keffer. Ralph H. Keil. Donald G. Keller. Joe M. Kelley. Warren J. Kempf. Leo T. Keninger. William H. Kennedy. Elmer T. Kerestes. David L. Kesler. William A. Klasing. Verne F. Knipp. Hans C. Kvalnes. William L. Kvidera. D.T. Kyser. Elliott D. Larsen. Johnnie C. Laurie. Elmer P. Lawrence. Willard I. Lawson. Gerald G. Lehman. Myron K. Lehman. Lionel W. Lescault. Harold W. Lindsey. John H. Lindsley. Alfred E. Livingston. Clarence M. Lockwood. Adolph J. Loebach. Vernon T. Luke. Octavius Mabine. Howard S. Magers. Michael Malek. Algeo V. Malfante. Walter B. Manning. Henri C. Mason. Joseph K. Maule. Edwin B. McCabe. Donald R. McCloud. James O. McDonald. Bert E. McKeeman. Hale McKissack. Lloyd E. McLaughlin. Earl R. Melton. Herbert F. Melton. Archie T. Miles. Wallace G. Mitchell. Charles A. Montgomery. John M. Mulick. Ray H. Myers. George E. Naegle. Elmer D. Nail. Paul A. Nash. Don O. Neher. Arthur C. Neuenschwander. Sam D. Nevill. Wilbur F. Newton. Carl Nichols. Harry E. Nichols. Frank E. Nicoles. Arnold M. Nielsen. Laverne A. Nigg. Joe R. Nightingale. Charles E. Nix. Camillus M. O’Grady. Charles R. Ogle. Eli Olsen. Jarvis G. Outland. Lawrence J. Overley. Alphard S. Owsley. Millard C. Pace. James Palides, Jr. Calvin H. Palmer. Wilferd D. Palmer. George L. Paradis. Isaac Parker. Dale F. Pearce. Walter R. Pentico. Stephen Pepe. Charles F. Perdue. Wiley J. Perway. Milo E. Phillips. James N. Phipps. Gerald H. Pirtle. Rudolph V. Piskuran. Herbert J. Poindexter, Jr. Brady O. Prewitt. Robert L. Pribble. George F. Price. Lewis B. Pride, Jr. Jasper L. Pue, Jr. Paul S. Raimond. Eldon C. Ray. Dan E. Reagan. Leo B. Regan. Irvin F. Rice. Porter L. Rich. Clyde Ridenour, Jr. David J. Riley. Russell C. Roach. Joseph M. Robertson. Harold W. Roesch. Walter B. Rogers. Joseph C. Rouse. Charles L. Ruse. Edmund T. Ryan. Roman W. Sadlowski. Kenneth H. Sampson. Dean S. Sanders. Charles L. Saunders. Lyal J. Sav. John E. Savidge. Paul E. Saylor. Walter F. Schleiter. Herman Schmidt. Aloysius H. Schmitt. Andrew J. Schmitz. John H. Schoonover. Bernard O. Scott. Chester E. Seaton. Verdi D. Sederstrom. William L. Sellon. Everett I. Severinson. William K. Shafer. William J. Shanahan, Jr. Edward J. Shelden. William G. Silva. Eugene M. Skaggs. Garold L. Skiles. Edward F. Slapikas. Leonard F. Smith. Merle A. Smith. Rowland H. Smith. Walter H. Sollie. James C. Solomon. Maurice V. Spangler. Kirby R. Stapleton. Ulis C. Steely. Walter C. Stein. Samuel C. Steiner. Charles M. Stern, Jr. Everett R. Stewart. Lewis S. Stockdate. Donald A. Stott. Robert T. Stout. James Stouten. Milton R. Surratt. Charles H. Swanson. Edward E. Talbert. Rangner F. Tanner, Jr. Monroe Temple. Houston Temples. Benjamin C. Terhune. Arthur R. Thinnes. Charles W. Thompson. Clarence Thompson. George A. Thompson. Irvin A.R. Thompson. William M. Thompson. Richard J. Thomson. Cecil H. Thornton. Robert L. Thrombley. David F. Tidball. Lloyd R. Timm. Lewis F. Tindall. Dante S. Tini. Henry G. Tipton. Everett C. Titterington. Neal K. Todd. Natale I. Torti. Orval A. Tranbarger. Harold F. Trapp. William H. Trapp. Shelby Treadway. William D. Tucker. Victor P. Tumlinson. Billy Turner. Louis J. Tushla. Russell O. Ufford. Lowell E. Valley. Durrell Wade. Lewis L. Wagoner. Harry E. Walker. Robert N. Walkowiak. Eugene A. Walpole. Charles E. Walters. James R. Ward. Edward Wasielewski. Richard L. Watson. James C. Webb. William E. Welch. Alfred F. Wells. Ernest R. West. John D. Wheeler. Claude White. Jack D. White. Alton W. Whitson. Eugene W. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 41

Wicker. Lloyd P. Wiegand. George J. Wilcox, Jr. Albert L. Williams. James C. Williams. Wilbur S. Williams. Bernard R. Wimmer. Everett G. Windle. Starring B. Winfield. Rex E. Wise. Frank Wood. Lawrence E. Woods. Winfred O. Woods. Creighton H. Workman. John L. Wortham. Paul R. Wright. Eldon P. Wyman. Martin D. Young. Robert V. Young. Joseph J. Yurko. Thomas Zvansky. Robert E. Arnott. Henry E. Baker, Jr. Charles Braga, Jr. Evan B. Brekken. Frederick A. Browne. Harold K. Comstock. James E. Craig. Clarence F. Haase. Dancil J. McIntosh. Joseph A. Muhofski. James P. Owens. Joseph W. Pace. Damian M. Portillo. Richard R. Rall. William H. Rice. Martin R. Slifer. Payton L. Vanderpool, Jr. Claude B. Watson, Jr. George R. Keith. Frank J. Annunziato. Anthony Bilyi. Albert J. Bolen. Guy W. Carroll. Leon Egbert. Fred Fugate. Joseph L.B. Gaudrault. Paul G. Gosnell. Rodney W. Jones. John S. McAllen. Robert C. McQuade. Clyde C. Moore. Chester L. Parks. George A. Penuel, Jr. Robert A. Petz. Ernest C. Porter, Jr. Daniel P. Platschorre. Edward J. Quirk. John T. Rainbolt. Benjamin N. Russell. Johnnie H. Spaeth. Frank W. Stief, Jr. Palmer L. Taylor. James R. Westbrook. Clyde Williams. Warren P. Hickok. Jesse L. Adams. Alfred W. Hudgell. J.B. Delane Miller. Eugene O. Roe. Gerald O. Smith. John A. Bird. John W. Pence. Laddie J. Zacek. William D. Arbuckle. Joseph Barta. Rudolph P. Bielka. Virgil C. Bigham. John E. Black. John T. Blackburn. Pallas F. Brown. William F. Brunner. Feliciano T. Bugarin. George V. Chestnutt, Jr. Lloyd D. Clippard. Joseph U. Conner. John R. Crain. David L. Crossett. Billy R. Davis. Leroy Dennis. Douglas R. Dieckhoff. William H. Dosser. Vernon J. Eidsvig. Melvyn A. Gandre. Kenneth M. Gift. Charles N. Gregoire. Herold A. Harveson. Clifford D. Hill. Emery L. Houde. David W. Jackson. Leroy H. Jones. William A. Juedes. John L. Kaelin. Eric T. Kampmeyer. Joseph N. Karabon. William H. Kent. George W. LaRue. John G. Little III. Kenneth L. Lynch. William E. Marshall, Jr. Rudolph M. Martinez. Charles O. Michael. Marvin E. Miller. Donald C. Norman. Orris N. Norman. Edwin N. Odgaard. Elmer A. Parker. Forrest H. Perry. James W. Phillips. Walter H. Ponder. Frank E. Reed. Ralph E. Scott. Henson T. Shouse. George R. Smith. Robert D. Smith. Joseph B. Sousley. Gerald V. Strinz. Peter Tomich. Elmer H. Ulrich. Michael W. Villa. Vernard O. Wetrich. Glen A. White. Harold R. Arneberg. William Duane. Lowell B. Jackson. Charles W. Jones. Raymond J. Kerrigan. Guy E. Long. William H. Reid. Welborn L. Ashby. Benjamin E. Bargerhuff, Jr. William L. Barnett. Frank J. Bartek, Jr. Mervyn S. Bennion. Charlie V. Booton. Fred H. Boyer. George O. Branham. Ennis E. Brooks. Charles D. Brown. Riley M. Brown. John E. Burgess, Jr. William C. Campbell. William G. Christian. Harold K. Costill. Louis A. Costin. Charles E. Cottier. Howard D. Cromwell. Eugene V. Downing. Donald L. Drum. George S. Dunn, Jr. Edward N. Durkee. Clement E. Durr. Tommy Dye. Roland W. Edwards. Ronald B. Endicott. Richard B. England. Woodrow W. Evans. Jose S.N. Flores. Jack Foth. Gilbert R. Fox. Neil D. Frye. Angelo M. Gabriele. Claude R. Garcia. Bibian B. Gonzales. Myron E. Goodwin. Arthur Gould. Harry J. Halvorsen. Hugh B. Harriss. Hadley I. Heavin. Fred A. Hilt. Howard D. Hodges. Joseph E. Hood. William D. Horton. Ira D. Hudson. William C. Jackson. Carl S. Johnson. Sanford V. Kelley, Jr. Chester F. Kleist. Milton J. Knight, Jr. William P. Kubinec. Henry E. LaCrosse, Jr. Thomas F. Leary. Joseph S.L. Lemire. Eugene V. Lish. Royle B. Luker. Donald W. Lynch. Arnold E. Lyon. Charles W. Mann. Jesus M. Mata. Donald J. Mathison. Luther K. McBee. Thomas A. McClelland. Lawrence J. McCollom. Clarence W. McComas. Quentin G. McKee. John A. Meglis. John R. Melton. Enrique C. Mendiola. Joe E. Mister. Wallace A. Montgomery. William F. Morris. Albin J. Mrace. Clair C. Myers. Earl T. Nermoe. Paul E. Newton. Emile S. Noce. Maurice M. O’Connor. Clifford N. Olds. Arnold J. Owsley. Walter J. Paciga. James A. Paolucci. Andrew A. Pinko. Jack A. Pitcher. Roy W. Powers. George B. Reid. Albert Renner. Leonard C. Richter. Ernest C. Rose. Glenn D. Sahl. Theodore H.

Hickam Field

Iroquois Point

Marine Barracks 42

PEARL HARBOR STORIES

Saulsbury. Richard M. Schuon, Jr. George W. Scott. Gordon E. Smith. Ernest E. Speicher. Otis D. Sterling. George E. Taber. Ernie E. Tibbs. Keith W. Tipsword. Albert P. VanderGoore. Joseph Vogelgesang, Jr. Thomas G. Wagner. Bethel E. Walters. Harold Wilbur. Clyde R. Wilson. Lester F. Zobeck. Theodore W. Croft. Stanley D. Dosick. John D. Buckley. Clarence M. Formoe. Rodney S. Foss. Milburn A. Manning. James H. Robinson. Joseph G. Smartt. Luther D. Weaver. Walter S. Brown. Lee Fox, Jr. Daniel T. Griffin. George W. Ingram. Charles Lawrence. Carl W. Otterstetter. Robert K. Porterfield. Robert W. Uhlmann. Raphael A. Watson. Laxton G. Newman. Arthur W. Russett. John H. Thuman.

USS ARIZONA • US MARINE CORPS Leo DeVere Amundson. John Calvin Atchison. George Richmond Bailey. Joseph Baraga. David William Bartlett. Freddie Beaton. Everett Ray Belt, Jr. James Theron Black. Burnis Leroy Bond. Edwin Charles Borusky. Eugene Brickley. Donald Ross Chandler. Charles Warren Cole. Virgil Denton Davis. James Berkley Dawson. Frederick Eugene Delong. Herbert Allen Dreesbach. Robert Wesley Dunnam. Russell Durio. John Duveene. Robert Charles Erskine. David Delton Evans. Allen Brady Fincher. Dexter Wilson Fincher. Woodrow Wilson Finley. Kent Blake Fitzgerald. Donald Eugene Fleetwood. Daniel Russell Fox. Lawrence J. Griffin. Don Edgar Hamel. William D. Harmon. Paul Edward Herrick. Walter Holzworth. Harold W. Hope. Robert Chilton Hudnall. Robert Glenn Huff. Marvin Austin Hughes. Donald Standly Hultman. Leslie Creade Hux. Donald D. Jerrison. Quincy Eugene Jones. Henry Kalinowski. Billy Mack Keen. James Albert Krahn. James E. Lindsay. William Joseph Lovshin. Richard J. Minear, Jr. Francis Clayton Mostek. James Francis McCarrens. Henry Ellis Nolatubby. Joseph Bernard O’Brien. Clarence Rankin Patterson. Francis James Pedrotti. Alexander Louis Piasecki. Jack Speed Powell. Abner Franklin Power. Rudolph Herbert Reinhold. William Jacob Schnieider. Crawford Edward Scott. George Harrison Scott. Gordon Eshom Shive. Carleton Elliott Simensen. Jack Bertrand Sniff. Frank Jake Stevenson. Richard Patt Stovall. Stanley Stephen Swiontek. Theodore Stephen Szabo. Carl Edward Webb. Bernard Arthur Weier. Gilbert Henry Whisler. Robert James Windish. Robert England Windle. Russell Duane Wittenberg.

USS ARIZONA • US NAVY Hubert Charles Titus Aaron. Samuel Adolphus Abercrombie. Robert Franklin Adams. James Dillion Adkison. Reyner Aceves Aguirre. Gregorio San N. Aguon. Richard James Ahern. Francis Severin Alberovsky. Galen Winston Albright. Elvis Author Alexander. Robert Lee Allen. William Clayborn Allen. William Lewis Allen. Jay Edgar Alley. Andrew K. Allison. J.T. Allison. Ernest Mathew Alten. Frederick Purdy Amon. Charles Titus Anderson. Delbert Jake Anderson. Donald William Anderson. Harry Anderson. Howard Taisey Anderson. Irwin Corinthis Anderson. James Pickins Anderson, Jr. Lawrence Donald Anderson. Robert Adair Anderson. Brainerd Wells Andrews. Earnest Hersea Angle. Glenn Samuel Anthony. James Raymond Aplin. Robert William Apple. Frank Anthony Aprea. Eston Arledge. Achilles Arnaud. William Robert Arneberg. Claude Duran Arnold, Jr. Thell Arnold. John Anderson Arrant. Carl Harry Arvidson. Wilburn James Ashmore. Gerald Arthur Atkins. Laverne Alfred Austin. Eligah T. Autry, Jr. Willard Charles Aves. Miller Xavier Aydell. Dee Cumpie Ayers. Manuel Domonic Badilla. Billy Bryon Baird. Joseph Bajorims. Robert Dewey Baker. William V. Ball. Wayne Lynn Bandy. John Henry Bangert. Charles Thomas Bardon. Loren Joe Barker. Walter Ray Barner. Charles Edward Barnes. Delmar Hayes Barnes. William Thermon Barnett. Paul Clement Bartlett. Edward Munroe Bates, Jr. Tobert Alvin Bates. Edward Bator. Harold Walter Bauer. James Ammon Beaumont. George Richard Beck. Marvin Otto Becker. Wesley Paulson Becker. Purdy

Waianae Mountains

USS South Dakota

There was life after December 7 for Pearl Harbor. Lieutenant Robert F. Walden, who helped with the recovery, shot eight photos that look out across the harbor from 100 feet above ground (perhaps from a crane), probably in January 1944. Assembled, they create an approximately 280-degree panorama that shows a busy wartime harbor.

Ford Island

USS Enterprise

East Loch

Thomas Crowe. Thomas Ewing Crowley. William Joseph Curry. Lloyd B. Curtis. Lyle Carl Curtis. Harold Bernard Cybulski. Francis Anton Cychosz. Stanley Czarnecki. Theophil Czekajski. Richard Norbert Dahlheimer. Lloyd Naxton Daniel. Andrew Joseph Danik. Phillip Zane Darch. Paul Eugene Daugherty. John Quitman Davis. Milton Henry Davis. Murle Melvin Davis. Myrle Clarence Davis. Thomas Ray Davis. Walter Mindred Davis. William John Day. Donald Edwin De Armoun. Vicente De Castro. Lyle Bernard Dean. Russell Edwin Deritis. John James Dewitt. John Buchanan Dial. Ralph R. Dick. John George Dine. Robert Joseph Dineen. Milton Paul Dobey, Jr. George Walter Doherty. John Albert Doherty. Ned Burton Donohue. John Monroe Dority. Ralph McClearn Dougherty. Wand B. Doyle. Bill Lester Driver. Louis Felix Ducrest. Robert Edward Duke. Jerald Fraser Dullum. Kenneth Leroy Dunaway. Elmer Marvin Dunham. Arthur Joseph Dupree. William Teasdale Durham. Alvin Albert Dvorak. Emory Lowell Eaton. Walter Charles Ebel. Vincent Henry Eberhart. Charles Louis Echols, Jr. Henry Clarence Echternkamp. Bruce Roosevelt Edmunds. William Frederick Eernisse. Robert Ross Egnew. Casper Ehlert. Frank Ehrmantraut, Jr. Francis Arnold Ellis, Jr. Richard Everrett Ellis. Wilbur Danner Ellis. Royal Elwell. Bill Eugene Embrey. Jack Marvin Emery. John Marvin Emery. Wesley Vernon Emery. Stanley Gordon Enger. Robert Erickson. Stanley Joe Erwin. Walton Aluard Erwin. Carl James Estep. Carl Edwen Estes. Forrest Jesse Estes. Leslie Edgar Etchason. Richard Henry Eulberg. Evan Frederick Evans. Mickey Edward Evans. Paul Anthony Evans. William Orville Evans. Alfred Adam Ewell. George Eyed. Alvin E. Fallis. Edgar Arthur Fansler. John Wilson Farmer. Nicolas San Nicolas Fegurgur. John Fess, Jr. Bernard Fields. Reliford Fields. Ralph Elmer Fife. George Arthur Filkins. Henry Amis Firth. Leslie Henry Fischer. Delbert Ray Fisher. James Anderson Fisher. Robert Ray Fisher. Charles Porter Fisk III. Simon Fitch. Eugene James Fitzsimmons. James Lowell Flannery. Frank Norman Floege. Max Edward Flory. George Everett Fones. Jack C. Ford. William Walker Ford. Elmer Lee Foreman. Alvie Charles Fortenberry. George Parten Fowler. Leroy George Frank. Charles Donald Frederick. Thomas Augusta Free. William Thomas Free. John Edmund French. Robert Niven Frizzell. Robert Wilson Fulton. Frank Francis Funk. Lawrence Henry Funk. Roy Arthur Gager. Ernest Russell Gargaro. Raymond Wesley Garlington. Orville Wilmer Garrett. Gerald Ernest Gartin. William Frank Gaudette. Ralph Martin Gaultney. Philip Robert Gazecki. Kenneth Edward Gebhardt. Kenneth Floyd Geer. Marvin Frederick Geise. Samuel Henry Gemienhardt, Jr. Roscoe Gholston. Billy Edwin Gibson. Karl Anthony Giesen. Richard Eugene Gill. Michael James Giovenazzo. Harold Reuben Givens. Angelo Gobbin. Wiley Coy Goff. Edward Gomez, Jr. Leland Good. William Arthur Goodwin. Peter Charles Gordon, Jr. Edward Webb Gosselin. Joseph Adjutor Gosselin. Harry Lee Gould. Rupert Clair Gove. Raymond Edward Granger. Lawrence Everett Grant. Albert James Gray. Lawrence Moore Gray. William James Gray, Jr. Glen Hubert Green. Carroll Gale Greenfield. Reese Olin Griffin. Robert Alfred Griffiths. Robert Beryle Grissinger. Warren Wilbert Grosnickle. Milton Henry Gross. Richard Gunner Grundstrom. Jesse Herbert Gurley. Curtis Haas, Jr. Samuel William Haden. Floyd Bates Haffner. Robert Wesley Haines. John Rudolph Hall. William Ignatius Halloran. Clarence James Hamilton. Edwin Carrell Hamilton. William Holman Hamilton. George Winston Hammerud. J.D. Hampton. Ted W. Hampton, Jr. Walter Lewis Hampton. David Darling Hanna. Carlyle B. Hansen. Harvey Ralph Hansen. Edward Joseph Hanzel. Charles Eugene Hardin. Kenneth William Hargraves. Keith Homer Harrington. George Ellsworth Harris. Hiram Dennis Harris. James William Harris. Noble Burnice Harris. Peter John Harris. Alvin Hartley. Max June Hartsoe. Lonnie Moss Hartson. James Thomas Hasl. James Wallace Haverfield. Harvey Linfille Havins. Russell Dean Hawkins. John Doran Hayes. Kenneth Merle Hayes. Curtis James Haynes. William

Tripler Hospital

USS Saratoga PEARL HARBOR STORIES 43

PANORAMA COURTESY OF BURL BURLINGAME. ORIGINAL PHOTOS: ROBERT F. WALDEN COLLECTION, UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA LIBRARY

Renaker Bedford. Henry Carl Beerman. Harold Eugene Beggs. Hershel Homer Bell. Richard Leroy Bell. James Curtis Bellamy. Sam Austin Benford. William Edmond Bennett, Jr. James Thomas Benson. Roger Joseph Bergin. Albert Charles Berkanski. Frank Peter Bernard. Gordon Eugene Berry. James Winford Berry. Arthur Anthony Bersch. George Allan Bertie, Jr. Charles Henry Bibby. Kenneth Robert Bickel. Dale Deen Bicknell. Frederick Robert Bircher. Rayon Delois Birdsell. George Albert Birge. Grover Barron Bishop. Millard Charles Bishop. Wesley Horner Bishop, Jr. Albert Edward Blais. James Monroe Blake. Albert Richard Blanchard. Theron A. Blankenship. Atticus Lee Blanton. Richmond Frederick Blieffert. Ivan Lee Block. Wayman Boney Blount. Roy Eugene Boggess. Sam Bohlender. Gerald Revese Bolling. Walter Karr Bolling. Buford Earl Bonebrake. William John Bonfiglio. Robert Sinclair Booth, Jr. Asbury Legare Booze. Richard Borger. Joseph John Borovich. Kenneth Leroy Bosley. Walter Robert Boviall. Howard Alton Bowman. Charles Andrew Boyd. Don Jasper Boydstun. R.L. Boydstun. Oran Merrill Brabbzson. Bruce Dean Bradley. Kenneth Gay Brakke. James Leon Bridges. Paul Hyatt Bridges. Robert Maurice Bridie. Erminio Joseph Brignole. Charles Edward Brittan. Johnnie Cecil Broadhead. Walter Pershing Brock. George Edward Bromley. Jimmie Bromley. Robert Neal Brooks. Loy Raymond Broome. Allen Ottis Brooner. Myron Alonzo Brophy. Charles Martin Brown. Elwyn Leroy Brown. Frank George Brown. Richard Corbett Brown. William Howard Brown. Harry Lamont Browne. Tilmon David Browning. James William Brune. Leland Howard Bryan. Lloyd Glenn Bryant. Jack C. Buckley. Robert Emile Budd. Clarence Edward Buhr. Ralph Leon Burden. Ralph Warren Burdette. Frank Edmond Burke, Jr. Charlie Leroy Burnett. John Edward Burns. Dewey Olney Busick. David Adrian Butcher. John Dabney Butler. Charles Dewitt Byrd. Louis Clarence Cabay. Richard Esh Cade. Charles Caldwell, Jr. James Thomas Callaghan. Raymond Edward Camden. William Fielden Camm. Ralph Campa. Burdette Charles Campbell. Donald William Caplinger. Francis Lloyd Carey. Robert Wayne Carlisle. Harry Ludwig Carlson. Harold Milton Carmack. Robert Nelson Carpenter. Robert Lewis Carroll. Burton Lowell Carter. Paxton Turner Carter. James Warren Casey. Epifanio Miranda Casilan. Clarence Merton Caskey. Claude W. Castleberry, Jr. George Catsos. Raymond Vincent Chace. Charles Bruce Chadwick. Harold Chadwick. Naaman N. Chapman. Charles Nicholas Charlton. Harry Gregory Chernucha. Edward Chester. Elmer Emil Christensen. Lloyd Raymond Christensen. Edward Lee Christiansen. Lawrence John Cihlar. George Francis Ckark. John Crawford Todd Clark. Malcolm Clark. Robert William Clark, Jr. Robert Eugene Clarke. Donald Clash. Robert Roland Clayton. Claude Albert Clemmens. Ray Emerson Clift. Edward Blanchard Cloues. Edward Hay Clough. Ballard Burgher Cobb. Walter Overton Coburn. Kenneth Earl Cockrum. Robert Coffin. Marshall Herman Coffman. David Lester Cole. Willett S. Colegrove, Jr. John Collier. Linald Long Collier, Jr. Austin Collins. Billy Murl Collins. Bernard Eugene Conlin. James Leo Conlin. Richard Earl Connelly. Homer Milton Conrad, Jr. Robert Frank Conrad. Walter Ralph Conrad. Clarence Eugene Cooper. Kenneth Erven Cooper. Gerard John Corcoran. Ernest Eugene Corey. P.W. Cornelius. Russell Dale Corning. Arthur Lee Coulter. William Cowan. Joel Beman Cowden. Gerald Blinton Cox. William Milford Cox. Harley Wade Craft. Wallace Dewight Crawley. Louis Edward Cremeens. Michael Criscuolo. Wilfred John Criswell. Cecil

Henry Hays. Jack Claudius Hazdovac. Frank Bernard Head. Verrell Roy Heater. Alfred Grant Heath. Robert Lee Hebel. Warren Guy Heckendorn. Jess Laxton Hedger. Paul Henry Hedrick. Leo Shinn Heely. Edward Joseph Heidt. Wesley John Heidt. Merritt Cameron Helm. William Walter Henderson. Frank Hendricksen. James Herring, Jr. Robert Asher Herriott, Jr. Darrel Miller Hess. Anthony Joseph Hessdorfer. Robert Arnold Hibbard. Arthur Lee Hickman. Elmer Orville Hicks. Ralph Dueard Hicks. Bartley Talor Hill. Wilson Woodrow Hilton. Frank Weaver Hindman. Garris Vada Hodges. Lester John Hoelscher. Claude Herbert Holland, Jr. Paul Zepp Hollenbach. Ralph Hollis. George Sanford Hollowell. Lowell D. Holmes. Henry Vernon Homer. Homer David Hopkins. Melvin Freeland Horn. Harvey Howard Horrell. James William Horrocks. John Emmet Hosler. Clem Raymond House. John James Housel. Elmo Howard. Rolan George Howard. Darrell Robert Howe. Leroy Howell. Haywood Hubbard, Jr. Clyde Franklin Huffman. Bernard Thomas Hughes. Lewis Burton Hughes, Jr. James Clynton Hughey. Doyne Conley Huie. Robert Fredrick Hunter. Henry Louis Huntington. Willard Hardy Hurd. Wendell Ray Hurley. Ivan Joseph Huval. Arthur Albert Huys. William Hughes Hyde. Joseph Claude Iak. Howard Burt Ibbotson. Richard Fitch Ingalls. Theodore A. Ingalls. David Archie Ingraham. Orville Adalbert Isham. Luther James Isom. Earl Henry Iversen. Norman Kenneth Iversen. Charles Andrew Ivey, Jr. David Paul Jackson, Jr. Robert Woods Jackson. John Burditt James. Edwin Earl Jante. Clifford Thurston Janz. Edwin Charles Jastrzemski. Victor Lawrence Jeans. Keith Jeffries. Robert Henry Dawson Jenkins. Keith Marlow Jensen. Paul Frederick Johann. David Andrew Johnson, Jr. Edmund Russell Johnson. John Russell Johnson. Samuel Earle Johnson. Sterling Conrad Johnson. Berry Stanley Jolley. Daniel Pugh Jones. Edmon Ethmer Jones. Floyd Baxter Jones. Harry Cecil Jones. Henry Jones, Jr. Homer Lloyd Jones. Hugh Jones, Jr. Leland Jones. Thomas Raymond Jones. Warren Allen Jones. Willard Worth Jones. Woodrow Wilson Jones. Calvin Wilbur Joyce. Albert John Judd. Harold Lee Kagarice. Robert Oscar Kaiser. Eugene Louis Katt. Paul Daniel Keller. James Dennis Kelley. Wilbur Leroy Kellogg. Robert Lee Kelly. Donald Lee Keniston. Kenneth Howard Keniston. Kenneth Frank Kennard. Charles Cecil Kennington. Milton Homer Kennington. Texas Thomas Kent, Jr. Isaac Campbell Kidd. Ronald William Kiehn. Charles Ermin Kieselbach. Gordon Blane King. Leander Cleaveland King. Lewis Meyer King. Robert Nicholas King, Jr. Frederick William Kinney. Gilbert Livingston Kinney. Wilbur Albert Kirchhoff. Thomas Larcy Kirkpatrick. Edward Klann. Robert Edwin Kline. Francis Lawrence Klopp. Robert Wagner Knight. William Knubel, Jr. Walter Ernest Koch. Clarence D. Koenekamp. Herman Oliver Koeppe. Brosig Kolajajck. Albert Joseph Konnick. John Anthony Kosec. Robert Kovar. James Henry Kramb. John David Kramb. Robert Rudolph Kramer. Fred Joseph Krause. Max Sam Krissman. Richard Warren Kruger. Adolph Louis Kruppa. Howard Helgi Kukuk. Stanley Kula. Donald Joseph Kusie. William Richard La Francea. Ralph B. La Mar. Willard Dale La Salle. Robert Paul Laderach. John Ervin Lake, Jr. Donald Lapier Lakin. Joseph Jordan Lakin. George Samuel Lamb. Henry Landman. James Joseph Landry, Jr. Edward Wallace Lane. Mancel Curtis Lane. Richard Charles Lange. Orville J. Langenwalter. Henry John Lanouette. Leonard Carl Larson. Bleecker Lattin. Carroll Volney Lee, Jr. Henry Lloyd Lee. David Alonzo Leedy. John Goldie Leggett. Joseph McNeil Legros. Malcolm Hedrick Leigh. James Webster Leight. Robert Lawrence Leopold. Steve Louie Lesmeister. Frank Levar. Wayne Alman Lewis. Neil Stanley Lewison. Worth Ross Lightfoot. Gordon Ellsworth Linbo. John William Lincoln. James Mitchell Lindsay. George Edward Linton. Clarence William Lipke. John Anthony Lipple. Daniel Edward Lisenby. Raymond Edward Livers. Wayne Nicholas Livers. Douglas A. Lock. Earl Wynne Lohman. Frank Stuart Lomax. Marciano Lomibao. Benjamin Franklin Long. Thomas William Lounsbury. Charles Bernard Loustanau. Frank Crook Loveland. Neil Jermiah Lucey. James Edward Luna. Ernest Burton Luzier. Emmett Isaac Lynch. James Robert Lynch, Jr. William Joseph Lynch, Jr. Raymond Dudley Maddox. Arthur John Madrid. Francisco Reyes Mafnas. Gerald James Magee. Frank Edward Malecki. John Stanley Malinowski. Harry Lynn Malson. Edward Paul Manion. Arthur Cleon Manlove. William Edward Mann. Leroy Manning. Robert Francis Manske. Steve Matt Marinich. Elwood Henry Maris. Joseph Henry Marling. Urban Herschel Marlow. Benjamin Raymond Marsh, Jr. William Arthur Marsh. Thomas Donald Marshall. Hugh Lee Martin. James Albert Martin. James Orrwell Martin. Luster Lee Martin. Byron Dalley Mason. Clyde Harold Mastel. Dayton Monroe Masters. Cleburne E. Carl Masterson. Harold Richard Mathein. Charles Harris Mathison. Vernon Merferd Matney. James Durant Mattox. Louis Eugene May. George Frederick Maybee. Lester Ellsworth Mayfield. Rex Haywood Mayo. Louis Means. John Morgan 44

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Meares. James Austin Menefee. Vicente Gogue Meno. Stanley Paul Menzenski. Howard Deal Merrill. Oscar Wright Miles. Chester John Miller. Doyle Allen Miller. Forrest Newton Miller. George Stanley Miller. Jessie Zimmer Miller. John David Miller. William Oscar Miller. Weldon Hawvey Milligan. Robert Lang Mims. Joseph Mlinar. Richard Preston Molpus. Donald Monroe. Robert E. Montgomery. Robert Edward Moody. Douglas Carlton Moore. Fred Kenneth Moore. James Carlton Moore. William Starks Moorhouse. Russell Lee Moorman. Wayne Morgan. James Orries Morgareidge. Eugene Elvis Morley. Owen Newton Morris. Earl Leroy Morrison. Edward Charles Morse. Francis Jerome Morse. George Robert Morse. Norman Roi Morse. Tommy Lee Moss. Gordon Eddy Moulton. Claude Muncy. Charles Luther Murdock. Melvin Elijah Murdock. James Joseph Murphy. James Palmer Murphy. Jessie Huell Murphy. Thomas J. Murphy, Jr. James Gernie Myers. William Moore McCary. John Charles McClafferty. Harvey Manford McClung. Lawrence James McFaddin. Joe Otis McGlasson. Samme Willie Genes McGrady. Francis Raymond McGuire. John Breckenridge McHughes. Harry George McIntosh. Russell McKinnie. Michael Martin McKosky. John Blair McPherson. Erwin H. Naasz. Alexander Joseph Nadel. James Garland Nations. J.D. Naylor. Tom Dick Neal. Charles Raymond Necessary. Paul Neipp. George Nelsen. Harl Coplin Nelson. Henry Clarence Nelson. Lawrence Adolphus Nelson. Richard Eugene Nelson. Alfred Rose Nichols. Bethel Allan Nichols. Clifford Leroy Nichols. Louis Duffie Nichols. Glen Eldon Nicholson. Hancel Grant Nicholson. Thomas James Nides. Floyd Theadore Nielsen. Robert Harold Noonan. Theodore Lucian Nowosacki. Raymond Alfred Nusser. Frank Erskine Nye. George David O’Bryan. Joseph Benjamin O’Bryan. Rex Eugene O’Neall. William Thomas O’Neill, Jr. Henry Francis Ochoski. Virgil Simon Off. Victor Willard Ogle. Lonnie Harris Oglesby. Raymond Brown Oliver. Edward Kern Olsen. Glen Martin Olson. Dwight Jerome Orr. Stanislaus Joseph Orzech. Mervin Eugene Osborne. Leland Grimstead Ostrander. Peter Dean Ott. Fredrick Halden Owen. Richard Allen Owens. Thomas Lea Owsley. Amos Paul Pace. Harry Edward Parkes. Peter John Paroli. Harold Lemuel Patterson. Richard Patterson, Jr. Hilery Paulmand. Bruno Pavini. Raymond Paul Pawlowski. Alonzo Pearce, Jr. Norman Cecil Pearson. Robert Stanley Pearson. William Howard Peavey. Howard William Peckham. Max Valdyne Peery. Michael Peleschak. John Arthur Peltier. Howard Lee Penton. George Ernest Perkins. Albert H. Peterson, Jr. Elroy Vernon Peterson. Hardy Wilbur Peterson. Roscoe Earl Peterson. Charles Ross Pettit. John Joseph Petyak. George Edward Phelps. James Richard Philbin. Harvey Lee Pike. Lewis Jackson Pike. Albert Wesley Pinkham. Walter Giles Pitcher. Elmer Leo Pool. Ralph Ernest Poole. Darrell Albert Post. George Povesko. Thomas George Powell. Wayne Harold Presson. Arland Earl Price. Robert Leo Pritchett, Jr. Edwin Lester Puckett. John Pugh, Jr. Avis Boyd Putnam. Edward Puzio. Mike Joseph Quarto. Jose Sanchez Quinata. Neal Jason Radford. Arthur Severin Rasmussen. George Vernon Rasmusson. William Ratkovich. Glen Donald Rawhouser. Clyde Jackson Rawson. Harry Joseph Ray. Casbie Reaves. Clay Cooper Rector. John Jeffris Reece. James Buchanan Reed, Jr. Ray Ellison Reed. Paul James Register. Jack Martin Restivo. Earl Arthur Reynolds. Jack Franklyn Reynolds. Birb Richard Rhodes. Mark Alexander Rhodes. William Albert Rice. Claude Edward Rich. Raymond Lyle Richar. Warren John Richardson. Fred Louis Richison. Albert Wallace Richter. Guadalupe Augustine Rico. Eugene Edward Riddel. Fred Riganti. Gerald Herald Riggins. Francisco Unpingoo Rivera. Dwight Fisk Roberts. Kenneth Franklin Roberts. McClellan Taylor Roberts. Walter Scott Roberts, Jr. Wilburn Carle Roberts. William Francis Roberts. Edgar Robertson, Jr. James Milton Robertson. Harold Thomas Robinson. James William Robinson. John James Robinson. Robert Warren Robinson. Raymond Arthur Roby. John Dayton Rodgers. Harry Turner Roehm. Thomas Sprugeon Rogers. Simon Romano. Donald Roger Rombalski. Vladimir M. Romero. Melvin Lenord Root. Chester Clay Rose. Orval Robert Rosenberry. Deane Lundy Ross. William Fraser Ross. Eugene Joseph Rowe. Frank Malcom Rowell. William Nicholas Royals. Howard Dale Royer. John Frank Rozar. Joseph Stanley Rozmus. Cecil Roy Ruddock. William Ruggerio. Robert Gleason Runckel. Nicholas Runiak. Richard Perry Rush. Orville Lester Rusher. Joseph John Ruskey. John Peter Rutkowski. Dale Andrew Ruttan. Sherley Rolland Sampson. Merrill Deith Sandall. Eugene Thomas Sanders. James Harvey Sanderson. Thomas Steger Sanford. Filomeno Santos. William Ford Sather. Walter Samuel Savage, Jr. Tom Savin. Michael Savinski. Joseph Schdowski. George Albert Scheuerlein. Ernest Schiller. Elmer Pershing Schlund. Vernon Joseph Schmidt. Harold Arthur Schrank. Henry Schroeder. Herman Lincoln Schuman. John Schurr. Harold Hugh Scilley. A.J. Scott. Jack Leo Scruggs. Russell Otto Seaman. William Eugene Seeley. Charles Clifton Sevier.

PHOTO BY DANIEL MARTINEZ. NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

In the Shrine Room of the USS Arizona Memorial, the names of the 1,177 men killed aboard the battleship on December 7—1,104 navy men and 73 marines—are engraved on a marble wall. The memorial sits above the sunken Arizona, many of whose dead are still aboard. William Alfred Shannon. Harry Robert Sharbaugh. Lewis Purdie Sharon. Clyde Donald Shaw. Robert K. Shaw. George Robert Sheffer. Warren Joseph Sherrill. Richard Stanton Sherven. Harold Ely Shiffman. Paul Eugene Shiley. Melvin Irvin Shimer. Malcolm Holman Shive. Benjamin Franklin Shively. Irland Shores, Jr. Marvin John Shugart. Delmar Dale Sibley. Russell Lewis Sidders. John Henry Sidell. Jesse Silvey. Walter Hamilton Simon. Albert Eugene Simpson. Harvey Leroy Skeen. Charley Jackson Skiles, Jr. Eugene Skiles. Earl Clifton Sletto. Jack G. Smalley. George David Smart. Halge Hojem Smestad. Albert Joseph Smith. Earl Smith, Jr. Earl Walter Smith. Edward Smith. Harry Smith. John A. Smith. John Edward Smith. Luther Kent Smith. Mack Lawrence Smith. Marvin Ray Smith. Orville Stanley Smith. Walter Tharnel Smith. Harold Mathias Soens. James Fredrick Sooter. Holger Earl Sorensen. Charles Braxton South. Merle Joe Spence. Maurice Edwin Spotz. Robert Lawrence Spreeman. Charles Harold Springer. Kermit Braxton Stallings. Charles Starkovich. Joseph Starkovich, Jr. Alfred Parker Staudt. Joseph Philip Steffan. Lester Leroy Steigleder. Lloyd Delroy Steinhoff. Woodrow Wilson Stephens. Hugh Donald Stephenson. Jack Hazelip Stevens. Theodore R. Stevens. Thomas Lester Stewart. Gerald Fay Stillings. Harold William Stockman. Louis Alton Stockton. William Edison Stoddard. Julian John Stopyra. Laun Lee Storm. Charles Orval Srange. John Raymond Stratton. William Alfred Suggs. Frederick Franklin Sulser. Glen Allen Summers. Harold Edgar Summers. Oren Sumner. Clyde Westly Sutton. George Woodrow Sutton. Charles Elijah Swisher. Henry Symonette. Victor Charles Tambolleo. Russell Allen Tanner. Edward Casamiro Tapie. Lambert Ray Tapp. John Targ. Aaron Gust Taylor. Charles Benton Taylor. Harry Theodore Taylor. Robert Denzil Taylor. Charles Madison Teeling. Allen Ray Teer. Raymond Clifford Tennell. John Raymond Terrell. Rudolph Theiller. Houston O’Neal Thomas. Randall James Thomas. Stanley Horace Thomas. Vincent Duron Thomas. Charles Leroy Thompson. Irven Edgar Thompson. Robert Gary Thompson. John Christopher Thorman. George Hayward Thornton. Robert Reaves Tiner. William Esley Tisdale. Thomas Edgar Triplett. Tom Trovato. Raymond Edward Tucker. Earl Eugene Tuntland. John Morgan Turnipseed. Lloyd

Harold Tussey. Robert Tyson. Andrew Curtis Uhrenholdt. Richard Dominic Valente. Garland Wade Van Atta. James Randolf Van Horn. Franklin Van Valkenburgh. Brinley Varchol. William Frank Vaughan. Gordon Elliott Veeder. Galen Steve Velia. Alvaro Everett Vieira. Walter Arnold Vojta. Anthony August Vosti. Mearl James Wagner. Silas Alonzo Wainwright. Wayland Lemoyne Wait. Bill Walker. Houston Oliver Wallace. James Frank Wallace. Ralph Leroy Wallace. Richard Henry Wallenstien. Clarence Arthur Walters. William Spurgeon Walters, Jr. Edward Alfred Walther. Alva Dowding Walton. Albert Lewis Ward. William E. Ward. Lenvil Leo Watkins. William Lafayette Watson. Sherman Maurice Watts. Victor Ed Watts. Richard Walter Weaver. Harold Dwayne Webster. Carl Alfred Weeden. William Peter Weidell. Ludwig Fredrick Weller. Floyd Arthur Wells. Harvey Anthony Wells. Raymond Virgil Wells, Jr. William Bennett Wells. Broadus Franklin West. Webster Paul West. William Percy Westcott, Jr. Ivan Ayers Westerfield. Donald Vern Westin. Fred Edwin Westlund. John William Whitaker, Jr. Cecil Eugene Whitcomb. Charles William White. James Clifton White. Vernon Russell White. Volmer Dowin White. Ulmont Irving Whitehead, Jr. Paul Morgan Whitlock. Ernest Hubert Whitson, Jr. William Byron Whitt. Andrew Tiny Whittemore. Everett Morris Wick. John Joseph Wicklund. Arnold Alfred Wilcox. Joseph William Will. Laddie James Willette. Adrian Delton Williams. Clyde Richard Williams. George Washington Williams. Jack Herman Williams. Laurence A. Williams. Randolph Williamson, Jr. William Dean Williamson. Robert Kenneth Willis, Jr. Bernard Martin Wilson. Comer A. Wilson. Hurschel Woodrow Wilson. John James Wilson. Neil Mataweny Wilson. Ray Milo Wilson. Paul Edwin Wimberly. Edward Winter. Frank Peter Wojtkiewicz. George Alexanderson Wolf, Jr. Harold Baker Wood. Horace Van Wood. Roy Eugene Wood. Vernon Wesley Woods. William Anthony Woods. Ardenne Allen Woodward. Harlan Fred Woody. Norman Bragg Woolf. Edward Henry Wright. Robert Leroy Wyckoff. Elmer Elias Yates. Charles Yeats, Jr. Frank Peter Yomine. Eric Reed Young. Glendale Rex Young. Jay Wesley Young. Vivan Louis Young. John Virgel Zeiler. Steve A. Ziembricke. Fred Zimmerman. Lloyd McDonald Zimmerman. Michael Zwarun, Jr. A PEARL HARBOR STORIES 45

Lone Survivor, by Jack Fellows. Oil on canvas. US Navy squadron VP-23 patrolled the waters around Oahu constantly with its PBY-5 Catalina flying boats, vigilant for Japanese submarines. But on December 7, 1941, Japanese bombs left VP-23’s entire fleet in shreds—except for

one plane. Amid the fiery chaos of the first attack wave, Lieutenant James R. Ogden ran to the flight line on Ford Island and piloted PBY-5 No. 3 to safety with four other aviators aboard, returning safely 12 hours later. © JACK FELLOWS, ASAA. COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NAVAL AVIATION

ghosts of

pearl harbor Photos and artifacts in the collection of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and Museum are eerie reminders of lives interrupted by violence.

IT WAS A HITCH IN PARADISE. America’s men and women in uniform all agreed on that. Duty at one of the military posts on Hawaii’s island of Oahu meant beaches, sunshine, crystal waters, and plenty of young, single men and women. But war burst in with horrible suddenness on December 7, 1941, sweeping away 2,390 lives and littering Pearl Harbor and Oahu’s ravaged airfields with reminders of people who were no more. A photo (above) found after the attack may show brothers Edward and Wesley Heidt of California, who perished aboard the USS Arizona. A clock (opposite) reportedly taken from the sunken Arizona records the moment when the forward magazine exploded. ALL PHOTOS THIS STORY: NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

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AN EMPIRE’S AMBITIONS DISRUPTED LIVES on both sides of Japan’s “Hawaiian Operation.” Airman First Class Yoshio Shimizu (opposite, top right, in flight suit) was a bombardier aboard a D3A1 “Val” dive-bomber from the carrier Hiryu. He died in a crash on December 7, possibly near Hickam Field. Shimizu’s three elder brothers were born on Oahu, where their father had worked on a sugar plantation. In his photo, Shimizu wears a helmet like this one (opposite, top left). Japan would pay for Pearl Harbor’s carnage. Americans wouldn’t forget their fallen countrymen—like the men who signed this memory book of an Arizona sailor (opposite and below). Neither S.M. Teslow, who received this 1940 pass from the Arizona (above), nor Admiral A.D. Struble, who signed it, were aboard on December 7.

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ECHOES OF LIVES CUT SHORT haunt objects from the Arizona. This $20 (above) might have bought a crewman evenings out with friends or dates—or gone into starting a family. Arizona Storekeeper First Class Paxton Turner Carter of Mississippi (below, right page, upper right photo in his album) had already started on married life. His wife, Edyth (with him, left album page, bottom left photo), became a widow on December 7.

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A date that will live in infamy. – President Franklin D. Roosevelt

0 $2,39ba0 sed on 0

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Toll Free 1-888-903-3329 www.stephenambrosetours.com

70th Anniversary

The Attack on Pearl Harbor December 2 - 8, 2011 Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours will lead another historial tour this year to honor and remember the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. We will attend and participate in the Pearl Harbor Symposium December 2 - 5, 2011. We will visit the historical sights on Ford Island and The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (The Punch Bowl). We will also attend the commemoration ceremony on December 7, 2011.

IWO JIMA: WAR IN THE PACIFIC March 5-16, 2012 Call us about our other World War II Tours in 2012

The News Hits Home

Word of the shock attack in Hawaii hit the mainland American public like a tidal wave. Suddenly, the “sleeping giant” was awake. by Carl Zebrowski

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D ECEMBER 7, 1941—the front and the home front were one and the same. America was under enemy attack. Japanese bombers hit the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, hard. Los Angeles could be next, or maybe New York. And after that, who knew? New Orleans? Chicago? Houston? Americans everywhere were in this thing together.

Word of the Pearl Harbor attack arrived almost immediately by phone at the White House. Elsewhere in the nation, the news spread like wildfire over the radio and by word of mouth. Families gathered in their living rooms and listened to radio news for hours. Rumors surfaced that Japanese bullets and bombs were hitting other American targets. There were reports of US ships sunk at sea, the Panama Canal being blocked, and California coming under siege, with Japanese forces establishing a beachhead at San Francisco and landing at Long Beach to advance on Los Angeles. Parents across the nation began to realize their sons might not remain home for long, that a military draft was soon to come. Mary Platt Aaronson, 23 years old at the time, recalled hearing the news on the radio after Sunday dinner in Rochester, New York. “There was no movement or speech from any of us for close to a minute,” she said. “Then my father looked at my 26-year-old brother and said, ‘Well, son, you’re in it.’” It was a rough Sunday night on the West Coast, where a followup Japanese attack seemed more likely than anywhere else. Around San Francisco Bay, fire sirens sounded falsely three times to warn residents of possible air attacks. Unpracticed civilian defense volunteers darted around neighborhoods yelling “Lights out!” Police ordered drivers to turn out their headlamps and proceed using only their parking lights. Japanese planes never did appear that night to inflict any damage, but all that driving in darkness caused a lot of damaging accidents. Throughout much of the country, most people went to work on Monday morning as usual—though few got much done. They spent the day wondering aloud, asking questions, venting anger, exchanging bits of news and rumor. Some young men responded in a more active manner. Shortly after dawn, 30 youths were lined up at the front door of an army recruiting center in New York City. All over the country, the armed forces signed up record numbers of recruits that day. The navy took in 700 in New York City by mid-afternoon, turning away 1,000 because there weren’t enough doctors to perform the physicals.

Civil Defense offices were inundated, too, with citizens flocking to sign up to become air raid wardens and enemy plane spotters. Even before the attack, New York had 115,000 wardens ready to serve. When they were summoned for duty for Monday morning, very few called in sick. Many kids went to school that day, where they listened to teachers who tried to explain the dire situation. “I do remember clearly sitting in a crowded classroom, squeezed into the same desk with my friend, Louis Snyder, while the principal, Mr. Oakey, spoke to us about the bombing of Pearl Harbor,” remembered Esther Early, a student at Wells High School in Nevada at the time. In Washington, DC, early that afternoon, crowds pushed against barricades lining the south entrance of the Capitol as a convoy of big black limousines pulled up just after noon. Applause erupted as President Franklin D. Roosevelt arose from one of the cars and waved, carefully looking neither too nonchalant nor too nervous. Inside, sitting in the House Chamber were First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, dressed in black, and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, whose husband had presided over the American effort in World War I. Eventually, the senators filed in, followed by the Supreme Court justices. Finally, the president himself entered to unanimous applause, even from Republicans, who hadn’t cheered him since his arrival in Washington eight years earlier. After a brief introduction, he took hold of the rostrum. It was about 12:30. “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked…,” he announced. The students gathered in Wells High School listened to his message on the radio. “We all sat frozen, uncomprehending, but filled with a sense of impending doom,” said Early. The war was on, and for the first 24 hours, at least, the nation was united—united in fear, but also in the determination to persevere and win. A CARL ZEBROWSKI of Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, is the editor of America in WWII magazine and www.AmericaInWWII.com.

Wearing a black armband for the Americans killed in the Pearl Harbor attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a declaration of war on Japan on December 8, 1941. Congress sent him the declaration just one hour after he called for it in his “date which will live in infamy” speech. 54

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NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN AMERICA IN WWII, DECEMBER 2006

OR ONE DAY —S UNDAY,

REACTIONS

Under the Rising Sun

To the naval officers of Imperial Japan, the Pearl Harbor attack was hard-hitting proof of Japan’s military might. But a success...? by J. Michael Wenger

Admiral Isoroku Yamamato, commander of Japan’s Combined Fleet, stands aboard the Nagato, his flagship at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. The raid seemed like a gamble to Japan’s top naval brass.

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that deal with World War II in the Pacific often feature threads that debate whether, and to what extent, the “Hawaiian Operation”—the Pearl Harbor raid—was a success. The question has been debated for generations, and will be for generations to come. When attempting to answer this question, however, it is important to look at the attack through the eyes of the people who planned and executed it: the officers of the Imperial Navy of Japan. NTERNET DISCUSSION BOARDS

national archives

Japanese War Objectives WHEN JAPAN LAUNCHED its Hawaiian Operation, the empire was already in the fourth year of war in China. The Pearl Harbor attack would expand that conflict into one that involved the entire Pacific Basin, drawing in the United States, Great Britain, and the Netherlands. Why would Japan choose such a course? Japanese designs for the Pacific Basin are best represented by the empire’s concept of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere,” in which Asian peoples would integrate into a self-sufficient bloc of states with Japan exerting the controlling influence— economically, culturally, and militarily. All Western power and influence were to be cast off. With few natural resources of its own, Japan had long cast envious glances at US, British, and Dutch possessions in the Pacific— particularly the resource-rich Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). Emboldened by a grandiose vision for the Far East, and manacled to a war in China that siphoned away resources at an astonishing rate, Japan increasingly felt that war with the Western powers was a necessary step toward gaining control over the resources of Asia’s “Southern Area,” principally, the oil, rubber, aluminum, and tin of the Dutch East Indies. Nearby British and US possessions regarded as critical to the long-term defense of the Southern Area would also be seized. With these well-defended resources secured, Japan would possess the wherewithal to make the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere a reality. The plan had its risks. The worst scenario for Japan was a protracted war in which the overwhelming industrial might of the United States was brought to bear, but the empire’s hope was that America would grow weary of the conflict before that could happen. Boiled down to its barest essence, then, the principal war objective of Imperial Japan against America, Great Britain, and the Netherlands was: seize and successfully defend the resources of the Southern Area. The Pearl Harbor raid was intended as a step toward realizing this goal. Pearl Harbor Objectives NOT EVERYONE IN THE JAPANESE NAVY was of one mind about whether the Hawaiian Operation would advance Japan’s war aims. The naval general staff viewed the Pearl Harbor plan advanced by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto with great alarm, fearing that precious offensive naval strength would be drawn away from the conquest of the Dutch East Indies, which was the rationale for the war. On the other hand, Yamamoto, commander in chief of Japan’s Combined Fleet, maintained that the American fleet at Pearl Harbor had to be destroyed, or at least significantly disabled, for there to be any chance of success in conquering the Southern Areas. Yamamoto wanted guarantees that the Americans could not interfere.

After much argument and disagreement, Yamamoto was permitted to embark on the Pearl Harbor gamble, provided that his Carrier Striking Force returned to Japan as soon as possible to support the Southern Area operations. The Pearl Harbor strike’s objectives remained very much subordinate to Japan’s principal war aims. The raid’s objectives, then, were: • to destroy airfields in order to prevent American patrols or aerial counterstrokes and to neutralize American aerial opposition to the air strikes; • to destroy the US fleet at Pearl Harbor, or at least to disable it for approximately six months; • and to preserve the Carrier Striking Force and return it to Japan intact. Success and/or Failure? DID THE JAPANESE SUCCEED in achieving their objectives in the Pearl Harbor raid? Viewed through the eyes of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the Carrier Striking Force, the operations were very successful. With Oahu’s airfields reduced to shambles, Japanese air units over Oahu operated with minimal interference. Even though a handful of US bombers rose to respond, no American aircraft sighted Nagumo’s force north of Hawaii. With a free hand, the striking units put the American battle line out of action, sinking five of eight battleships. Then, greatly worried by the US aircraft carriers’ absence from Pearl Harbor, and American submarines that might be operating in the area, Nagumo turned for home, pleased that, with minimal losses, he had achieved all his objectives, and was bringing his six aircraft carriers back to Japan intact. Two men upon whom Vice Admiral Nagumo had relied most heavily to make the mission successful saw things differently. Commander Mitsuo Fuchida (overall air strike leader) and Commander Minoru Genda (Nagumo’s air staff officer) both felt that a second attack should have been made on Hawaii. Soon after returning to the carrier Akagi after the initial two-wave attack, Fuchida argued strenuously for another strike. Many American targets remained untouched or nearly so. An additional strike could administer the coup de grace to the damaged battleships, and to the dockyards and land installations, too. Genda, though not present during the post-attack discussions, also believed such vulnerable targets should be attacked. In addition, Genda recommended that the Japanese carriers stay in Hawaiian waters and search for the American carriers. But Nagumo did not wish to tempt fate. The scope of his victory, vague intelligence about the Americans at sea, and the urgency of returning his force intact led him to turn back to Japan. Nagumo returned to a hero’s welcome, but many officers under his command—Fuchida and Genda among them—regretted ever after the wasted golden opportunity. As viewed by the Japanese, then, the verdict on whether the Hawaiian Operation was a success was mixed. The Pearl Harbor raid was a stunning tactical victory. But Nagumo’s reluctance had negated an opportunity to transform that victory into a thundering strategic defeat for the United States—a lost opportunity that numbered among Japan’s great failures during the war. A Historian and author J. MICHAEL WENGER resides in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has written extensively on the Pearl Harbor attack. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 57

The Resurrection Fleet Japanese torpedoes wrecked 21 US ships in Pearl Harbor. But amazing salvage efforts put nearly all of those ships back in action in World War II. by Joe Razes

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9:45 A.M. ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1941, while Japanese planes were still returning to their carriers after their devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, US Pacific Fleet maintenance officer Commander H.D. Clark reported on the damage. The battleships Oklahoma and Arizona were beyond repair, and the Nevada and West Virginia weren’t much better. Twenty-one ships of the Pacific Fleet had been sunk or damaged, including nine battleships (one an ex-battleship), five of which had sunk. The fleet’s main battle line was out of action. But some of it seemed salvageable.

ALL PHOTOS THIS STORY: NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

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Rescue efforts to save men trapped inside damaged, sunken, and capsized ships came first, and began immediately. Workers topside used acetylene torches, air-driven cutters, drills, and pumps. They were guided by sounds of tapping made by men stuck inside the ships, who had made their way through the pitchblack maze of hatches, sometimes in ships that were upside down, to compartments near the surface. The faint sounds occasionally resulted in disappointment, when workers discovered they were caused by floating wreckage bumping against the ship’s hull. Rescue divers worked to the point of exhaustion in oil-blackened waters with little visibility. Some worked 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, wearing rubberized suits with lead-soled shoes, weight belts, and copper helmets, altogether weighing more than 160 pounds. Lowered underwater by rope, they would pound on a hull three times with a hammer. If no response came, they would move another 25 feet or so and conduct another sounding, barely breathing, straining to hear a response. In the first few days, many survivors were pulled from their confines. But many other men waiting for rescue in silence and darkness waited in vain. Three of the 66 sailors entombed within the battleship West Virginia managed to stay alive until December 23, but could not be reached in time to save their lives. Early on, crews worked feverishly to extinguish fires, and kept ships from capsizing by throwing equipment and armament overboard. In some cases, ship compartments were intentionally flooded to counter listing. Medical crews worked on shore and aboard ships, treating severely injured sailors. One day after the raid, 23 waste cans of

amputated limbs awaited incineration at the base hospital. The naval hospital morgue brought in hundreds of wooden caskets, and the Oahu cemetery quickly filled up while another 25-acre cemetery was readied nearby. On Monday morning, December 8, as rain bathed the still smoldering ships, a message was sent to Admiral Harold R. Stark, US chief of naval operations, requesting salvage personnel, equipment, mechanics, and material, particularly structural steel and wiring. The logistical demands of the coming salvage operations were staggering. The naval command at Pearl Harbor would have to obtain and distribute supplies, construct housing, transport and feed the influx of men needed to do the salvage work, and create order to control ship traffic in the chaotic waters. Diving equipment at Pearl was outdated and of limited use. Much of it had been made in the 1920s, and many diving helmets’ faceplates were cracked or broken, and their communication equipment inoperable. Salvage operations, headed by Captain Homer N. Wallin, the fleet’s material officer, were organized separately from base operations. The salvage team comprised naval officers and civilian contractors including the Pacific Bridge Company and Morrison-Knudson. Fortunately, the fleet had sunk in shallow water, which made it feasible to refloat sunken vessels. So, the goal was to refloat ships and move them several hundred yards to three nearby dry-dock facilities, which had been spared in the December 7 attack. Each consisted of a large basin into which a ship could be floated and then the water drained, enabling repair of the ship’s hull. At that time, the navy had no formal salvage school or organized body of knowledge about saving sunken ships. A school was

Pearl Harbor’s Dry Dock No. 1 is a scene of ruin on December 7 (opposite). Waterborne burning oil had exploded munitions aboard destroyers Downes and Cassin, whose charred remains bob in the foreground. Behind them is the bomb-struck USS Pennsylvania. But thanks to salvage efforts that saved 18 of the 21 ships damaged in the attack, all three ships returned to service. The USS Arizona (above) was not salvageable. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 59

just being formed at the time of the attack, and 60 prospective students were waiting in San Francisco to hear where it was to open. They were sent directly to Pearl Harbor. The salvage team freely discussed ideas on how to refloat the sunken ships, and no idea was discounted. One proposal was to build a welded steel coffer dam around each sunken ship, and then pump out the water. A novel approach entailed patching holes with an ice barrier—a technique used successfully one winter on the St. Lawrence River, but not so practical in warm Hawaiian waters, and with holes as big as 2,000 square feet. The salvagers developed a triage plan in which less damaged ships would be salvaged first. A “no work order” meant a ship

The threat of more attacks complicated salvage efforts, straining already raw nerves. False reports of enemy aircraft and submarine sightings further heightened tensions. As a precaution, barges with reinforced chain-link fencing suspended below them were placed in front of dry-docks to defend against torpedo attacks. Many people attributed the success of Japan’s December 7 raid to spies, and on Christmas day, combat intelligence was notified that carrier pigeons, possibly carrying enemy messages, had been observed landing in trees near the naval base. By January 1942, America’s mood was somber. Japanese troops had landed in the Philippines; Wake Island in the North Pacific had surrendered; Borneo, near Indonesia, was invaded; and US

would be bypassed for repairs. The Utah, an old battleship that had been converted for training, received one of these. Civilian contractors began making calculations, setting up barge cranes, testing soil around sunken ships, and designing wood, steel, and concrete patches for ruptured hulls. Meanwhile, salvage began topside, increasing ships’ buoyancy by removing anti-aircraft guns, range finders, ammunition, and other usable equipment. Tugboat services were at a premium, and the removed items sometimes sat on ships for days until a tug could be found to bring a barge alongside. Weapons from stricken vessels were used to strengthen Oahu’s defenses and replace armament aboard damaged but operational ships.

installations on Pago Pago in the South Pacific and Palmyra, south of Hawaii, were shelled. On January 7, Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the US Pacific Fleet, advised his superiors that there was no assurance that US forces could successfully defend Oahu if attacked. The Arizona’s 14-inch guns could still help, but on land as shore batteries. On the bright side, during this same month, salvage company divers began refloating sunken ships. Working long hours in dark waters cluttered with jagged metal, unexploded ordinance, and the occasional body, they patched holes, cleared debris, pumped water out of ships, and repaired watertight doors. The work was treacherous, resulting in the deaths of several salvage team mem-

A year and a quarter after the Pearl Harbor attack, on March 19, 1943, salvagers prepare to right the USS Oklahoma (above), which capsized on December 7 with a loss of 429 men. The righting process would take until June to complete. Immediately after the attack, the navy had rushed to save men trapped inside sunken and capsized ships. A rescue team went to work on the Oklahoma (opposite) and managed to pull 32 men from the wreckage alive (opposite). The ship herself, however, was too far gone. She sank while being towed to the mainland for scrap in 1947. 60

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bers. But within six months, five battleships and two cruisers were afloat and had been repaired enough to be sent to shipyards at Pearl Harbor or on the US mainland for extensive repair. Those repaired on the mainland were upgraded, receiving greater torpedo protection, increased stability, heavier deck armor, anti-aircraft battery improvements, and modern gun-directors.

B

1944, WALLIN AND HIS CIVILIAN and military team had completed their task—the greatest maritime salvage operation in history. Eighteen of twenty-one vessels had been returned to service. These went to war, providing logistical support and offshore bombardment that helped bring victory on Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Japan itself. Some of the salvaged ships took part in the June 1944 D-Day landings in Normandy, France. All of the battleships that Wallin’s team salvaged returned to action (West Virginia, California, Nevada, Tennessee, and Maryland) and received multiple battle stars for their wartime service. Y LATE

In retrospect, the devastation at Pearl could have been worse. The Japanese had planned a third air attack wave targeting fuel, maintenance, and dry-dock facilities, but did not carry it out. A successful third wave might have hampered the Pacific Fleet more seriously than loss of its battleships. Admiral Nimitz concluded that “serious operations in the Pacific would have been postponed for more than a year,” which would have “prolonged the war another two years.” Those who worked in the Pearl Harbor recovery received little national recognition for their efforts. Mrs. Lela Norton, whose son died during a salvage operation, wrote in 1944 that, “…those boys who go daily in to dangerous work are just as great heroes as any who gave their lives on the battlefields, although I doubt that they are recognized as such.” A JOE RAZES of Columbia, Maryland, is a contributing editor of America in WWII magazine. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 61

Remember Pearl Harbor ! Americans in 1941–1945 had a good reason to go to war. And everywhere they turned, something reminded them: Remember Pearl Harbor!

Confronted with war’s hardships, WWII Americans found the Pearl Harbor raid gave them a solid answer to the question, “Why are we fighting?” They were fighting to stop the “Three Rat-ieteers” (top, from a WWII postcard) from unleashing more aggression like that of December 7, 1941. Color, design, and humor gave the “Remember Pearl Harbor” theme endless variety. Above, clockwise from center: industry and military might back feisty Uncle Sam on a “Cinderella,” or sticker; US guns sink Japanese ships on a 1942 postcard; a second anniversary envelope bears a Honolulu postmark of December 7, 1943; a spunky marine growls, “You’re a sap, Mister Jap—We will avenge Pearl Harbor!” on an envelope; another envelope shows a third-anniversary postmark, December 7, 1944 (postage was only three cents!); the Axis snake, rat, and skunk color a postcard; and a Blong bubblegum card features a sailor fighting back on December 7. 62

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From the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom wall and even your jacket lapel, there were countless places and ways to remember Pearl Harbor. Above, clockwise from bottom right: a china ashtray incorporates a “Let’s Go! U.S.A. Keep ’em Flying!” logo; ceramic bowls were for actual table use; on a foot-long felt pennant, Lady Victory bestows a laurel crown; a cellophane “Be Alert” badge combines V for Victory with “Remember Pearl Harbor”; the US Navy resurges on a 12-by-9-inch satin banner; and anti-Japanese cellophane badges. ADAPTED FROM A PHOTO ESSAY BY MARTIN JACOBS IN THE DEC. 2006 ISSUE OF AMERICA IN WWII. ALL PHOTOS FROM THE MARTIN JACOBS COLLECTION

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There were head-to-toe possibilities for those who preferred to wear their “Remember Pearl Harbor” message. Above, clockwise from bottom right: a 1943 cap pushing war spirit—and Kay Furniture in Dearborn, Michigan, where it was “OK to owe Kay”; a pin with dangling plastic bombs; a sterling silver “Remember Pearl Harbor” brooch featuring a pearl; a flag-flying satin necktie; a jewel-studded anchor brooch; a paper souvenir sailor hat; nail-on Victory Heel Plates that made shoes last; and satin panties—miniature ones—made for display only. 64

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Voices of December

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For the Americans who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, remembering was—and for some, still is—painful. But forgetting was never an option. Even if it were possible, it wouldn’t have been right. Remembering was a lifelong debt to friends whose lives had ended abruptly. For the Japanese attackers, to remember Pearl Harbor was to revisit dangerously heady times that ended with desperation, degradation, and the use of suicide as a weapon. The pages that follow present memories of December 7, 1941, from a wide varity of eyewitnesses to that dark, portentous day.

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RADIO MAN

Robert Kinzler Interview by Allyson Patton

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KINZLER OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, was a Morse code radio operator assigned to Headquarters Company, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, at Oahu’s Schofield Barracks. On the morning of December 7, 1941, he was in bed after a late night out when he heard a “terrific explosion.”

ALL PHOTOS THIS SECTION: NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

OBERT

How did December 7 start off? …Five minutes to eight, Sunday morning, there was a terrific explosion. …The squad room, 150 of us in one room, we ran out onto the lanai [porch]. We were on the second story of a threestory building. At Schofield, the four buildings of the barracks formed a hollow square, and there were several kitchens at the barracks, so we thought maybe an explosion had occurred [in one of the kitchens]. But at the same time, a plane flew across our line of vision, from left to right. And it wasn’t an army plane. Therefore, it must be navy or marine. We had no aircraft identification instruction. When we saw that and didn’t know what it was, we went down to breakfast. What we were looking at was a Japanese dive-bomber that had evidently dropped a bomb on Wheeler Field, which was about three-quarters of a mile from us…. There were two men in the cockpit, canopy was back, close enough so you could see the pilot was wearing…a brown helmet with the fringe…. Anyway, the plane was a greenish color. It had a big red circle on the fuselage behind the gunner, the rear person, and we didn’t know what it was, but evidently somebody did, because we no sooner sat down at the table to eat, when the bugles began to play…. So we had to assemble in front of our company area. Then First Sergeant Dougherty told me to get out to the motor pool and help disperse the trucks, that we were under attack by the Japanese. So I had run out there, only to find out that the trucks had been dispersed, so I had to run back…. Then there was a terrific…not explosion, but a lot of fire—so probably another plane flew around. By that time we had men with rifles on the roofs of the various buildings, firing at anything that went across. As a matter of fact, we shot down two planes, 66

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one of ours and one of theirs…. Our job was to get out of there and get to our prearranged battle stations…. So we got all of our equipment together, turned in all of our property to the supply sergeant…, [were] issued a .45caliber pistol, three clips of ammunition, and we took off for our battle station…. We headed for Honolulu, which was about 16–17 miles away…. From Schofield Barracks, we are 1,100 feet or so [above sea level], so it is downhill. Once we passed Kipapa Gulch, which is a big cliff, we could see nothing but terrific volumes of very dense black smoke rising from Pearl Harbor…. Periodically within that black smoke was a very deep orange-colored flame, which in all probability was an internal explosion, because I think by the time we got there, the attack [was over]…. So we got down to sea level there, on the north end of East Loch [the eastern wing of Pearl Harbor] and the north end of Battleship Row, and we could see what damage had been done there. …We continued on into Honolulu and got to our battle station, which turned out to be Roosevelt High School football stadium, at the base of Punchbowl [an extinct volcano]…. Then at 4:00 that afternoon, they established military law [and] established a curfew: no one on the streets without authorization from sunset to sunrise. If you were caught there, you’d be hauled in front of a military court and you could receive any kind of a sentence. But one thing that you would receive for sure would be they would take a pint of blood from you. That was one source of blood. So that night there was a lot of firing. When it would be dark out there and something would move, you’d get so excited you just pulled the trigger…. Anxiety went on for a couple of weeks, but after that, when nothing happened, then boredom set in…. A Kinzler retired from the army in 1962 as a captain. He has three daughters, one of whom graduated from West Point in 1980 in the academy’s first class to include women. Kinzler is a volunteer at the USS Arizona Memorial.

SEAMAN

Alfred Rodrigues Interview by Allyson Patton

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BENJAMIN KAME’EIAMOKU RODRIGUES had just sat down to a Sunday breakfast of eggs over easy, ham, toast, home fries, and coffee at a mess hall on the Section Base, Bishop’s Point, near the entrance to Pearl Harbor, when the alarm sounded on December 7, 1941. Born in Kapa’a, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, on February 7, 1920, he was the son of a Portuguese father and a mother of British and Hawaiian extraction, who was a schoolteacher. Rodrigues wanted to attend the University of Hawaii after graduating from high school, but illness prevented it. So, he joined the naval reserve in 1938. He was put on active duty in November 1940. LFRED

What was your rank at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack? At that time I was just a storekeeper third class…. What were you doing when the attack began? On December 7, 1941, I had the 4–8 watch that morning and just sat down to have breakfast when the general alarm sounded…. I didn’t even start eating. We all ran out to the armory, which was about 100 yards away, and we were issued .30caliber rifles, or .45-caliber pistols when they ran out of .30caliber rifles. That’s all we had to shoot at the planes. We were located at the mouth—or, rather, the entrance—to Pearl Harbor. The place was called Bishop’s Point, Pearl Harbor. And we were right alongside, or near, Hickam Air Force Base, where the Japanese planes were bombing the hangars and also shooting at the planes that were parked on the airfield…. I’m sure there were enough of us shooting at them that we hit the planes, but a .30- or .45-caliber pistol is not going to bring a plane down. Anyway, here

in the course of the little-over-two-hour raid there, we saw some of the Japanese planes shooting at the [US] bombers that were coming in from California that morning [12 unarmed B17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, one of which was destroyed and three of which were seriously damaged]. And they couldn’t land some of them, and we saw some of them go up in fire…. How long did you keep shooting at the Japanese planes? Until [an] officer came…, we were all shooting at the planes. When the first officer came…he sent me down to the warehouse that issued supplies to…wherever people needed [them]. The little warehouse we were in was right in line with Hickam Air Force hangar, and you could hear the bombs getting closer and closer. And I was real scared, but they never did hit the building we were in, thank goodness. What was your World War II service like after Pearl Harbor? …The next year they put me on the USS Washington battleship [(BB-56), the only US battleship to sink a Japanese battleship in World War II—the Kirishima, on November 15, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal], and I served almost two years in the Pacific, saw more action than we did in Pearl Harbor. I was only 21 then. A Two months after retiring from the navy as a storekeeper chief in 1964, Rodrigues began work as a civil service employee, a job he kept for 30 years. All told, he has 54 years of government service. “If the government goes broke, I’m in deep trouble,” he jokes. He is a volunteer at the USS Arizona Memorial. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

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RADAR MAN

Joe Lockard Interview by Terry W. Burger

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PRIVATE JOE LOCKARD was one of the first to see the Japanese attack coming on December 7, 1941, but he didn’t know what he was seeing. That day, while he and Private George Elliott were manning the radar unit at Opana Ridge on Oahu’s northern tip from 4 to 7 A.M., the equipment detected something large and unusual approaching the island—an anomaly they reported immediately. RMY

We were quartered down near the shore. The [radar] unit was based on the ridge, about 500 feet above sea level. We were transported to the unit on Saturday night. We had to wait for a truck to take us back to quarters. But the truck was late that morning, wasn’t it? So, what did you do? …I decided we would keep the unit running because George had only been with the company for two weeks and could use the training.

COURTESY OF TERRY W. BURGER

And that’s when the radar picked up something? What we were seeing was like nothing I had ever seen before. That was because I had never seen a mass of 180 airplanes on radar before. I checked to see if the equipment was OK, and it was. George was on the phone line to the central information center, but it was after 7 A.M., and everybody had left. We called the switchboard operator, Joe McDonald, who said he’d see who he could find. He found Lieutenant Kermit Tyler [of the 78th Pursuit Squadron]. Tyler, in words that would haunt him for the rest of his life, told the two not to worry about it. Tyler (whose memories also appear in this issue) was not at fault for this unfortunate decision. The commander at Wheeler Field wanted pilots to learn about the new radar technology. So, as a new fighter pilot, Tyler had been assigned to work temporarily at the Fort Shafter radar information center that day, without any advance instruction, as an observer and trainee. Around 7:45, Lockard and Elliott shut down the radar station and caught their ride down the unpaved road to the Shore Highway, on their way back to their quarters and some most welcome shut-eye. On the way, a truckload of soldiers from their own 68

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Signal Corps company passed them, heading back up the hill. They were all shouting something to us, but we couldn’t understand them. That’s about the time we saw all the smoke rising over the harbor. So, the truck turned around and you headed back up to the radar station? It ran 24/7 from then on. After the attack, we converted some shacks that had been used for pineapple field workers into our quarters. Some machine-gun emplacements were put around the radar post, but I’m not sure how much good they would have done in case of an invasion. That’s what everybody thought the Japanese would do next, invade the island. They didn’t, of course, and that was a big mistake on their part. Do you think the early warning that you and Elliott sent could have made a difference for the US forces at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941? My part in the war was one of those “what if” footnotes in history. What if it wasn’t a Sunday? What if they had left the ships 15 minutes earlier? With a little more warning, well, there was no way they could have gotten the ships out of the harbor, but they could have gotten the anti-aircraft people on the battlewagons going. They could have kept the enemy at a greater distance. Are you angry that the warning you and Elliott sent from your radar post went unheeded? If anything, it made me sad. Hindsight is always 20/20. You have to remember how Hawaii was before the war. You could lie down on King Street and not get run over. It was a real laid-back place. A In February 1942, Lockard was sent back to the States for Officer Candidate School and to teach the basics of radio to new recruits. He never worked in radar again. Lockard left military service in December 1945 and began civilian life as a trackman for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Eventually, he became a designer of electronic components, and holds 40 patents. He retired in 1986, and lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

PILOT

Kermit Tyler Interview by John Martini

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KERMIT TYLER wasn’t fully trained to work at the new information center at Oahu’s Fort Shafter. He was a fighter pilot, a 28-year-old flier of the 78th Pursuit Squadron. But on December 7, as part of an effort to acquaint pilots with new technology, he found himself working in the information center. There, he received a call from the Opana Ridge radar outpost about a large radar blip. He concluded the blip was a group of 12 B-17 bombers flying in from the East Coast, and told the radar men not to worry about it. IEUTENANT

…I saw this young man go over and start working on the drafting table…. He had a plot at 7:02, 130 miles out, and about three degrees east of north. Well, at the time, I thought it could be almost anything. It was probably the B-17s…. (The B-17s did come in and were badly shot up and arrived at the same time as the Japanese.) Where was he getting his information from? Was this the call that came in from Opana? No, the call that came in from Opana was later, about 7:15…in which…didn’t Private [Joseph] Lockard [see previous page] say that it was the largest flight of planes, largest blip he’d ever seen…. I felt that they [Lockard and his partner, Private George Elliott] were on new equipment, they were being trained for only a few weeks…. They surely hadn’t seen anything as big as a flight of B-17s [before], so it was easy to fit the two together as being the same, and the same plot that I had seen at 7:02. And that’s when you told Lockard over the telephone… I said, “Don’t worry about it, it’s OK,” or vice versa…. So, you didn’t see any more, anything coming in? No, there was nothing more happening until about, oh, right around 8:00…. I heard a little noise and I stepped outside for a breath of fresh air and [to] see what was happening, and I looked over toward Pearl Harbor and saw a few planes diving. I thought, well, they’re practicing dive-bombing…. But it looked like antiaircraft and I thought they were practicing, too. So I was actually seeing the attack and not realizing that it was in progress….

You probably asked yourself a lot: What would have happened if you had asked more questions and decided to relay this information up the line? I blame myself. I mean, in a way, I was there to learn something…. And so, instead of just jumping at conclusions to what was there, I think I should have asked the radar operator, “Well, what makes you think this is important?” or “Why are you disturbed about this? Have you ever seen a flight of B-17s go through?” …You asked me the question, do I think it made any difference? I think if I had asked those questions, I still wouldn’t have arrived at any different conclusion, because I don’t think you could’ve told me the number of planes…. All he could see was that it was a large blip. How did you feel when you found out it had been a flight of Japanese planes? Well I was stunned…and I thought, “Oh, that’s probably the flight that was reported on radar.” And felt…that the technology was there, the equipment detected it…and apparently I was the one who blocked the information from going forward. But in retrospect, I don’t think I could have done anything…. I could have done the same thing a hundred times, and I would have arrived at the same conclusion, given the state of alert—or lack of alert—that we were in…. Do you think that, given the situation at the time, the island would have immediately gone on full alert over a blip on the radar screen? No, I don’t. I can’t imagine, for instance, that the navy would have gotten excited and gone to battle stations when they couldn’t even do that with their having had a submarine sunk off the mouth of the harbor at quarter to seven [a Japanese midget sub sunk by USS Ward (DD-139)]…. A Tyler was frequently called to testify about his actions, and was often treated negatively in portrayals of the events of December 7. Nevertheless, he ended a long air force career as a full colonel. He died in January 2010. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

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SEAMAN

Everett Hyland Interview by Allyson Patton

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DECEMBER 7, seaman Everett Hyland was aboard the USS Pennsylvania, getting ready to attend a church service with a friend. Soon he would be so badly injured that he would be tagged as dead. N THE MORNING OF

When general quarters or battle stations was sounded on the morning of the 7th, I was in my quarters and I went to my battle station. Let me get this squared away first: having been to communications school, I ended up with the radio division. The radio shack or radio room—we referred to it as the radio shack—in the old battleships was way down in the middle of the ship, and I figured out in a hurry, being a smart teenager, that if we ever go to war, the last place in the world I want to be trapped is down in the middle of the ship, so I volunteered for what is called antenna repair squad. Antenna repair squad, it does exactly what it says. The enemy shoots them [antennas] down and you climb up and put them back. So, at least it got me on the upper part of the ship. I figured if something ever happens to this old tub, I can get off it. Not very good thinking, looking back at it. Anyway, that’s how I ended up topside. Now on the morning of the 7th, when I went to my battle station, there were six of us in the antenna repair squad…. We each had a short task that had to be performed. Mine was to go down the starboard length of the ship and to batten down or tighten down the battle ports…. During the first wave you were left alone pretty much. Was that because the Pennsylvania was in dry dock? No. The thing is they couldn’t find us. That is why we were left alone. Actually the first torpedo hit the Helena at 1010 Dock, where we usually tied up. Whoever dropped the first torpedo probably thought they were getting the Pennsylvania. Anyway, I would take a look out the port as I would come to it, before I tighten things down, see what’s going on. I don’t have too much of a recollection as to what I saw. One of the things I thought I saw were people getting off the Arizona, ’cause that had already 70

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sunk, by going hand over hand to the ship next to them. And here, about 11 years ago, when I first started volunteering at the Arizona visitor center, I asked somebody about that, and they said—one of the employees or rangers—and they said, “Nah,” they’d never heard of it, so I figured, well, I’m probably dreaming. Then about four or five years ago, our guest speaker on the 7th was a fellow who got off the Arizona by going hand over hand to the ship next to him. Anyway, after I completed what I had to do…we assembled again at this compartment in the aft part of the ship…. So what we did was get into line with the fellows that were carrying ammunition to a 3inch .50, which was a small anti-aircraft gun that we had on the fantail of the ship. And this we did until, according to the ship’s log, about 10 minutes after 9, which would have been the second wave. A group of high-altitude bombers came over. There were five of them and…we took one hit…. It just so happened that the darned thing hit the ship where all of us were, the starboard side, aft on the ship. The five fellows with me got killed. We lost 24 of our own, and we lost seven fellows that were from other ships who happened to be on our ship at that time. And I spent nine months in the hospital, and then they sent me back to sea. One thing I didn’t make clear is our combat uniform in those days was shorts and T-shirt. Not the way to go to war, they found out in a hurry. Also, we had no dog tags. They hadn’t been issued yet. This is the reason the Punchbowl, the cemetery up above us here, it has over 300 unknowns from Pearl Harbor—because once your clothes were off you, your clothes had your name stenciled in them, but if your clothes were off and you couldn’t speak, no one knew who you were. So that’s one of the reasons there are a lot of unknowns up here. But, anyway, my right ankle was shot open, I had a chip of bone out of the right leg, I had been shot through the right thigh, my right hand was ripped open, I had five pieces of shrapnel in the left leg, I had a piece torn out of my left thigh, I lost part of my left elbow, part of my left bicep, and the navy listed these as superficial wounds. Well, remember, shorts and T-shirts. When the fireball hit me from the explosion, I got a quick facial out of it, and it took all

PHOTO BY RAY SANDLA. PACIFIC HISTORIC PARKS

A ring buoy from the USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) reminds Pearl Harbor visitors that, in addition to the USS Arizona, 20 other navy vessels were attacked on December 7. Only one bomb hit the Pennsylvania but, as Seaman Everett Hyland testifies, it did great damage, killing 24 men.

the skin off of my arms, legs, any exposed skin comes off in a situation like this. So the big job that the navy had was the burns, not the wounds, regardless of what they were. Anyway, at the end of nine months, I was put back together and went back to sea.

I guess some people in the vicinity got a hold of me and helped me into sickbay. I was down there awhile, they finally put me into a bunk. I can remember few instances there, but eventually either I passed out or they gave me something to knock me out.

I had read that you were unconscious until Christmas. Actually, this is after I finally passed out when I was in sick bay. The first thing you notice is that you’ve been hit, obviously. I picked myself up and could see the skin all peeled off my arms, and I stood up and wondered where the gun crew went. Of course many of them had been hit along with the other fellows around me. Luckily when you get hit this bad, you don’t have any pain for a while, which is a good thing. And I was just—I guess I just stood up and I felt one of my feet wet, and I looked down and I had blood spurting out of one of the holes in my leg. So, Boy Scout training, I stopped the bleeding. I took my forefinger and pushed on the hole, and my finger went into my leg, and I figured, the heck with this, I’d rather bleed. And about that time, some officer spotted me and he hollered “get that man to sickbay.” So,

Were you angry at the Japanese? I suppose so. Sure. Why not? Look what they did. But not now? I was being interviewed by Sam Donaldson when they were doing that [2001] movie Pearl Harbor…, and he had me enumerate all the places that I got hit, and then he said to me, “Do you still have any animosity toward the Japanese people?” I said, “My wife is from Japan.” He said, “I guess that answers that question.” I guess that answers yours, too. A Hyland was discharged from the navy in November 1946, after earning seven campaign ribbons. He has volunteered at the USS Arizona Memorial since 1995. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

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ARMY NURSE

Anna Busby Interview by Allyson Patton

A

URDA BUSBY decided on a nursing career when she was a 14-year-old in Jermyn, Pennsylvania, after her father got pneumonia. In December 1941, she was a 29-year-old army nurse at Schofield Barracks’s Tripler Hospital. NNA

How did you end up in Hawaii in 1941? Well, I went into the military at Fort Jay [on Governors Island in New York Harbor] and then up to Newport, Rhode Island, and the older nurses who had traveled a great deal talked about Hawaii. And so that is how I went to Hawaii in 1941. What did you think of Hawaii once you got there? Oh, golly, it was heavenly. It was fun. We had all the dates we wanted. It was wonderful. What did you do for entertainment? Oh, my God—dating, dancing, swimming, all kinds of sports. I was into all kinds of sports—golfing, tennis, you name it, I played it, about every game that I possibly could. What were you doing the morning of December 7, 1941? On December the 7th I happened to be a patient with an infection in the right cheek on my face, and it was spreading. I was a patient. And so when the bombing occurred, the head nurse on the women’s ward where I was a patient was running down the hallway, and so I ran after her to the back porch of the hospital and what I saw—I’m sure she saw what I saw—was the smoke and fire from Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field and then, in a moment or two, something flashed before my eyes and hit the pineapple cannery’s oil drum, and that went up into a huge, huge flame, and that really scared us. I’m speaking for her as well as myself. And then she ran back from the back porch, or lanai (that means porch in Hawaiian)—she ran back to the office and she picked up the telephone and she called an officer at Hickam Field, and I heard her say, “My God, the Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor,” and I said to her, “We will all be needed on duty. I will report to the chief nurse to put me on duty wherever she wants me.” And that is what had happened.

So as I was going down the stairway with my record player and radio—the maternity ward was under the women’s ward— I saw this nurse preparing formula for babies, and I said to her, “The Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor,” and she said, “Oh, Anna, you are always kidding.” …And in a few more steps, I was now in the chief nurse’s office in the nurses’ quarters, which was about—I don’t know whether it was 50 feet or 100 feet away from the hospital. The chief nurse, Edna Rockefeller, said, “Where do you think you are going with that red face. You look like a casualty.” I said, “On duty, wherever you need me.” “Oh,” she said, “you can’t take care of those patients. You look like a casualty. You take charge of the women’s ward, and I’ll send the nurse who is up there elsewhere.” But when I returned—after I changed into my uniform—and when I returned to the ward, what I saw was there were a lot of patients on litters, on the upstairs porch and on the downstairs porch, and a nurse was administering morphine, and putting M on their foreheads for morphine, and tetanus, and she put on T for the tetanus. So then I went over to the ward where I was to be in charge, and that is what I had seen. Were you scared on the 7th? I was very scared. I was frightened.… What kind of rumors were going around after the attack? Were you worried about an invasion? Oh, yes. There were many times that we were alerted when ships approached the island, and we had to take shelter. And then we would get an all clear and it would be friendly ships that were approaching the island. A Busby said there were 200 military nurses in Hawaii in December 1941 and that in 2006, when this interview was conducted, only 13 were still living. After six years in the army, she left as a captain and joined the army reserve. Busby met and married her husband in Hawaii, where he served as the wartime recreational officer at Hickam Field. She died in 2010. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

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FIGHTER PILOT

Phil Rasmussen Interview by John Martini

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LIEUTENANT PHILIP M. RASMUSSEN was a 23-year-old pursuit (fighter) pilot who was raring to go. As a member of the 46th Pursuit Squadron, based on Oahu’s Wheeler Field, he took to the sky on December 7 to fight back against the Japanese attackers—in his pajamas. ECOND

How did the morning of December 7 start for you? About 10 minutes to 8, I was in the barracks for the unmarried officers, and I was standing in front of the latrine, and looking out the window at the hangar line, which was about three, four hundred feet from where I was standing. And I noticed an aircraft dived down the hangar and pull up very sharply, and an object dropped from this plane. And then I saw this huge orange explosion of smoke and orange flames. And when this airplane pulled up, I saw the two meatballs, or the two round circles identifying it as a Japanese aircraft. I knew immediately that it was a Japanese aircraft…. I was in my pajamas. And I yelled down the hallway that we were being attacked by the Japs. And I ran to my room and I strapped a webbed belt around my waist and a .45-caliber pistol in my holster that was on this belt, and put on a pair of shoes and ran for the flight line. And as I was running towards the flight line, aircraft was strafing—well, I thought they were strafing and trying to shoot me, because I could hear these bullets whistling by me and I’m sure that they had far more serious objectives than hitting this lone guy running along towards the flight line…. As I was running down toward the flight line, I saw the airplanes were in wingtip to wingtip, lined up. And the Japs had started to bomb and strafe the aircraft at the end of the line, and each airplane was exploding and igniting the one next to it, because they were so close together. And there were a few P-36s [Curtiss Hawk fighters] that were down closer to me, and closer to the hangar line, that were a little further away from the other aircraft. And I ran down to one of those, and jumped into that plane, got it started, and then an armorer came over with belts of .30-caliber and .50-caliber ammunition on his shoulder, then jumped on the wing. And I taxied over during, apparently, a lull 74

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there, because…as I taxied over towards the earthen revetments surrounding the airfield, I don’t recall being attacked…. I managed to get over to one of the earth revetments, and the armorer and I proceeded to load the P-36…. The guns on the P36 fired synchronously through the propeller, and the .30-caliber was on the left side of the pilot, and the .50-caliber was on the right side…. But anyway, as we assembled the four aircraft—Lou Sanders, the squadron commander, and Gordon Sterling and John Backer and myself—we all had done exactly the same thing…. And we took off in formation, headed towards Pearl Harbor to make a turn to the north, and we circled around the field, climbing. And we headed north because along the whole mountain range to the east, the clouds had built up over the mountains. And we were clawing for altitude, because that was so important in combat, to have altitude…. And we charged our guns at this time…. In the P-36, you had a charging handle for each gun that you pulled back a lever, pull it back as far as your ear, and then you let it snap forward, and that arm would snap forward and put a bullet in your chamber. Well, I did that with the .30-caliber, and then I pulled the .50-caliber back and let it slide forward, and the gun started firing by itself. So I had to pull it back and keep it cocked back to keep the gun from firing…. As we climbed, we headed west, and we had received instructions shortly after being airborne to go to Bellows Field. And we were climbing and then trying to get over in that direction as quickly as possible, and as soon as we topped the clouds, between 9,000 and 10,000 feet, we had instructions to go to Kaneohe Bay…which was more or less on the way to Bellows anyway, same general direction. And we got to Kaneohe Bay, we saw that it was under attack, and we saw about eight aircraft that were over land, making a turn, preparing to make another attack on Kaneohe Bay. And we dove down and were going to jump these aircraft…. And we intercepted them at about 6,500 feet…. And this one airplane came by from my right side to the left. And as he came by, as I saw him trying to come, I lit him with .50-caliber and let the handle slide

With the attack over, a GI studies the remains of a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk cut to pieces by Japanese strafing outside Wheeler Field’s Hangar No. 4. Fighter pilot Phil Rasmussen saved a P-36 Hawk by jumping in in his pajamas and taking off. Then he attacked Japanese Zeros.

home, and it started firing all by itself. And I could see the bullets stitching the fuselage, and from the engine aft, and he caught on fire and peeled down. And just at that same time, this other Japanese aircraft tried to ram me…. And as I pulled up to my right, my airplane shuddered, and my canopy blew off, and I lost control of the plane momentarily. As the plane was falling off, I managed to work the controls around, and I found out that my rudder control would not work. The rudder would just slide in and out on either side, which meant that I still had some aileron control, and elevator control, and I ducked into the clouds that were below us, and in towards the mountains…. I was popping in and out of clouds, trying to stabilize the aircraft, trying to find out whether I’d been hurt or not because I had felt this blow on the top of my head, and I had not worn a helmet. I just had a headset on. And I gingerly…reached up to see how much was left of the top of my head, and all I found was a bunch of Plexiglas in my hair, and I didn’t have a scratch anywhere.

And so he escorted me back to Wheeler. And we came back over Schofield Barracks, and as we came over Schofield Barracks, the friendly forces [had] organized themselves pretty well and was starting to shoot at us. But fortunately, they missed us. And then…as I turned on the base legs and put my view down, why, I noticed my indicator showed my gear was not down. So, on final, I was pumping the emergency pump to hydraulic fluid to get the gear down and just before I touched down, I got the gear down, and I cut the engine and landed on the wet grassy field. And we had a concrete ramp for parking the aircraft. But the aircraft just took over by itself because I had no brakes, my hydraulics had been shot out. I had no rudder. I couldn’t control the torque of the airplane, and I just spun around a couple of times ’til it came to a stop. And then I sat there…benumbed, really, and I noticed some men running over from the hangar line to see if I was OK, and finally got up out of the cockpit and I was soaking wet and it wasn’t just from sweat….A

Heading back to Wheeler, did you have any more encounters? As a matter of fact, I did. As I was heading back toward Wheeler, Lou Sanders picked me up and he pulled up close to me and was shaking his head and trying to find out what was wrong and I said, “Everything is OK. I’m alright.”

Many years later, Rasmussen learned that the Japanese pilot whom he thought was trying to ram him was still alive, and had confirmed that he did indeed try to ram Rasmussen’s P-36 with his A6M Zero fighter on December 7. Rasmussen eventually retired from the US Air Force as a lieutenant colonel. He died in April 2005. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

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SEAMAN

Don Stratton Interview by Allyson Patton

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STRATTON, A NEBRASKA BOY FROM REDCLOUD, joined the navy right out of high school. On December 7, 1941, he had just finished breakfast aboard the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) and was headed toward his locker when he saw planes overhead peel up, revealing Japanese insignia. He headed for his battle station. ON

Can you describe what you thought of Hawaii, and what happened on December 7? Well, of course you know a farm boy like me, flatlander like me, going into the service, going onboard a battleship was quite an experience. Going to Hawaii was another experience. Pearl Harbor was a horrible day. I was a sight-setter in the port anti-aircraft director, which is one deck above the bridge. And right now I think I’m the only survivor from that part of the ship forward left [alive]. I was—we were—caught in the fireball. We had a million-some-odd pounds of ammunition blow up, and the fuel and everything, and the fireball went six or seven hundred feet in the sky, and it just engulfed us up there…. The captain and the admiral [Captain Franklin Van Valkenburgh and Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd] were both killed on the bridge just one deck below me, and we were—I was— burned all to hell. I was burned 60 or 70 percent of my body. We couldn’t get off of the ship, but the Vestal [(AR-4), a repair ship] was alongside, and they—the sailors—threw us a heaving line, and we pulled across a heavier line, and we—six of us—proceeded to cross that line, hand over hand. About 45 feet in the air, and probably 60–70 feet across, up in the air, across the burning deck of the ship. We were already burnt. So I went to the hospital from there, of course. I was about a year in the hospital. I was back in the States Christmas Day 1941—in Mare Island, California, in the naval hospital. What were you doing when the first planes came overhead, and what were you thinking? 76

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Well, we had just finished breakfast, and I walked out to get something in my locker, I guess, and then I heard some sailors, pointing toward Ford Island. I went out to take a look and then saw the planes, and they peeled up around so you could see the Japanese insignia. So I just headed for my battle station, which I had to go up about four or five decks or so to get up there, inside this director…. We had some ready boxes of ammunition besides [what was] in the gun. Of course they were all locked up. Broke some locks and we were firing at them. I think we probably used up all of our ammunition that was in there. But we caught this bomb, and, of course, high-altitude bombers were bombing us, the dive-bombers were bombing us, the torpedo planes were torpedoing us. It was one hell of a mess. We lost 1,000 men that day or more. Are you still angry? I’m not angry, but I haven’t forgiven them. I mean, they have asked me several times in Hawaii and at some of the reunions over there, and they bring the Japanese pilots there, and they say, “Just go up there and we’ll go over and shake hands with them.” This and that, and a few of the guys put their arms around them, and that’s not for me. When some newsman says, “Well you’re a survivor, aren’t you?” and I say, “I sure am.” He says, “Well, how come you aren’t up there shaking hands with these guys.” I said, “I’m not going to shake hands with them, and I’m sure that those 1,000 men out there onboard that ship wouldn’t shake hands with them….” A Stratton spent 10 months in the hospital. When he finally had the strength to stand, he carried just 96 pounds on his 5-foot, 11-inch frame. He received a medical discharge and returned home, but then changed his mind. “All my buddies were in the service,” he said, “so I wanted to go back….” So he did. He was assigned to the USS Stack (DD-406) and participated in nearly all the invasions of New Guinea, both invasions of the Philippines, and the invasion of Okinawa. “I guess it was a little bit of revenge and a little bit of trying to get back at them [the Japanese],” he said. He was discharged in December 1945.

WORKER

Larry Igarashi Interview by Allyson Patton

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ARRY IGARASHI,

a second-generation Japanese American and native Hawaiian, went to work on a sugar plantation at age 14. As the eldest of nine children, he had to help support his family. By December 1941, he was 24 years old and working as a crane operator on Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island. December 7, he recalled, was a “clear Sunday morning, very quiet….”

dren of Japanese immigrants]. And a sailor policeman was alongside, so he told me, “Hey buddy, you better not talk with this guy. He might pull his .45 and shoot you and say you resisted arrest.” So I took off my Pearl Harbor plates, turned my car around, and went home….

On December 7, when you saw the Japanese planes flying in, were you scared? Can you tell me how you came to work at Pearl Harbor? Ah, it was so sudden, I didn’t think anything…. I was looking In the plantation I rose from the ranks as a weeder in the field toward the mountains, admiring the scenery, when I heard this to a crane operator, step by step. And in 1939–1940 there were sound of the planes coming overa lot of defense projects in Hawaii, head from the seaward side. When I and so I asked my dad, “There’s a looked up I saw these planes were lot of jobs outside of the plantation gray-painted and they had the rising paying good wages.” And my sun symbol underneath the wings. [draft] order number at that time So that, to me, that was strange. But was order number 240. I figured it didn’t take long before the planes with the first call to the draft, I’d be passed us…. We had a huge hamdrafted. So I told my father I’d quit merhead crane in Pearl Harbor. It the plantation and work outside was setting right on the wharf. The until the draft grabs me. He said planes passed that crane and then OK, so I started working as a crane they turned left and went into the operator at Pearl Harbor…. bombing run…. It didn’t take long On December 7, I was on the before the torpedoes struck the water project to Ford Island. The job ships at Battleship Row. was important, very important. So, About that time a disabled Japatherefore, we worked on December nese plane was heading toward us 7, Sunday. When the Japanese planes from the direction of Battleship came over and bombed Pearl Row. So the three or four workmen Harbor, the boss came over and told with me, we jumped into the ditch, us, “This is war. No work.” He told which I had dug for the pipeline. us to go home. So we went home. And the plane hit the ground and Later on, about 9:00 or so, I heard An Aichi D3A “Val” dive-bomber attacks Pearl Harbor passed over us, and then he went over the radio that all Pearl Harbor on December 7. Seeing Japanese planes overhead initially underneath a nurses’ college and set workers [were] to report to work, puzzled civilian crane operator Larry Igarashi. the college on fire. So we went into so…I went back to my job, which the college with a fire hose and put the fire out. When I came out was laying the water line to Ford Island, 10-inch water line. And I saw the body of the dead pilot. He was swathed in bandages. I worked there all night, and at 8:00 in the morning, the job was Even his head was swathed in bandages…. I guess the bandage finished. That was December 8. So the boss told us, “Go home helped them with the G-force…. A and get a little rest, and then come back again.” When I went back at 2:00 that afternoon, at the Makalapa gate entrance, the guard asked me, “What nationality are you?” I said, Igarashi volunteered for army service, serving as an interpreter in “I’m an American citizen.” India. At the war’s end, he was sent to Japan to interrogate Japanese “What?” he said. I said, “I’m an American citizen of Japanese citizens about the effects of US bombing there. Discharged in 1950, ancestry.” He said, “What?” So no matter what I said, he said, he returned to Hawaii, where he met and married a fellow “What?” Because this was right after the attack, they were all full Hawaiian Nisei. In 1962, 21 years after the attack, he returned to of hatred for the Japanese, including Nisei [American-born chilwork at Pearl Harbor for the navy as a civilian. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

77

CORPSMAN

Sterling Cale Interview by Allyson Patton

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CALE WAS 18 when he joined the navy in 1939. Graduating second in his hospital corps class in San Diego, he received his choice of assignments. “I heard of an island out in the Pacific where the girls over there have long black hair and grass skirts, and some of them live in grass shacks,” he said. “I said, ‘Oh, hell, give me Pearl Harbor.’” He arrived in November 1940. On December 7, 1941, he was just coming off duty at Pearl Harbor’s shipyard dispensary when he saw planes diving on Battleship Row. Like so many witnesses that day, he believed he was seeing a training exercise. TERLING

What was it like serving at Pearl Harbor? Actually the first year was pretty good. I was stationed at the navy hospital at C Landing, the old hospital in the navy yard…. We did the usual things. We’d go around and have a luau, go around the island, go down to the Black Cat Café in Honolulu or the YMCA right across the street. Sometimes Doris Duke Cromwell [heiress to the American Tobacco Company] would come by in her convertible and pick us up and bring us back to the navy yard. Sometimes we’d get invited to her parties on her big four-masted schooner, the Seth Parker. I think I went to a couple…. Before December 7, 1941, were you concerned about an attack from Japan? No. Actually, we had a mock attack most every month at Pearl Harbor, and the navy planes and the army national guard planes would dive on Battleship Row. And the men had trained where they would go in case we were attacked, but actually we didn’t pay too much attention to it. Even on the night before the attack on December 7, on the 6th, there was a big dance in town. And everybody was celebrating, having a few drinks and so forth. Did you go to the dance? No. I stayed in the navy yard because, fortunately or unfortunately, I was on night duty at the shipyard dispensary, and the shipyard dispensary was used to take care of the civilians working in the navy yard. I had just gotten off duty on the morning of December 7 and walked down to the main gate when the attack 78

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started…. I noticed the planes are diving on Battleship Row. Well, again, I didn’t pay too much attention to it, because they did this every month, ’til I saw one of the planes turn off to the right, and I saw the Rising Sun on the fuselage and wingtips, and I said, “Hell. Those are Japanese planes.” So I ran over to the receiving station, took the fire ax, and started breaking down the doors to the armory to hand out the 1903 Springfield rifles. This is a single-shot weapon. And then we handed out the bandoliers of ammunition. But again, being a hospital corpsman, we didn’t have weapons in those days, so I didn’t get one. Coming back down to Mary’s Point there, I was still watching the attack. Suddenly some aerial torpedo bombers came over my shoulder from the east, dropped off their aerial torpedoes about 10 feet off of the water, because they’d been built to go in shallow water, and I looked to see five or six of them were headed right out towards the USS Oklahoma. So I ran down the dock about 50 feet and took an officers’ barge and headed out towards the Oklahoma, but we never did get there because the Oklahoma sunk in 12 minutes with 400 men aboard. [While some of the hundreds of men on the Oklahoma survived, a total of 429 died.] Well, I spent the next four hours in the water, and of course the water had all the oil leaking out from the four battle wagons that had sunk, and it had caught fire…. But we spent a lot of time training in the water, so I spent most of my time during the four hours swimming underwater. I’d break water, see somebody out there, and then go back down under, swim over, break water again, and pick them up and put them on a barge and send them down to the hospital landing. But in four hours doing this—I was pretty tired, actually—I’d only picked up about 46 or 47 people. Some of those people were dead already, and some of them were badly injured, some badly burned. Some were just tired. They had either gotten blown off the ship or jumped off the ship. Cale was reprimanded for breaking into the armory and handing out weapons. Eventually, he got a carton of cigarettes and a commendation for this act. But first he was punished by being put on burial detail at the wreck of the USS Arizona.

As hospital corpsman Sterling Cale found out, life could be laid-back and happy for military personnel stationed on Oahu. But through an unjust punishment received for taking initiative during the December 7 attack, he also found out firsthand about war’s gruesome results.

…Well, I went out to the [Arizona] on Friday. This is a long time from Sunday to Friday of the next week. And I told the men, “I don’t know what you’re going to find out here, but…in that length of time in the water, bodies start to decompose and also probably the fish will be acting on some of them.” And also the big bomb that went down the stack next to the gun placement and went down to the second deck and hit the ammunition locker down there with thousands of pounds of ammunition and blew up with a giant explosion—[when] we got down there, we found in the second deck the men were just little pieces. Anybody that was within 50 to 100 feet was blown apart. So we took off as many men as we could in the six weeks that we were there. I think that we actually got only about 107 that we could identify and then a number of unknowns besides that. And at the moment they had believed about 1,177 were aboard the Arizona that we couldn’t take off. So they just sealed it off and left the rest of them on there.

also in the other companies that we served with. But I can never take a name from over there and meet it with a face. They just don’t meet up…. People always ask me, did you hate the people that you fight? And I say, no, really you don’t have time to develop a hate….

I imagine that this is difficult for you. It was difficult. Actually, even to this day I go out there and pay my respects to the people we left aboard the ship, and I see the names up on the big white wall there in memoriam. The names seem to sound familiar because most of us came from the Midwestern area, and many of them were in my company and

Cale retired from the navy in 1948 and joined the army the same year. After serving in Korea and Vietnam, he retired in 1965 as a command sergeant major, then returned to Vietnam as a US State Department employee. In 2005, he completed 57 years of government service. He serves as a volunteer at the USS Arizona Memorial.

And that’s how you felt at that time, too? That’s how I felt then. Of course, I was only 20 years old. So, actually, you’re just doing the job that you’ve been trained to do. Generally, when we have December 7 [commemorations]…over there at the Arizona Memorial…they generally have the missingman formation come over. The planes generally dive right on us and zoom out at the same time that December 7 started—at 8:00–8:05. And then I get the chills, and chills run through my whole body, and I find myself right out there in the middle of the Pearl Harbor, in the water, picking up bodies. But otherwise I don’t try to think about it and it generally doesn’t bother me….A

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79

SOLDIER

Herbert Weatherwax Interview by Robert Chenoweth

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WEATHERWAX WAS DRAFTED, trained, and put on active duty on Oahu, the island where he was born. A 24year-old former electrician for Hawaiian Electric, he was home in Honolulu, on leave from his 298th Infantry Regiment, when word came that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. ERBERT

Approximately two weeks before the Pearl Harbor attack, the army was alerted…and…we were taken to our designated areas [of defense]…. I was in the communication section and I helped lay telephone lines from one end to the other…. We had our machine-gun positions all set in designated areas and had observation points where they could observe the horizon from an upper level to see a little further beyond the horizon…. There were a group of us that was sent back to Schofield Barracks…. And I had a chance to go home for a weekend pass. And it was on that Sunday morning while I was on weekend pass that I heard an explosion, and wondered what was happening. I looked up at the sky and towards the direction of Pearl Harbor, there were all the black puffs. It was a bright morning. It was a nice morning, and I could see all those puffs. And then I heard, over the radio, “Calling all military personnel to report to their stations immediately.” That “The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor. This is war!” And naturally I was shocked…. As we were traveling over to Schofield Barracks…I passed Aiea Heights and looked down into Pearl Harbor. I had a panoramic view of the destruction. The Arizona was just in flames. All the other ships were afire and what stood up in my mind was that the Oklahoma had capsized. I saw the sailors aboard the hull of the ship just scrambling; the water was on fire…. On my way to Schofield Barracks, passing Wheeler Field, all of the…fighter planes were all lined up, and demolished…. What happened when you got back to the barracks? I returned to Schofield, I changed to my combat uniform, received my weapon and duffel bag with our other belongings…. We got on our truck and went to the Windward side and back to our [defensive position]…. On that side that we were stationed at, the Kaneohe Naval Air Station was the first that was 80

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bombed…. The Naval Air Station had lot of PBYs [Catalina flying boats]. They were all patrol planes. And I saw them all destroyed on the ground…. Were you thinking that the Japanese were just right over the horizon and maybe going to come? Oh, we were expecting the Japanese to invade, the next morning…. For six months, we were expecting the Japanese to invade. Well, I tell you, the first night, everybody was on hair trigger…. …I had to go [urinate] at night. I was walking back, I stepped on dry mango leaves. It made a little noise. I heard “Who’s there?” I kept walking and then I heard this officer say, “Who goes there?” I looked up, I said, “Me.” And he cussed me out. He said when he challenged me and I never answered, “I was about ready to shoot you.” He had his gun out, he was so scared…. He was thinking about saboteurs and all of those things…. Did you hear any reports that there were paratroopers or saboteurs, or anything like that? No, we didn’t…. But I heard…through my wife, that where she was living in Hilo, this one…person that was from Japan, he was out in his yard in his Japanese kimono, with the rising sun in the back, and he’s looking up in the sky, and he was just ranting off “Banzai! Banzai!” And so he must have been expecting something like that…. And he was arrested, right after that. Now, I would like to mention one other incident that I think a lot of people don’t realize, that we did have an army transport by the name of Royal T. Frank that used to take our troops from Honolulu Harbor to Hilo…. It was on January 28, 1942, that Royal T. Frank disappeared…. And they assumed that a Japanese submarine had sent a torpedo and sunk it, with all its crew and passengers, soldiers…. A Transferring to the Signal Corps, Weatherwax served in Europe with the 69th Division’s 272nd Infantry Regiment, ending the war as a staff sergeant. He used the GI Bill to get advanced electrical training, worked for another company, then started his own enterprise. Now retired, he volunteers at the USS Arizona Memorial.

RAIDER

Zenji Abe Interview by Allyson Patton

J

Lieutenant Zenji Abe led his squadron’s second division of dive-bombers in the second wave of the Pearl Harbor attack. In his 2006 book The Emperor’s Sea Eagle: A Memoir of the Attack on Pearl Harbor and the War in the Pacific, Abe wrote that when he saw black spatters of anti-aircraft fire climbing toward him as he arrived over Oahu, “for one brief moment, I felt a cold chill pass down my spine…. In fact, [the American] reaction was so quick that it was hard to believe at that time that we had achieved a surprise attack.” The following interview was conducted by email in 2006, with Abe’s daughter translating. APANESE NAVY PILOT

How did you become a navy pilot? My father ran a sake brewery company with a partner. I borrowed school expenses from a legion [a veterans group] when I was a junior high school student. This made me become a military man…. Got a stoical and Spartan educational training [at the Japanese naval academy] for four years. When I was second lieutenant I voluntarily entered into flying corps. In your book, you note that the Japanese government had grown distrustful of the Americans, British, Chinese, and Dutch. What were your personal feelings toward the United States in the fall of 1941? I didn’t have full realization of the dangers of [those nations], therefore I didn’t have any hatred feeling toward America or Americans. What was the atmosphere aboard your aircraft carrier, the Akagi, as you set out for Hawaii in November 1941? There was a little excitement against United States, but most of us were calm. Do you remember impressions of that day as you waited to depart? Does anything that you saw that day stand out in your memory? I didn’t feel anything special on that day. I didn’t have any fear or excitement, as if I were to take off from the aircraft carrier on daily training. What sort of American response did you see when you arrived at Pearl Harbor? What did you think of the American response? I was surprised that American response was so quick and accurate.

Could you please describe the attack from your perspective? How long were you above the harbor? What did you do and how did you react to what you saw? I was on Pearl Harbor for about two minutes. I saw the reflection of the warship [the light cruiser USS Raleigh (CL-7)] and released a bomb. After the attack, what were your thoughts as you reached your rendezvous point? Were you surprised to see the damage done to your division’s planes? Was your plane hit by anti-aircraft fire? I felt I did carry out my mission. I was not surprised to see my men’s aircrafts were hit. My plane was hit, three shots on its body. What did you think of the decision not to return to Pearl Harbor for a third attack? It was a right decision not to return for the third attack. In reading your book, I got the impression that you have a fondness and respect for Americans. Did it bother you that Americans regarded the attack on Pearl Harbor as a sneak attack? As there was a delay in handing the declaration of the war to the United States, it can’t be helped. I regret it very much. You have commented that you have no apology for your role in the Pearl Harbor attack. Yet you have pursued reconciliation with American survivors, and I understand that you apologized on The Today Show in 1991. May I ask to whom were you apologizing in 1991? I did not apologize for attacking Pearl Harbor. I apologized because our attack on Pearl Harbor became a sneak attack, as declaration of war did not reach US government on time (prior to our attack). I apologized to the soldiers (victims of war) at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. A In his book, Abe wrote that the Japanese embassy’s failure to deliver a declaration of war to the White House before the Pearl Harbor attack cast a shadow of dishonor on the raid. Not until 50 years after the event did he learn that Pearl Harbor survivors and the rest of America considered the December 7 raid a sneak attack. Abe spent his later years working for reconciliation with American veterans of Pearl Harbor. He died in April 2007. PEARL HARBOR STORIES

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Debunking Top Pearl Harbor Myths No moment in history would be complete without conspiracy theories and legends— especially not a moment as important as December 7, 1941. by Amanda Elise Carona

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70 YEARS SINCE THE ATTACK on Pearl Harbor, people have assigned memories and meanings to the iconic images of the raid that are emblazoned in our national memory. But with the passage of time, memories and meanings can start to shift and blur. The story is so detailed, sometimes it’s hard to know the difference between fact and fiction. That is how myths and legends are born, and Pearl Harbor has its share. Here are some of the myths most frequently associated with the events of December 7, 1941. N THE

Pacific long enough for Japan to seize the resource-rich islands in the southern Pacific without having to battle against intervening US forces. Japan grossly underestimated the Americans’ ability to bounce back, however. By June 1942, Japanese forces were already on the defensive. Myth: The approach of the Japanese planes was reported from the Opana Radar Station to Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, but he decided not to act upon the warning. Fact: When Privates George Elliot and Joseph Lockard noticed a fleet of aircraft approaching from the north on their radar equipment on Opana Ridge, they immediately called the information center at Fort Shafter. Lieutenant Kermit Tyler received the call. Knowing a flight of B-17s was due in from the mainland that morning, Tyler replied, “Don’t worry about it.” Kimmel never received the radar report. (The B-17s did fly in at 8:15 that morning, straight into the attack. Most crashlanded on Ford Island.)

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Myth: The Japanese fired the first shot in the war with the United States. Fact: On December 7, 1941, the Japanese sent five midget subs to attempt to enter Pearl Harbor and wreak havoc on the ships there. One of these midget subs was spotted at 6:37 A.M. by the destroyer USS Ward (DD-139), which was on patrol that morning. The Ward promptly dropped depth charges, fired at the sub, and reportedly sank it. So, it was the Americans who fired the first shot in the war between the United States and Japan. (Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, comMyth: The battleships in Pearl Harbor were mander of the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, always the primary targets of the Japanese did not receive a call about the Ward inciAs Pacific Fleet commander, Admiral attack. dent until 7:40 A.M., just 15 short minutes Husband Kimmel came under criticism after Fact: When planning for the raid began before the attack began.) the December 7 raid. But did he disregard in July 1941, the Japanese knew the era of reports of an approaching air fleet? the battleship was giving way to the era of Myth: Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto the aircraft carrier. Consequently, they focused their planned believed that if the Pearl Harbor attack succeeded, Japan would attack on the US aircraft carriers that were supposed to be in Pearl ultimately win the war. Harbor on December 7: Lexington (CV-2), Enterprise (CV-6), and Fact: Yamamoto, who was responsible for the attack on Pearl Saratoga (CV-3), all home-ported at Pearl Harbor with the Pacific Harbor, believed that although Japan’s navy was strong, American Fleet. Fortunately for the United States, the Lexington was on her military capabilities were much greater. Yamamoto’s hope for the way to Midway Island, the Saratoga was in San Diego, and the Pearl Harbor raid was that it would cripple US forces in the

PHOTO BY DANIEL MARTINEZ. NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

The USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated in May 1962, stands over the wreck of the battleship Arizona and the men who went down with her on December 7. Although architect Alfred Preis filled his design with symbolism, some people see more symbolism than he actually intended.

Enterprise was returning from Wake Island. All three escaped damage on the day of infamy. Myth: All ten Japanese sailors manning the five midget submarines launched on December 7 perished in the attack. Fact: The Japanese midget submarines were launched from mother subs several miles off the island of Oahu and tasked with wreaking havoc in the harbor. These tiny, battery-powered craft were manned by two submariners each. All but one was lost in the attack. The remaining midget sub lost control and power early in the attack. Her crewmen, Ensign Sakamaki and Petty Officer 2nd Class Inagaki, tried to destroy their disabled sub by lighting a fuse, but were unsuccessful. Inagaki was swept out to sea, while Sakamaki was captured by the 298th Infantry Regiment. Sakamaki became the first prisoner of war. Myth: The Japanese planned only two waves of attack, one for the airfields and one for the ships in the harbor. Fact: There were actually three waves of attack planned for the morning of December 7, 1941. The first wave, at 7:55 A.M., consisted of 183 planes—Kates (B5N torpedo-bombers) to attack the battleships with bombs and torpedoes, and Vals (D3A divebombers) and Zeros (A6M fighters) to attack the air bases. The second wave, arriving at 8:54 A.M., consisted of 167 planes (Kates, Vals, and Zeros) that focused their attack on the airbases. The third wave was designed to destroy Pearl Harbor’s fuel storage,

maintenance, and dry dock facilities. It was cancelled because US forces began mounting a significant defense, and Admiral Chuichi Nagumo believed more Japanese aircraft would be lost, now that the element of surprise was gone. Myth: The USS Arizona is a decommissioned ship. Fact: In December 1942, when salvage operations at Pearl Harbor were coming to a close, the USS Arizona was taken off the Naval Vessel Register. But she was symbolically recommissioned on March 7, 1950, when the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet began the tradition of raising the colors over the sunken ship. Myth: The USS Arizona Memorial’s 21 openings represent a 21-gun salute to the men who died aboard the Arizona. Fact: Architect Alfred Preis designed the openings in the Arizona Memorial specifically to lessen the structure’s weight. The memorial spans the hulk and does not touch the ship in any place, so it had to be carefully designed and constructed. Preis did include symbolic elements in his design, and the shape of the openings is symbolic; it represents marines standing at eternal parade rest, watching over those entombed below. The number of openings, however, represents nothing. A AMANDA CARONA is a historian based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Her focus is on World War II, Pearl Harbor, the WWII US home front, music, and the USO. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 83

If ever there was an icon of passion about to be interrupted by war, it’s the scene of Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) and Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr) kissing in Oahu’s surf in 1953’s From Here to Eternity.

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History, Meet Hollywood The human dramas and apocalyptic spectacle of December 7 have made Pearl Harbor a constant theme in movies good, bad, and abysmal. by Tom Huntington

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are more ominous than a simple shot of a calendar page. It usually reads “December 7” or maybe “December 6.” The date instantly communicates one fact: All the hopes, plans, and dreams of the characters are about to get knocked into a cocked hat. On the “date which will live in infamy,” the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor will plunge the United States into World War II and change everything. We know the crew of the B-17 bomber Mary Ann in the movie Air Force (1943) is headed for trouble as soon as we see the navigator enter the date in his logbook. It’s December 6, 1941, and the plane has left San Francisco on a ferry mission to Hawaii’s Hickam Field. As Mary Ann approaches Hawaii, she flies right into a war, beginning a long odyssey through flak and fire on Wake Island and in the Philippines, and finally gaining a small measure of retribution by participating in an attack on a Japanese fleet. EW THINGS IN THE MOVIES

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Pearl Harbor played a small role in Air Force, but a big one in the film’s genesis. According to director Howard Hawks, US Army Air Corps commander Major General Henry “Hap” Arnold personally asked him to make Air Force. “Tell the story of how the Japs laced the hell out of us,” Arnold supposedly said. “Then tell how we struck back at them with our own medicine. Tell the whole story—its bitterness and sadness and bravery. Tell the story of the greatest fighters the world has ever known.” Warner Brothers studio head Jack Warner wanted the film ready for release on December 7, 1942, but the production lagged behind schedule. Finally, tired of studio interference from producer Hal Wallis, Hawks feigned illness. But when he learned he had been replaced by director Vincent Sherman, Hawks emerged from his “sickbed” to finish the movie. He also drafted author William Faulkner, whom Warner Brothers had just hired as a screenwriter, to do some last-minute script doctoring. Air Force didn’t make its December 7 release date, but the studio did rush a copy to Washington so the bigwigs at the US War Department could see it. The film finally debuted in February 1943. With

Drew Field in Tampa, Florida, standing in for Pearl Harbor’s Hickam, Air Force retains a semi-documentary sense of realism, despite some pretty obvious miniature model work and a historically inaccurate insistence that local Japanese sabotaged American defenses in Hawaii. Critic James Agee took a dim view of wartime war movies, with their “well-paid shamming of forms of violence and death which millions a day are meeting.” But he had mixed feelings about Air Force. “It is loud, loose, sincere, violently masculine, and at times quite exciting,” he admitted in The Nation.

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PEARL HARBOR ATTACK comes near the end, not the beginning, of From Here to Eternity (1953), a movie that captures the feel of army life in the days leading up to the war. Based on James Jones’s earthy novel, the movie follows the lives and loves of soldiers at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii—a tangle of illicit relationships and dead-end career soldiering that the Japanese finally render moot. The novel’s frank language and steamy sex sparked controversy in its day, and insiders wondered how Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn HE

would manage to get it to the screen. (“Why would Harry Cohn buy a dirty book like From Here to Eternity? Because he thinks everybody talks that way,” joked people who knew the abrasive Cohn.) Novelist Jones had been at Schofield Barracks when the Japanese attacked, and the film’s raid sequence—much of it filmed on location—remains exciting and realistic. The movie had to sacrifice some of the novel’s less savory aspects, but it remains a triumph of Hollywood filmmaking at the twilight of the studio era, sparked by great performances by Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, and Frank Sinatra. In Harm’s Way (1965) begins pretty much where From Here to Eternity ended. In the opening shot, a chalkboard at a navy dance at Pearl Harbor bears the ominous date December 6th 1941. After an exciting and concise sequence that manages to capture the chaos, confusion, and shock of the surprise attack the next morning, the action shifts out to sea, to follow cruiser captain Rockwell Torrey (“All navy and nothing but navy,” according to another officer) as he follows instructions to seek out the Japanese fleet. Torrey defies orders to follow a submarine-dodging zigzag patPEARL HARBOR STORIES 87

approach director Clint Eastwood would take in 2006 with his two films abut Iwo Jima, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima). Acclaimed director Akira Kurosawa began filming the Japanese version, but he worked so slowly that the producers shut down his production and told the story in a single film (with slight differences between the American and Japanese versions). As history, Tora! Tora! Tora! does an admirable job of sticking to the facts. As a film, though, it’s pretty static and undramatic until the bombs and torpedoes start to fall in the explosive climax. The attack scenes, some actually filmed at Pearl Harbor, are very well done. Some thanks is due to the US Department of Defense, which gave permission to use an American carrier for shots of the Japanese airplanes taking off and returning. Getting the OK, though, required

tern and his cruiser receives two Japanese torpedoes as a result. And that’s just the beginning. Over the course of 2 hours and 47 minutes the film mixes soap opera, action, and redemption in one star-studded package—although the remainder doesn’t live up to the Pearl Harbor opening. In these movies, the Pearl Harbor attack functioned almost as a supporting character. But it never gained full leading status until the 1970 release of Tora! Tora! Tora! (“Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!”—the coded message the Japanese attackers transmitted to signify a successful mission). A co-production between Japanese and American film companies, this epic recounting of the attack and the events leading up to it was originally planned as two separate movies. One would present the American side of the story and the other the Japanese (an

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ot counting films based on documentary footage—such as director John Ford’s 1943 docudrama December 7th, produced by the War Department and the US Navy—here is what Holly-wood has done with Pearl Harbor on the silver screen so far. Air Force (1943). Director: Howard Hawks. Writers: Dudley Nichols with Leah Baird, William Faulkner, Arthur T. Horman. Stars: John Garfield, John Ridgely, Gig Young, Harry Carey. Warner Brothers Pictures. Black and white. 124 minutes. Unrated. Notice a foretaste of Star Wars’ space battles in Air Force’s aerial fight scenes? George Lucas was, after all, a film student. From Here to Eternity (1953). Director: Fred Zinneman. Writers: Daniel Taradash, based on James Jones’s novel. Stars: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Frank Sinatra. Columbia Pictures. Black and white. 118 minutes. Unrated. The iconic image of Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr rolling in the surf sticks in our collective memory, but the real love story is between Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) and the army that refuses to love him back.

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Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Directors: Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda. Writers: Larry Forrester, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima. Stars: Martin Balsam, So Yamamura, Jason Robards. Twentieth Century Fox and Toei Company. Color. 144 minutes (159 in Japan). G. This is the most accurate Pearl Harbor account to date and details not just the attack but the events— political and military—leading up to it. Still, it’s easier to admire than to love.

In 2001’s Pearl Harbor, computer-generated imagery makes for out-of-this-world combat scenes—no cure, unfortunately, for a distinctly unlovable story line.

In Harm’s Way (1965). Director: Otto Preminger. Writer: Wendell Mayes, based on James Bassett’s novel. Stars: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal. Otto Preminger Films. Black and white. 165 minutes. Unrated. Director Otto Preminger, a notorious tyrant on set, liked to sneak up behind tense young actor Tom Tryon and scream “Relax!” The model work is pretty obvious and 88

the soap operatics a little heavy handed, but it’s still a reasonably engrossing look at the US Navy in the Pacific.

The Final Countdown (1980). Director: Don Taylor. Writers: Thomas Hunter, Peter Powell, David Ambrose, Gerry Davis. Stars: Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katharine Ross. The Bryna Company, Polyc International BV. Color. 103 minutes. PG. The only movie to explore what would have happened if F-14 Tomcats had dueled with Japanese Zeros on the eve of Pearl Harbor! The navy provided use of the real Nimitz. The result, said New York Times critic Vincent Canby, “looks like a Twilight Zone episode produced as a Navy recruiting film.”

Pearl Harbor (2001). Director: Michael Bay. Writer: Randall Wallace. Stars: Benn Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett. Touchstone Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Color. 183 minutes. PG-13. In this overblown epic, the explosions are bigger, the dogfights faster. But the only thing that really catches fire is the Pacific Fleet. The movie finishes by redoing 30 Seconds Over Tokyo with better special effects but less soul.

Japanese planes leave Pearl Harbor in flames in this still from Tora! Tora! Tora! The film’s climactic attack scenes are so convincing that clips appear in later films. But getting to the attack sequence takes perseverance.

a great deal of debate and persuasion. Assistant Secretary of Defense Phil Goulding worried about the public relations disaster that would occur if a sailor died while helping with a Hollywood film. He didn’t want to “explain to the family of the kid who backed into a propeller and lost his head” how what he was doing was “in the service of his country.” Nor did he think it was a good idea to have an American carrier play a Japanese one. The filmmakers got their way in the end, though, and navy pilots aboard the USS Yorktown flew propeller-driven aircraft disguised to look like Japanese Zeros, Kates, and Vals. The navy refused to allow the planes to land on the carrier, though. Filmmakers had to fake that through editing. The Final Countdown (1980) must rank as the strangest Pearl Harbor movie of all. In it, Kirk Douglas plays Captain Yelland of the USS Nimitz, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from 1980 that sails into a strange electrical storm and winds up back in time, on December 6, 1941. Yelland must decide if he should attack the Japanese fleet and change history. “If the

United States falls under attack our job is to defend her in the past, present, and future,” he finally decides. Just as the Nimitz prepares her attack, however, she gets sent back to her own era, but not before her crew shoots down a couple of Zeros—and sets up a twist ending.

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had to rely on ship and aircraft models, and on American planes painted to look Japanese. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) changed all that, enabling moviemakers to create fleets on the water and in the air. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Michael Bay, known for big-budget action movies such as Armageddon and Bad Boys, decided to take advantage of this technology to make the biggest Pearl Harbor attack scene yet. Unfortunately, they saddled Pearl Harbor (2001) with a boring love triangle and a mediocre script, while the over-the-top special effects turned the attack itself into something that owed as much to Star Wars as World War II. Pearl Harbor’s story revolves around friends Rafe McCawley (Ben Affleck) and

Danny Walker (Josh Hartnett), who grow up to become army pilots. Rafe heads off to fight for the British and is reported killed in action. Danny falls in love with the girlfriend Rafe left behind (Kate Beckinsdale), a situation that gets awkward when Rafe turns up alive. Fortunately the Japanese attack in time to provide a distraction. Rafe and Danny then sign up with Jimmy Doolittle (Alec Baldwin) to raid Tokyo. The critics did to Pearl Harbor what the Japanese did to the real thing. “Pearl Harbor is a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours, about how on Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese staged a surprise attack on an American love triangle,” wrote Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Its centerpiece is 40 minutes of redundant special effects, surrounded by a love story of stunning banality.” From Here to Eternity has aged well over its 58 years. A half-century from now, will anyone remember Pearl Harbor? A TOM HUNTINGTON of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, is a contributing editor of America in WWII and author of the magazine’s film column, Theater of War. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 89

Pearl Harbor Today Oahu has been changing steadily for 70 years. But if you know where to look, you can see it as it was on December 7, 1941. by Burl Burlingame

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prised to learn Japan did not actually attack Pearl Harbor. The primary target was the US Pacific Fleet; if necessary, Yamamoto’s strike force would have hit the fleet in Guam, the Philippines, or perhaps even San Diego. The secondary targets were any and all aircraft that might scout the location of the Japanese carriers. A third wave of Japanese attack planes would have hit some of the oil tanks and shipyard facilities at Pearl Harbor. But Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, blessed with divine luck in crushing the Pacific Fleet so thoroughly in the first two waves, decided not to press his luck. Except for a stunt

raid in March 1942 and some later reconnaissance flybys in submarine-launched aircraft, the Japanese never returned to Pearl Harbor. The Pacific Fleet had set up shop in Pearl Harbor just 18 months before December 7, and if you look around the edges of pictures of the attack, you’ll see scaffolding, paint sheds, and piles of lumber, evidence that the shipyard was very much under construction

at the time. Prior to hosting the fleet, Pearl Harbor was essentially a refueling and liberty pit-stop in the middle of the Pacific, home to only a few destroyers and submarines, and with limited shipyard facilities. The fleet’s arrival brought a population boom with the sudden influx of thousands of sailors, and hundreds of civilian contractors who set up camps at the edge of the base. When war broke out, construction shifted into overdrive, and Pearl Harbor likely became the busiest military port in the world. The base we think of as “Pearl Harbor” today is largely the result of this wartime construction frenzy. So today, one has to look carefully to find evidence of Pearl Harbor as it was on December 7, 1941. The highest-profile artifact of that time is the USS Arizona, sunk in the harbor with more than 1,000 sailors entombed in her crumbling hull. In the early 1960s, a memorial was built spanning the Arizona—a gleaming white bridge with upraised ends symbolizing hope and victory that has become nearly as famous as the sunken battlewagon herself. (Ironically, architect Alfred Preis misunderstood the navy’s request for a structure resembling a “bridge”—the navy meant a ship’s bridge.) The Arizona and her memorial lie off Ford Island’s southeast shore. (Shuttle buses provide transportation to the island, and boats take visitors to the memorial.) Still clearly visible in that area are the trapezoidal mooring quays that defined the line of warships known as Battleship Row. On the shore opposite the

Legacies of December 7 crop up all over Oahu, but nowhere more than at the USS Arizona Memorial and the park service’s museum and visitor center. Above: One of Arizona’s two bells hangs at the visitor center. Opposite: The memorial, seen here from the visitors boat, stands over Arizona and 1,000-some men entombed inside her. Oil from the ship’s tanks bubbles to the surface daily in what Pearl Harbor survivors call “black tears.” 90

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BELL: PHOTO BY BRADFORD BAKER. WWII VALOR IN THE PACIFIC NATIONAL MONUMENT. OPPOSITE: PHOTO BY RAY SANDLA. PACIFIC HISTORIC PARKS

the windows of Hangar No. 79, a rambling navy structure on Ford Island, in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Some of the holes are neat and round. In other places, entire panes are missing. Historians at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, who restore and display aircraft in the hangar, theorize that the difference is due to whether the Japanese machine-gun bullets struck a pane directly or ricocheted from the airfield ramp outside. The holes are a reminder that, for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning 70 years ago, Pearl Harbor was the site of a surprising attack that galvanized a Depressionweary American population. The attack by Imperial Japan was a desperate gamble that paid off in the short term, but lit the fuse for American participation in what soon became known as World War II. The navy never fixed Hangar No. 79’s windows. During the war they were a visual reminder, as effective as any propaganda poster, that the men working in the hangar were in a war zone. The Pacific Aviation Museum has no plans to repair the windows, either, despite a renovation plan that calls for air conditioning. The holes are pointed out on every tour, along with concrete scarred by splintering bombs, and meandering trails dug in the tarmac by machine-gun blasts. The damage is visible evidence that The War Started Here. The words “Pearl Harbor” and “attack” are so inextricably linked in most Americans’ minds that people are surHERE ARE HOLES IN

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memorial sits the Pearl Harbor Memorial Museum and Visitor Center, operated by the National Park Service and now part of the World War II Valor In The Pacific National Monument. Other odd bits of property on Ford Island are also part of the national monument, including the hulk of USS Utah, off the island’s north shore. The ship rolled and became stuck during salvage operations, so she was left in place. Today there is a small pier overlooking the abandoned ship, with a flag and various plaques, although the site is difficult for civilians to access. Pearl Harbor was originally shared by the army and navy, with the army in charge of coastal defenses at Fort Kamehameha at the harbor’s mouth, and of half of Ford Island’s airfield. Runway No. 22, running the length of the island, is one of the oldest military airfields in the United States, established in 1916 and operating by the end of 1917. The army abandoned flight activities on Ford Island in the late 1930s, when nearby Hickam Field became operational. The army hangars on the north side of Ford Island aren’t recognizable as hangars today. Though classified as historic structures, they are currently being reduced to

girder skeletons over which new structures will be built to create work spaces for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The navy has a scheme to cover the entire surface of the historic runway with photovoltaic mirrors, which will preserve the flat landscape while generat-

ing electricity—and perhaps be visible from space. On Ford Island’s south shore, the navy hangars are relics of December 7. They currently house the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, a relatively new organization devoted to telling the story of Pacific aviation. Hangar No. 37, which housed workshops for light amphibian planes during the attack, tells the war’s story from Pearl Harbor through the battle of Midway and the landings on Guadalcanal. The collection in that hangar includes what is likely the most authentically painted A6M2 “Zero” fighter in any museum today, an Aeronca 65TC trainer that is an actual survivor of the attack, the wreckage of a Zero that force-landed on Niihau Island on December 7, a B-25 bomber with “Ruptured Duck” markings like those used on the April 1942 Doolittle Raid, an SBD Dauntless dive-bomber, an F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, and a Stearman trainer that was used by George H.W. Bush on his first solo flight. Hangar No. 79 currently houses the museum’s restoration facility and collection of more modern aircraft. The hangar—except for the bullet holes—was

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center but retaining the theater lobby, complete with old movie posters. N O . 6 on Ford Island’s south shore was the focus of PBY Catalina flying boat operations in December 1941, and was gutted by repeated bombing. The navy demolished it in the ’90s, but the building’s footprint can still be made out on the concrete seaplane ramp, along with spider-web patterns of splinter damage from Japanese bomb strikes. The southeast shore of Ford Island is home to Iowa-class battleship USS Miss-

board hull where a kamikaze exploded on impact in the spring of 1945. On the opposite shore, the park service’s original large visitor center has disappeared, replaced with a campus of smaller structures designed to better serve the daily flood of thousands of visitors. The scope of interpretation has also grown beyond a focus on the USS Arizona to cover Hawaii’s wartime experience. The new museum buildings are a direct result of the site becoming part of the new Valor In The Pacific National Monument, effectively ending a decades-long stalemate between

ouri, as well as an elegant shoreside monument to USS Oklahoma. The Missouri, upon which Japan’s surrender was signed, is right in line with USS Arizona. Together, the two ships represent the beginning and end of America’s involvement in World War II. Missouri fought in every conflict up to the first Gulf War, and her current configuration reflects naval modernization. But there’s still a sizable dent in her star-

the park service and the navy on how best to interpret the Pearl Harbor attack for citizens. The navy continues to provide launch rides out to the Arizona Memorial. Next to the new shoreside facility is the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, devoted to telling the story of WWII submarine activities. The site offers tours of the Bowfin, an excellently preserved Balaoclass submarine nicknamed “Pearl Harbor

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recently blasted and cleared of lead paint and asbestos, and probably hasn’t looked this clean since 1933. It will be the site of the museum’s primary WWII collection, which will include the only B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber in any museum. Also part of the museum is Ford Island’s control tower, currently under wraps while it is stabilized, cleaned, and rebuilt. The control structure itself sits atop a two-story concrete building. Immediately behind it is a red-and-white, six-story water tower that is usually mistaken for the control tower. Painted primer gray at the time of the

attack, it was camouflaged during the war. Nestled next to the aviation museum are various historic buildings that were relentlessly modified during the Cold War era and don’t bear much resemblance to their December 7 façades. Two exceptions are the waterfront base dispensary, currently unused but with a plaque in the courtyard indicating where a bomb struck, and the Ford Island Theater, rebuilt as a conference

The Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor, on the portion of Ford Island that was a WWII naval air station, is a treasury of December 7 buildings and artifacts. Opposite, top: Ford Island’s control tower (atop the two-story white building) and the island’s red-and-white water tower survived the 1941 attack. Opposite, bottom: A WWII ambulance sits outside Hangar No. 79, a naval air facility strafed by Japanese airplanes on December 7. Above: Hangar No. 79’s windows still bear scars from machine-gun rounds—a mix of bullet holes and missing panes. PEARL HARBOR STORIES 93

Avenger” because she was launched on December 7, 1942. Together, the four museum complexes provide a wealth of interpretation, authentic artifacts, guided tours, and historical immersion into the events of December 7— altogether too much to absorb in one day. Visitors should see the Bowfin, the park service site, and the Arizona Memorial on one day, and take in the Missouri and the Pacific Aviation Museum on another day. Visitors on package tours may find themselves hustled through the sites too quickly. Pearl Harbor was recognized as a National Historic Landmark district in 1964. But it is also an active naval base, continually changing to meet modern

demands. Although this means that some older structures have been saved when they could have been knocked down, all structures at Pearl Harbor are potentially targeted for demolition and rebuilding. The navy keeps an architect versed in the base’s historic structures on staff.

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2005 BASE CLOSURE and Realignment Commission merged the naval base at Pearl Harbor and the Air Force base at Hickam into one command—Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, or JBPHH— effective in 2010. Essentially, the navy has taken over all operations, while the air force retains title to the base golf course. Pearl Harbor’s shipyard remains busy, HE

avoiding federal budget cuts by repairing active-duty ships in the harbor’s mostly WWII-vintage dry docks. The navy focuses on berthing and support for ships and submarines, and houses something like 160 separate commands. But civilian contractors—chiefly Texas-based Hunt Building Corporation—handle nearly all other activities, especially housing, and personnel and family support services. Hunt is currently busy building hundreds of new homes on Ford Island, naval housing needed since the closure of nearby Barbers Point Naval Air Station in the ’90s. At Hickam Air Force Base, all housing is being modernized, and one sample of each of the 24 original home designs is being

Below: USS Missouri is at Pearl Harbor, where the war began, as a representative of the war’s end. Japan’s surrender was signed on her deck.

US NAVY

restored to a 1940s ambiance. Air force families in these restored homes have their modern conveniences hidden behind Art Deco woodwork. Historical architects were delighted to discover beautiful terrazzo floors beneath faded shag rugs. In many cases, interpreting Pearl Harbor’s history has been turned over to Hunt contractors. Several moves to preserve the remains of the marine air station at Ewa Field—hard hit on December 7—abruptly stalled this year when the navy awarded the property to Hunt in exchange for a legal settlement. The Japanese hit other Oahu sites on December 7, attempting to wipe out aerial opposition and reconnaissance. The original barracks at Hickam Field, later US Pacific Air Forces headquarters, is still Above: The sub USS Bowfin sank 23 enemy ships in World War II. At Pearl Harbor, she represents the Pacific war’s undersea component. Here, she is dry-docked for repairs in 2004.

USS MISSOURI MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION

pockmarked with dozens of bullet holes, despite occasional attempts to plaster and repair the damage. The Art Deco water tower on Hickam’s parade ground still stands, even though it was damaged on December 7 and hasn’t held water since. Hickam’s hangars still bear the US Army Air Corps insignia. At Wheeler Field in the center of the island, where the ramp was relentlessly strafed, the flight line still looks the way it did in 1941—for that matter, the way it did in 1931. Wheeler Field is a time capsule of a ’30s air corps base. It is currently used for army helicopter operations. Bellows Field on Oahu’s east shore, still a sandy runway flanking a beach, remains under air force control as a vacation facility. The exact spot where a midget submarine was dragged ashore is today a barbecue revetment. A couple of times a year, the marines practice amphibious landings on the beach while tourists watch. Just to the north, on Oahu’s “windward” side, the naval air station of Kaneohe is now jointly operated by the marines and the navy. The hangars that were bombed and strafed on December 7 are still there, as is the hulk of a sunken PBY just offshore. The Marine Corps is currently planning a museum to be built at the front gate. Despite what you may have seen in From Here to Eternity, Schofield Barracks,

next to Wheeler Field, was not targeted by the Japanese. Today, however, it features a small but nice army museum with a latemodel Sherman tank out front. Barbers Point, no longer a naval air field, is now a civilian airstrip called Kalaeloa. A small Naval Air Museum there focuses primarily on postwar aircraft. In Waikiki, in the coastal defense structure once known as Battery Randolph, is the US Army Museum of Hawaii, with excellent displays about the Pearl Harbor attack. The state’s King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center in downtown Honolulu has an exhibit examining local life under martial law. Not much remains of December 7, 1941, in Hawaii today—certainly nothing like the carefully preserved sacred ground at Civil War battle sites on the mainland. One long-running, bitter joke in the islands is that the Hawaii state bird is the construction crane. But sometimes, when you’re out at dawn on the aircraft ramp on Ford Island or at Wheeler Field, or watching the sun rise over the Koolaus to illuminate the gently rolling waters of Pearl Harbor as a warship glides past, it’s easy to imagine what it might have been like in those last seconds of peace. A BURL BURLINGAME grew up around Pearl Harbor and now lives in Kailua, on Oahu’s “windward” side.

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PEARL HARBOR

STORIES The Sleeping Giant Awakens

NPS/USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL PHOTO COLLECTION

President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his “infamy” speech to a joint session of Congress on December 8, 1941, asking for war against Japan in response to the previous day’s attack.

IT WAS 12:30 P.M. ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1941. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood before a joint session of Congress and spoke immortal words: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” With these words, delivered with passion and force despite the polio that made standing impossible without braces, FDR launched his people on four years of struggle, hardship, and loss, to reach victory—victory in Europe, victory over Japan, victory for the free world, but a victory FDR would not live to see. “With confidence in our armed forces,” he pledged, “with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph—so help us God.” And with that, he closed: “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.” The declaration was on his desk within the hour. A

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