December 7, 1941

On a Sunday morning, when people in Pearl Harbor were getting ready for the start of a new day and preparing to attend Sunday morning church services, the Japanese struck Battleship Row killing thousands of sailors and civilians.

I ask that on this day, everyone take a moment to remember the sacrifices of those who gave their lives, their own freedom, so that we may live our own lives free.

I personally lost a great uncle on the USS Arizona and grew up listening to the stories told by my other great uncle who was on the USS Oklahoma and survived. I will never forget. And neither should you all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FcigNxgA_w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBc3xHWCq34

 

Thank's for posting!

 

My boyfriend's Dad is a Pearl Harbor Survivor. He was on the USS Raleigh. I will post what he wrote about his experience.

"About eight o'clock on Sunday morning, I was woke up by an explosion. It knocked me out of my bunk, through another bunk, and into the bulkhead (wall) and also into World War Two. All the power was off, very dark and very little air. On Sundays we could sleep late if we were not on duty roster, so there were four of us in the comparement, which was two decks below the top deck. We began trying to find our way out and as we found the ladder to the next deck, someone above us was closing the hatch lid. This would make the ship watertight and it could not be unfastened from the bottom side. Two more seconds and we would not have gotten out. We were lucky to get out and as we got on the top deck and were running to our battle stations, bullets were bouncing off the deck from the Japs strafing it. That is when I found out that the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor. I reported to my station as an operator of an altimeter range finder. This was an instrument that had a man for pointer, one for trainer, and an operator. It measured the height of an airplane and sent information to the 3 inch antiaircraft guns. The gun crew then set the fuse on the shell so it would explode at that height. The planes in the first wave were too low to get readings on, but in the second wave I was getting readings of 7,775 feet. I read years later that the Japs said they were flying in that range. We were credited with shooting down four of their planes.

Because we were moored in the aircraft carrier's place, we were one of the first ships to take a hit. It was a special armed torpedo designed for a larger ship. It knocked a hole in the side of the ship that two tractor trailers could have entered side by side with plenty of room to spare. In the second attack, a bomb went down through three steel decks and back out through the side before it exploded. It just missed our aviation fuel tanks and the six inch powder magazines.

Some of our ships were underway and trying to get out to sea. A destroyer going by us began firing out into the bay. They had sighted a Japanese midget submarine that had slipped into the harbor. One of the five inch shells from the destroyer hit the submarine conning tower and it sank. Later, when they raised it up, they found that the shell had hit the one man crew in the neck and cut his head off. I was also looking across Ford Island at the battleship Arizona when it was hit and blew up, killing much of the crew.

The old battleship Utah, a target ship for our ships and planes was hit. It was about 100 feet behind us. It had big twelve inch timbers, 10 to 15 feet long, that were tied above deck to protect the crew from the practice bombing with sand bags. As it began to roll over, those large timbers began breaking loose and falling on the crew as they were jumping into the water.

Our ship was beginning to list to the port side and the captain passed the word "to prepare to abandon ship." An old, overweight chief petty officer jumped in and started swimming the 100 feet to the shore. He later said that he could not swim good so he was getting a head start.

After the second attack, everyone began trying to save our ship. We first lifted off, by manuel power, our two sea planes. Then we threw off the catapult, the torpedo tubes, and anything that was loose on top side. This caused the ship to start listing the other way, so we threw off the same things on the other side of the ship. By doing this we were able to set the ship down on the sandy bottom with the topside deck just above the water. The ship was still liable to roll over. Late in the afternoon the navy yard sent a barge with pontoons on it to tie our ship. We worked into darkness pulling large cables and lines around the barge and our ship. The lines went through the rigging so we could get more leverage by pulling down on them. I still remember reaching up to pull and the salt water and oil that was on the water, would run down onto my head and into my eyes. My arms felt like they would drop off, but there was no stopping.

Just before dark, the navy yard sent a cold meat sandwich and a cup of water for each person. I had not ate since 8 p.m. Saturday night, but had not noticed being hungry and thirsty. There was not much sleep that night, for there was a rumor that the Japs were landing on a beach across the island. I think every time anything moved, most of the ships would start firing at imaginary targets.

On Monday morning we had roll call and found that we had no death and only seven injuries. I thought that was very lucky for all of us. Besides the ships having a name, they also had a number, so I decided I would stay on the ship till they run me off.

The next few days we stayed alert. The navy yard started sending all our meals to us. On the fourth day we were lined up on top side to get our evening meal and looking over the side we seen several bodies of the Utah crewman floating next to our ship. They were on their backs, bloated, and their eyes open. We started vomiting and no one wanted anything to eat for a couple of meals. Also, someone had gone over to the Utah, which had turned bottom up, and heard a pecking noise. We sent our ship fitters over there with torches. They cut through the eight inch steel bottom and rescued a man. He was nearly crazy, but very happy. The Raleigh has a ship reunion every year and he attends every year. I seen him in May 2000, at our reunion and he is still very grateful to us.

After some weeks in a dry dock for checking and making minor repairs, we left Pearl Harbor for the Mare Island navy yard in Vallejo, California. Two boiler rooms and one engine room was filled with water, so our speed was about ten knots per hour. We would have been an easy target for a Jap submarine, but did not encounter any. We were to be in the navy yard for repairs for four months." -Dale Reid, March 10, 2001

 

coolhandjean, thank you for sharing that story with us!

I wish I had a player that could record a tape on a cd so I could share my great uncle's stories. At first, he wouldn't speak to anyone about it. He would just take a tape recorder into his room and speak into it. As the years went by, he opened up about it all and became very vocal in telling his memories.

I have an enormous Pearl Harbor memorabilia collection thanks to him (books, videos, etc.) and I still have those tapes.

And make sure y'all at least watch that first video. It's great.

 

Thanks so much, Mia. I hear different WWII stories and it's nice to pay my respects from another angle. My mother was in England at the time and I hear it all from a frightened little girl's POV. Blackouts, air raids, the house she was born in was bombed...with her in it...

 

No problem. I have had the privledge of knowing two Pearl Harbor survivors. The other was my Aunt's father, but he is no longer with us. Luckily, my Aunt did tape record his stories about that day. She'd like to write to down someday to share it with us all.

 

I visited Pearl Harbor and in honor of that day, here are a few pics:
RIP to all whose lives were sadly ended that day.
some pics of the memorials, Arizona 1st, then the Missouri

flag at the Arizona Memorial


going, to the memorial


Dougie in his wheelchair (motorcyle accident) in front


pieces left. "they" say oil still leaks, and the bodies still remain below


same

more pieces


those remembered


the Missouri, as seen form the Arizona Memorial

On board the Missouri