Troop of the Week (Our Salute to the Troops of the Past)

Troop of the Week

NEVER FORGET:

Our Salute to the Troops of the Past

Pearl Harbor

In late November 1941, a young Navy radio man from Missouri, had orders to report for transport to his new assignment upon the U.S.S. Arizona. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he literally missed his boat. He was then reassigned to a completely different ship, which headed north, away from Hawaii… and not long after, America was thrust into war… and the ship this young sailor was supposed to be on, was one of the first major casualties.

“On December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy-the United States was suddenly and DELIBERATELY attacked by the naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Addressing Congress, December 8, 1941

Sequence of Events

The diplomatic relationship between Japan and the United States was on egg-shells throughout most of 1941. As this relationship grew progressively worse, on November 26, 1941, the Japanese Fleet left Hittokapu Bay on its way to Hawaii. They would move at a steady 24 knots toward a small section of water approximately 230 miles south of Oahu.

The negotiations had been getting worse and on November 27, 1941, the negotiations finally ground to a complete halt. Roosevelt resolved to halt the flow of the crucial American oil supply to Japan, which needed the supply to continue to operate machinery. This oil supply had been gradually decreased as Japan became a bigger threat to the United States. Japan depended heavily on the oil for military purposes.

Saturday, December 6 - Washington D.C. - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for peace. There is no reply. Late this same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts, passing them on to the President and Secretary of State. The Americans believe a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia.

Japanese on a ship near Hawaii

Sunday, December 7 - Washington D.C. - The last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic relations with the U.S. are to be broken off, reaches Washington in the morning and is decoded at approximately 9 a.m. About an hour later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the Japanese embassy to deliver the main message to the Americans at 1 p.m. The Americans realize this time corresponds with early morning time in Pearl Harbor, which is several hours behind. The U.S. War Department then sends out an alert but uses a commercial telegraph because radio contact with Hawaii is temporarily broken. Delays prevent the alert from arriving at headquarters in Oahu until noontime (Hawaii time) four hours after the attack has already begun.

Sunday, December 7 - 6:00 a.m. (Honolulu time) Islands of Hawaii, near Oahu - The Japanese attack force under the command of Admiral Nagumo, after months of training, 183 Japanese aircraft are launched from six major fleet carriers, and fly along at multiple altitudes (High level bombers at 9,800 feet, dive bombers at 11,000 feet, and fighters at 14,100 feet) toward Oahu, using the radio station at Honolulu as a sort of beacon to guide them in.

Pearl Harbor - 7:02 a.m. (Honolulu time) a radar operator on the Private George Elliot and Private Joseph Lockard spotted the Japanese aircraft onto an approach to Oahu, and contacted the Information Center to report the contacts. At that time, Lieutenant Kermit Tyler, being only one of two people, in a building filled with plotters, controllers, and aircraft identification experts only a couple of minutes ago, informed Private Lockard that it was a flight of B-17 Flying Fortresses on an approach to the islands. Private Lockard did not mention that it was too large to be a flight of even the massive Fortresses, and that it was most likely consisting of more than fifty planes, and nothing more was mentioned about it.

Near Oahu - 7:15 a.m., a second attack wave of 167 planes takes off from the Japanese carriers and heads for Pearl Harbor.

At this moment in time, Pearl Harbor is not on a state on high alert. Senior commanders have concluded, based on available intelligence, there is no reason to believe an attack is imminent. Aircraft are therefore left parked wingtip to wingtip on airfields, anti-aircraft guns are unmanned with many ammunition boxes kept locked in accordance with peacetime regulations. There are also no torpedo nets protecting the fleet anchorage. And since it is Sunday morning, many officers and crewmen are leisurely ashore.

7:53 a.m., the first Japanese assault wave, with 51 'Val' dive bombers, 40 'Kate' torpedo bombers, 50 high level bombers and 43 'Zero' fighters, commences the attack with flight commander, Mitsuo Fuchida, sounding the battle cry: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!).

7:55 a.m., the attack on Pearl Harbor begins. The first bomb is dropped on Wheeler Field, just 8 miles from Pearl Harbor.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Commander Logan Ramsey, who was watching the color guard ceremony, was outraged as a different Japanese plane makes a low pass on the field. Lieutenant Richard Ballinger, one of the people with him notices the red on the plane, and thinks it is a squadron commanders plane, but then notices that something black falls out of the plane when it completed its dive. Once the first bomb detonates, both men realize that it is a Japanese plane, and scramble for cover, but only after Lieutenant Ramsey sends out a brief, plain English, none coded transmission which basically summarized the situation:

'Air Raid, Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill!'

The Americans are taken completely by surprise. The first attack wave targets airfields and battleships. The second wave targets other ships and shipyard facilities.

The damage could have potentially been much worse, if the three carriers that were stationed at Pearl Harbor had been there too. The USS Lexington IV was out with Task Force 12, and upon hearing word of the attack, immediately began a search for the Japanese task force. The USS Saratoga V had just entered San Diego after being dry-docked in Bremerton. The USS Enterprise was delivering aircraft to Wake Island when the attack was under way. This also saved much of the submarine base, because Mitsuo Fuchida recalled his fighters after he discovered that the carriers were not nearby.

The United States Naval damage was fairly heavy still, especially to key warships such as battleships and cruisers. The United States lost a total of 5 battleships with another 3 damaged. There were also 3 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and 4 auxiliary craft that were either sunk or heavily damaged. In addition to those there were 205 aircraft either destroyed or damaged The air raid lasts until 9:45 a.m. The Japanese lose 27 planes and five midget submarines which attempted to penetrate the inner harbor and launch torpedoes.

USS Arizona Before

USS Arizona During

USS Arizona after

The casualty list includes personnel killed, missing, wounded, and those who died of their wounds, the staggering numbers read like so --2,008 Navy dead, 710 wounded… 109 Marines dead, 69 wounded… 218 Army dead, 364 wounded… 68 civilians dead, 35 wounded. Included are 1,104 men aboard the Battleship USS Arizona killed after a 1,760-pound air bomb penetrated into the forward magazine causing catastrophic explosions.

In Washington, various delays prevent the Japanese diplomats from presenting their war message to Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, until 2:30 p.m. (Washington time) just as the first reports of the air raid at Pearl Harbor are being read by Hull.

News of the "sneak attack" is broadcast to the American public via radio bulletins, with many popular Sunday afternoon entertainment programs being interrupted. The news sends a shockwave across the nation and results in a tremendous influx of young volunteers into the U.S. armed forces. In the next year over a million young men stand up to defend freedom. The attack also unites the nation behind the President and effectively ends isolationist sentiment in the country.

Monday, December 8 - The United States and Britain declare war on Japan with President Roosevelt calling December 7, "a date which will live in infamy..."

Thursday, December 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The European and Southeast Asian wars have now become a global conflict with the Axis powers; Japan, Germany and Italy, united against America, Britain, France, and their Allies.

Wednesday, December 17 - Admiral Chester W. Nimitz becomes the new commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Both senior commanders at Pearl Harbor; Navy Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, and Army Lt. General Walter C. Short, were relieved of their duties following the attack. Subsequent investigations will fault the men for failing to adopt adequate defense measures.

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve."

Attributed to Japanese Admiral, Isoroku Yamamoto

That young sailor who missed his boat was my grandfather… my father’s father, who, in 1941 hadn’t yet become a father. Needless to say, and I’m sure my father would agree, there’s something to be said for not being on time every time.

This week we here at Patriotic Thunder salute the men and women who perished at Pearl Harbor sixty-five years ago this December 7th… who were viciously attacked by a true imperialistic tyrannical force… suicidal in their attempt to destroy America.

And the echoes of history capitulate…