PAGE  38

By Jerry Adams,  Copyright © 1999 all rights reserved

for my father-in-law, William Frank Akers, Jr., WWII veteran (USS Kitkun Bay, CVE-71)

Each token in your collection, binds you to the past, to history. They whisper, " Don’t forget!"

THE TOKENS:

There are turning points in history, defining who we are today, what we might have been, and how we got here. Some of these moments are so unexpected, so shocking, that they remain in the national consciousness for decades. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was one of those shocking moments.

THE GEOGRAPHY

In 1941, the Hawaiian Islands were a territory of the United States, strategic in their location near the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Pearl Harbor is located on the south side of the Island of Oahu. Ford Island is in the middle of Pearl Harbor. The United States had acquired exclusive rights to Pearl Harbor in 1887 by treaty.

THE PRELUDE TO THE ATTACK

On February 1, 1941 the United States Fleet, which previously had a battle fleet in the Pacific and scouting fleet in the Atlantic, was reorganized. The fleet in the Pacific became known simply as the Pacific Fleet, and the Atlantic Fleet became a separate entity. Also on that date, the permanent headquarters for the newly named Pacific Fleet became Pearl Harbor. The increase in activity at Pearl was intense, with the civilian work force at Pearl doubling between mid 1940 and mid 1941. The entrance to the harbor was widened and deepened, and the number of naval personnel increase dramatically. The entire Pacific Fleet could now easily be accommodated at Pearl independent of the mainland.

THE JAPANESE PLAN

By December of 1941. war had been raging in Europe for years; England was in a struggle for her life. America’s military was small. The U.S. depended mainly on its navy as a defensive force. The army was mainly a small force of professional soldiers. Japan was not then, the economic powerhouse it is today, and was not seen as a menace by most Americans. If war came, it was felt, it would come from Europe, from Hitler. The Japanese plan was based on Bushudo, and although strange to western minds, was simple and devised by Harvard educated Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. The Japanese high command was convinced that war with the U.S. was inevitable. The object was to capture most of the western Pacific, South China Sea and associated landmasses. This extended as far as Sumatra, Java, New Guinea, Burma, Philippines, Thailand, Manchuria, and French Indochina. The plan to deal with the U.S was to cripple the Pacific Fleet with a surprise attack, and put up a defense around the conquered areas before the U.S could react. Japanese conquests in China and Southeast Asia had already forced the U.S. to freeze Japanese assets and implement an oil embargo against Japan.

THE ATTACK FORCE

The Japanese attack force was composed of 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 2 heavy cruisers, 9 destroyers, 1 light destroyer, 8 oilers and 3 "midget" submarines. The aerial force approached Hawaii from the north, the midget subs from the south.

THE ATTACK

The first wave of Japanese aircraft consisted of 183 planes, launched at 0600 hours, arriving on the coast of Oahu at 0740. They flew into attack positions and Commander Mitsuo Fuchida radioed out code words to the Japanese carriers, which signaled that they had caught the U.S. Pacific Fleet by surprise: "TORA! TORA! TORA!" (TIGER! TIGER! TIGER!).

JAPANESE MILITARY TACTICS

The basic military tactics were simple. First strikes would cripple the American airfields, and Japanese fighters would fly "cap" for the bombers, to protect them. Japanese "Kate" torpedo planes would drop specially designed shallow running torpedoes against the battleships on the outboard side along "battleship row". Once the outboard ships were burning, high level bombers and dive-bombers would attack the inboard battleships. Spare ordinance was to be spent on targets of opportunity.

The first bombs struck Ford Island at 0755 hours. At almost the same time, Japanese bombs and fighters struck Wheeler, Hickam, Ewa and Kaneohe fields. Within minutes, most of the American aircraft had been destroyed, eliminating the possibility of a threat to the attacking Japanese aircraft. Specially designed Japanese shallow running torpedoes were dropped from "Kate" aircraft against the US battlewagons, which were lined up with military precision along the northeast shore of Ford Island. At 0802 machine gun crews on board the USS Nevada (BB-36) opened fire on torpedo planes approaching her port beam, hitting two planes. At 0805 the repair ship Vestal (AR-4) opened fire. The battleship USS California (BB-44) was struck by a second torpedo portside. High level Japanese bombers began dropping armor piercing delayed action bombs from an altitude of 10,000 feet on the battleships below, scoring direct hits.

THE USS ARIZONA- SUNK IN 9 MINUTES

The devastating direct hit caused an explosion, which forced air through the ruptured fireroom sending a colossal plume of black smoke out the Arizona’s funnel. The Arizona foundered in 9 minutes, and burned for two and a half days. The sinking occurred so quickly that the majority of the crew were trapped below decks. Only 75 bodies of the 1,177 killed were recovered.

THE USS NEVADA-DASH FOR OPEN WATER

One event gave a tremendous boost to morale of U.S. forces, was the battleship USS Nevada’s (BB-36) attempt to get underway and escape the harbor. At 0840, the Nevada backed out of her berth, unassisted, and moved down the channel heading for the ocean. This would be difficult without smaller yard boats assisting her, and almost impossible due to the burning and exploding ships and attacking aircraft. Several Japanese planes broke off to attack the escaping Nevada, and she took bomb hits forward. Fires aboard the Nevada were intense, but she continued on toward the harbor entrance. More bombs hit her superstructure and boat deck. Burning fiercely, the Nevada ran aground at 0910 hours on Hospital Point.  

NAVY YARD/ U.S. / (numeral)/ PEARL HARBOR, T.H. (all incuse)

U/ (anchor)/ S / (all incuse, number ctsp.)

brass-round-35 millimeters  (Cunningham number HI 180, Curto N120)

JOINING THE FRAY

Reports of Japanese landing troops spread across the island by 1146 hours, and by 1210 hours, American planes were flying north from the island looking for enemy planes, with no results. The entire attack had lasted about two hours.

THE CASULTIES

A total of 2,409 Americans were killed in the attack, 1,178 were wounded. Of the killed, 2,004 were navy personal. A group of six F4F Wildcats from the USS Enterprise approached the harbor at 2110 (the night after the attack) being low on fuel were approaching Ford Island for landing when the entire harbor opened fire on them. Three of the Wildcat pilots survived, but the remaining 3 were killed due to "friendly fire".

MEDAL OF HONOR DECORATIONS

There were 14 Medals of Honor awarded for action at Pearl Harbor on December 7^th, 1941. One of the MOH awards went to Chief Watertender Peter Tomich of the USS Utah. Tomich stayed below decks at his pumping station, as water flooded the ship, his manning of the pumps, allowed many of the trapped sailors aboard the Utah to scramble up to safety, but it cost Tomich his life.

RESULTS OF THE ATTACK

A wave of outrage swept the United States. War was declared, and volunteers for military service clogged recruiting offices. The red mist of anger clouded the eyes of most Americans. All things Japanese became hated, and if not hated, then suspect. Japanese-American citizens were even suspect, and internment camps to house them, were felt justified because of Pearl Harbor.

THE U.S.S. ARIZONA MEMORIAL

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updated 5 feb 2000