'The real McCoy' of Dec. 7, 1941
Advertiser library photo
>> They were civilian workers on base, mothers hanging clothes on the line, churchgoers just heading out for services, late sleepers awakened by strange sounds: They were O'ahu's people on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, and they would remember all their lives exactly where they were and what they were doing when they realized that the island was being attacked.
A burning USS Arizona sinks after being struck by bombs from Japanese fighter planes at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
These excerpts from their stories, fragments of memory, taken together, illustrate the common experiences of the day. The almost universal conviction, at first, was that the smoke and sounds were nothing more than naval maneuvers; the shock of hearing radio announcer Webley Edwards declaring it "the real McCoy"; the hours of waiting in fear for news.
>> Just 'maneuvers'
As I hung my son's diapers on the line in my back yard, a plane dove from the direction of the mountain range toward the ocean where Bellows Field is located. My, what an improvement from the routine mock attacks, I thought. But why is this plane different from the P17s with blue-gray star-shaped insignias under the wings? Also, why did I see bullets flying in the direction of Bellows Field? The bullets were huge! Look how the plane pulls up vertically skyward! Here comes another plane from the same direction towards Bellows Filed. I can see the red round insignia under the wings, strafing as it flew overhead. Flying not at a slanted angle but diving as though it will hit ground, then pulling up vertically skyward like the plane before. As I followed looking at the plane, I could see black smoke from Bellows Field. ... What is happening?"
Yoshiko Isa, Waimanalo Plantation
Recalling her thoughts on Dec. 7, 1941
Woke up to the sounds of 'maneuvers.' Sitting up in my bed, I could look out the window and see Hickam Air Base being 'bombed.' What a thrill!, I thought. I hurried to the kitchen to make French toast so I could eat and watch the 'show.' I could see planes swooping down and, upon passing, fire would shoot up from the hangars. Back for more French toast. Woke dad up and told him about the 'maneuvers.' He came, looked, and without saying a word, went to turn on the radio. My teeth almost flew out of my mouth when I heard the announcer say, 'This is the real McCoy.' I don't know what happened to my French toast after that."
Levi M. Faufata Jr.
Whose sister was killed by a stray bullet later that day
The announcer on the radio kept repeating that O'ahu was being attacked, and for all military personnel to report back to their posts. I turned to my fiancee and said, 'There goes our plan for today.' She replied, 'Oh, there'll be another day.' I walked to the bus stop and ... while waiting, saw loads of military personnel on army trucks heading 'ewa on King Street. I thought to myself, 'This must be the real thing.'"
Howard H. K. Mew, stationed at Fort Shafter
Who spent the day restricted to camp because of the fear of reprisals against Asians
We filed into church and no sooner than we got settled into our pew than we heard the sound of anti-aircraft gunfire. We were familiar with that drill, but when the firing increased in intensity and frequency, we started to look at each other. Just then, we stood for the reading of the gospel, giving us a chance to look out of the tall, narrow windows of our old church. What we saw was not the familiar white puffs of smoke but dirty, greasy, ominous brown-black clouds. At the same time, we could hear explosions in the distance, not one or two but a whole series, like rolling thunder."
Val R. Cavaco
Attending 8 o'clock Mass at St. Anthony's church, Kalihi
Approximately 7:50 a.m., Sgt. Barboza answered a call and loudly said, 'Go back to sleep, you had too much last night.' A few seconds later, the old Gamewell switchboard lit up with all 15 in-calls (never happened before). Sgt. Barboza excitedly yelled to me to send Car 20 down to Damon Tract. 'Someone dropping bombs!'"
Sam K. Mau
Patrolman-clerk, Bethel and Merchant police station
I was 18 years old, at home just finishing breakfast, when we heard loud explosions . . . . We went out on the sidewalk and were able to see large plumes of black smoke rising from Pearl Harbor and Hickam Air Base. I remember making the comment, 'They sure having realistic war games or maneuvers today.' "
Griffith R. Contradt
Whose father, a German American, would be interned for six months
>> Before your very eyes
The realization that it was war, that hangars and planes on Hickam Field were burning, that men were dying, ships being blown up, men swimming in water coated in blazing oil, that planes buzzing round like angry bees were not American planes, that our planes weren't up there, was too much to grasp ... This was Hawai'i, a peaceful place. ... And yet there were the planes diving; there, there, see the bombs dropping; see, see, look, you've got to believe it. ... Then something hits the pavement beside you, bounces up, hitting you on the leg. You reach down to pick it up, quickly drop it because it's hot, then pick it up again, juggle it in your hand. The metal is sharp, jagged ... a shell fragment."
Memoirs of the late Richard F. Strawn
Manager of Hickam Housing
Exactly 12 hours earlier, I had been having dinner with my date aboard the USS West Virginia on Battleship Row before going shoreside to dance the night away at the Officers' Club. Now I was watching all that disappear."
Reporter Elaine Fogg Stroup
Who observed the battle from the roof of The Honolulu Advertiser
I thought I'd never see a real live air dogfight with two airplanes during my lifetime. I used to see it in the silent and talking movies of the '20s and '30s as a teenager. I saw a P40 chasing this Japanese fighter plane and firing away at it until it fell and disappeared in Kane'ohe Bay. Moments later, I went into our back yard and found two 50-caliber bullets, still warm. Fortunately, no one got hit."
Edmond K. Jones Sr.
Watching from near his Ha'iku Road home
I was a civilian welder with the Pacific Naval Air Base, contractors for a dredging project at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941. A launch picked me up with a dozen other workers and took us out to the dredge near Pearl Harbor’s mouth. It was a big modified barge which held heavy specialized equipment designed to suck the mud out of shallow places in the harbor and deposit it as landfill on Ewa plain. The channels had to be kept open so the ships wouldn’t run aground.
There was a submarine net across the harbor’s entrance that supposedly made it impregnable.
Mighty battleships were lined up in an impressive row farther inside the harbor, across from the
naval shipyard, one of the biggest and busiest in the country.
Early on Sunday morning, December 7, I went to work as usual, weekend or no weekend. I had just stepped off the launch and was storing my lunch inside when I heard planes zooming in from the Waianae Mountains on West Oahu. Lots of planes, flying low -- too low, really. In the noise and confusion, I didn’t realize we were under Japanese attack until bullets rained down as the planes began strafing just past the dredge. Then I spotted the rising sun insignias and knew they were Zeroes. They were heading for the battleships around the bend from where I was standing.
Everyone was in shock, it happened so fast.
We men on the dredge weren’t armed and didn’t know what to do. We could hear the fearful explosions as torpedoes struck the battleships. We could see thick smoke rising, and planes wheeling around, strafing the shipyard, then flying away. I saw what were later known as 'kamikazes.' These were attacks by an elite corps of young, idealistic Japanese pilots trained for suicidal missions against American battleships. I watched some Japanese planes dive straight into ship smokestacks and explode. The uproar and destruction were frightful.
The kamikazes had written poignant farewells to their loved ones before setting off on their missions, fully aware they faced certain death, which they considered honorable. They were similar to the gladiators in ancient Rome who said, 'We who are about to die salute thee.'
They eventually sank hundreds of U.S. ships, mostly around Midway and Okinawa. It was nearly impossible to put up a defense against such fanaticism.
The Americans finally managed to man their antiaircraft guns and fight back. One damaged Japanese plane plunged headfirst into the mud near our dredge. We could see two pilots’ heads sticking up out of the water. A couple of my fellow workers, big Hawaiian guys, grabbed crowbars and rushed over in a rowboat to kill the enemy. When they got there, they found only bloody water in the wreckage. They assumed the pilots had dove down and committed 'hari-kari' (Japanese suicide). The bodies were never found.
A destroyer managed to get underway and spied a tiny, two-man Japanese submarine entering the harbor, near our dredge. It had got through the 'impregnable' net. The destroyer dropped a depth charge and blew the submarine high out of the water. It reminded me of jack rabbits’ death throes when I had gone hunting back in the state of Washington. When shot dead, the poor creatures, in a final spasm, leaped 10 feet in the air."
Robert Okazaki
civilian welder, Pacific Naval Air Base
>> As the children saw it
Our neighbor Robert came barreling down the road on his bike toward his home round the corner on Azores Street. Stan, who liked to kid around, yelled out, 'Hey, Robert! We're at war.' " . . . . Robert shouted back over this shoulder, 'I know, with the Japanese.' We busted out laughing. We soon realized the joke was on us when our dad came to our door and told us to come into the living room."
LeRoy Brilhante
Growing up on Punchbowl
I was a proud 14-year-old mascot/bat boy for the Kaka'ako AJA Baseball Team. This (game) day in Waialua was looked at with great anticipation. . . . As we approached Fort Shafter, our plans were shattered by police officers and military police. Their roadblocks halted our drive to the country. We were turned back to the city not knowing why. Unaware of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we waited at a roadside. ... We never did play that ballgame with the Waialua team."
Robert M. Ogata
Drafted in 1945
On December 7, 1941, I was a 7-year-old boy playing in the back yard of our Damon Tract home, which was located along the main road to John Rogers Airport (Honolulu International Airport), about where the entrance to the main terminal is today.
For a young boy, the events of this day, and the weeks and months after, were exciting and at times puzzling. The memories remain vivid to this day.
The first sound to shatter the calm that Sunday morning was the sound of low-flying aircraft, and the sound of what I thought to be firecrackers.
I remember the earth-shaking sound of one plane flying so low, I was sure he would hit the telephone pole at the corner of our lot. I can still picture the shiny dark blue engine cowling as he approached. And the long gray tube that hung from the bottom of the fuselage, which was also dull gray, with red, purple, and white markings. I remember the pilot with large goggles propped above his forehead. For a second, I thought he looked right at me as he passed. So I waved.
However, I now believe the direction of the pilots glance, was at my father, who had just climbed on to the roof of our house to get a better look at the fire and black smoke rising from the Pearl Harbor area.
I remember the constant sounds of 'firecrackers,' the whine of aircraft, and the sometimes soft, and at other times loud thudding high overhead. And the hundreds of ‘popcorn’ looking puffs spread across the sky, some gray and other white. I was fascinated by the way they suddenly appeared in the sky. I climbed a fence pole thinking I could get a closer look.
At one point, while walking to the front yard, I heard a…sound, and at that instant, a section of the crown flower hedge along the side of the house and about 10 feet from me exploded into a shower of dust and leaves.
A bullet from that burst, entered the back wall of the house, went through the headboard of my brother’s crib, then through the floor.
There was a loud explosion about a block away. A large kiawe tree was doing a slow summersault.
It was about this time I heard my Mother yelling, ‘Jump, jump. Why isn’t he parachuting?’ I looked up in the direction that she was looking. There was this ball of flames slowly spiraling downward. It was a private plane shot down by the Japanese.
A short time later, an Army jeep pulled into our driveway, with someone yelling, ‘Evacuate now. Move to higher ground. We are being attacked by the Japanese.’ He repeated it, then on to the next house.
By now, I had the feeling that everything was not OK. As a matter of fact, it was starting to get very confusing. I was told by my Mom that the Army man in the jeep wanted us to leave the house right now, and that we were going to visit my aunt who lived in Kaimuki. And why were my parents and neighbors so excited?
That day the rest of the family gathered at the Kaimuki home of my aunt. Everyone spoke in hushed voices, almost whispering at times, something about paratroopers, landings on the other islands.
I fell asleep that night to the sound of a short-wave radio, with everyone listening to it in total darkness."
D. W. Ferreira
7 years old, watching from his Damon Tract home
'This is war!!!' My brother Paul looked out the window and told my mom. ... He had learned in ROTC at McKinley High School that white smoke represented practice and black smoke was war."
Betty M. Choo
7 years old in Nu'uanu
As the day was ending, my sister Betty and I danced on the sidewalk and Cooke Street when we were told, 'No school tomorrow.' "
Waltah Yamane
6 years old, watching the black smoke from Kaka'ako
On the No. 4 hole, as we looked to the west, the skies lit up with a large number of Japanese planes, which were flying in 'V' formations, at very low altitude and headed straight for us. I remember counting 24 airplanes and there were probably more, with the large orange 'rising sun' emblems under each wing. The formation quickly passed overhead, then over Diamond Head and continued east, probably to Kane'ohe Marine Station. Would you believe we finished seven holes and were headed for the No. 8 tee when the caddie master drove out to inform us that the course was now officially closed? ... No rain checks on Dec. 7, 1941."
John Keoni Maguire
11 years old, caddying for 35 cents a round at Ala Wai Golf Course
What I vividly recall, though, is the delight, a selfish, fiendish delight, that came over me as we kids stood along the Ala Wai canal watching enemy planes weaving through some puffy clouds. Delight? Two reasons: Since the Japanese were now our country's enemy, I figured that the (Japanese) language school that I hated going to would have to shut down. ... The other reason was that, upon hearing a loud explosion and seeing thick, gray smoke rise up in the McCully area, we cheered and hoped that it was our school, Lunalilo Elementary, that was burning, and, sure enough, the hit from an anti-aircraft shell was confirmed a short while later."
Stan Toyama
11 years old, son of a Japanese language school teacher
I guess I didn't know the danger because my brother and I went out of the house with my mother knowing to watch all the smoke from the corner of Mokauea and Colburn streets, when a man came to us and told us to go home. Boy did we run!"
Catherine C. Gonsalves
6 years old, watching from Kalihi
As they got started toward the harbor, Rosaline told her brother, 'Look, Junior, look up in the sky, all the planes.' 'Oh, Wosen, they only playing dogfight.' A few moments later, Rosaline saw something fall from the Japanese plane into the smokestack of the battleship Arizona and heard, as she still says, a 'poof!' and saw the ship go down. ... Running home, they asked their father what happened. 'Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor.' Rosaline asked, 'What is Japan? What is war?' "
Rosaline Ferreira Freitas
11 or 12 years old, in 'Aiea, as told to her daughter, Lauren E. Freitas
That Sunday morning at around 8:30 a.m. I went down to my buddy's house. (Billy Fink) who lived next to the Halekulani Hotel. I lived on Beachwalk Avenue Anyway, we grabbed a couple of comic books and a yoyo and headed to the beach to check for surf. Their was no waves so we set on the beach fronting the hotel and read our comic books. We both noticed the abundance of black smoke coming from the airport area, which we later were informed was Pearl Harbor and Hickam, not just John Rogers (Airport). However, we paid little attention to the smoke as we had no knowledge of what had happened at that time. We were the only people on the beach, which was not surprising as it was early Sunday morning and everyone slept in. Suddenly from Diamond Head came a very low flying airplane with two pilots, one sitting behind the other and wearing goggles. It had the big Red Sun markings, but we had no idea who or what it was. Later discovered it was torpedo bomber. It simply buzzed Waikiki and flew off over downtown heading towards the Pali. We were really excited to see am airplane that close. We could hardly wait to tell our friends. Still we had no knowledge of the terrible situation that had occurred, since we apparently got to the beach after the actual attacks had taken place. Again, we heard no explosions, we only saw smoke from all the fires. We actually remained on the beach until about 10 a.m. before our parents yanked us off to our homes where we were informed of the dangers of a Japanese landing attack, etc., etc.
Ron Sorrell
I was 12 1/2 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked on that ‘day of infamy.’ My sisters and I had just returned from the 6 a.m. Mass at the Cathedral Of Our Lady of Peace at Fort Street. After breakfast, I was lying on the living room floor looking over the Honolulu Star-Bulletin comics. All of a sudden, the radio announcer was shouting, ‘This is not an exercise! This is not an exercise! tThis is the real thing, Pearl Harbor is being attacked! Pearl Harbor is being attacked!’
I ran outdoors and looked towards Pearl Harbor and sure enough there was a mass of black smoke and I heard bombs bursting in the distance and above I heard the ‘rat-tat-tat’ of machine guns from the attackers' airplanes. My mother ran out and pulled me into the house. Listening to the radio, I found out that the attackers came from Japan. Later in the morning, the broadcast came that all defense workers were to report to their work station immediately. My father and brother both worked at Pearl Harbor and they went as instructed. We did not see both of them until Thursday. My brother, a welder, told me he saw a lot of bodies floating on the bay, on the pier and around the buildings.
Martial law was in effect and O'ahu was placed on ‘blackout.’ That night, my mother, sisters and I were the only ones at home. As instructed, we tuned in to the police broadcast. There were many calls to the police of parachute sightings and for police to guard the water reservoir against ‘fifth columns’ (spies) who might poison the water. We were awake all through the night and were terrified that the attackers would return. That Sunday night was and still is my ‘longest’ night."
Henry Avilla
Honolulu
>> Casualties
Our cousin Martha got hit by one of the falling bullets. She was hanging up laundry in their yard when she noticed the round red symbol of Japan on the side of one of the airplanes, so she dropped the clothes and ran inside. ... A bullet came through the tin roof and hit her in the hip."
Memoirs of Florence Kim Gruber
Wahiawa, Hawai'i
I awoke Sunday morning, December 7th, to the screams of my mother, trying to get my dad to look at the planes flying low, right outside their second-story bedroom window. I can still hear the roar of their engines to this day! He said that probably it was just 'our boys' out on maneuvers.
But she said that she could see the rising sun emblem on their planes and they weren't 'ours.' Then we heard the bombs drop and really got worried.
Dad hurried us downstairs and put us in the closet under the stairs. What I remember most that day was what I saw on the way to the closet. I saw the man across the street get shot on his front porch with tracer bullets as the planes strafed the streets on their way to Pearl Harbor. We were living in Naval Housing practically on ground zero as our street, 18th Street, backed
right up to the fence of Hickam AFB.
So we huddled together, terrified and hungry for the next few hours.
My dad was called in to fight fires at Pearl Harbor. After he left, Mom and I were evacuated to Aiea Hospital up in Aiea Heights and when he came home he couldn't find us. We wouldn't be reunited for another three or four days. It was a scary time, thinking that those planes would come back again to attack, especially since we didn't know whether Dad was alive or dead."
Nancy Jackson
Who lived on 18th Street in Naval Housing
A shell from our ships went through the mango trees in the yard next door. It landed on the hill up the street ... shrapnel flew in all directions. Mr. Lopes was washing his car and a piece of the shrapnel hit him; he died later at the hospital. Next door, his 16-year-old niece was hit and died later. Her young sister, 11 years old, was found under the bed; shrapnel had hit her on the head and she also died."
Mary B. Oliveira
17 and living in Kalihi
>> Civilians in service
On the morning of December 7, 1941, as I was driving down the Pali, on my way to work as an attendant at the State Hospital, I heard sort of a rumbling sound and a slight shaking and I thought, 'there they go again, blasting on the road.' There had been some roadwork done a few days before. When I arrived at the hospital, as I entered the receiving and treatment ward where I worked, my supervisor rushed in and shouted 'Turn your radio on, turn it on. We are being attacked by the Japanese.' Pearl Harbor has been bombed!'
There was immediate chaos and terror as we listened to the radio report. A half hour later my R. N. (with whom I worked) and I were called to surgery to help with the many wounded being brought in.
Stretcher after stretcher containing the wounded was brought in, some machine-gunned across the back, torn and bloody, while others were horribly burned. Doctors and nurses were being brought in from hospitals where they worked at.
I went to help a young sailor who was crying out, 'Janie, oh, Janie. I want to see you, please come to me!' And then he expired. I hope that I will never experience such a heart breaking situation again.
There were wounded on gurneys and any available space. Some of the critically wounded were transferred to Mainland hospitals. There were frightening rumors from people saying that the enemy had been trying to land on Oahu. Naturally, it intensified our fears.
I finally left the hospital at 11:30 p.m., to return home, driving without lights because of the blackout and praying I would arrive home safely.
went to help a young sailor who was crying out, 'Janie, oh, Janie, I want to see you. Please come to me!' And then he expired. I hope that I will never again experience such a heart-breaking situation."
Violet Lauahi
hospital attendant in Kane'ohe
I received a phone call from Maj. Gilbert, professor of military science and tactics of McKinley High School, and instructed to report to the armory to assist in installing firing pins in all of the 1903 model rifles. ...Some of our required duties were to patrol the surrounding streets and apprehend all persons that were unable to account for being out walking at night after curfew."
Charles F. Calistro, ROTC Cadet Lt. Col.
Worked 72 hours straight from afternoon of Dec. 7
After the shooting stopped, we started working. The ships that needed the least work got repaired first. I worked on the Honolulu, a light cruiser that needed a turbine replaced. That wasn't my regular job but we all did what we needed to do. For three days and nights we worked, and weren't allowed to return home. My wife, Clara, had no idea if I was dead or alive."
Alfred Tai On Au
Now age 95, machinist, Shop 31, Pearl Harbor
I tried to sneak out of Pearl and while walking near the Marine barracks a command to halt was given. I stopped and a Marine came over and gave me a pick and shovel to dig a foxhole and an old Springfield rifle and ammo which was still covered with rust preventative. I caught a ride in a dump truck (which) took me to the submarine base to help load up cargo for the subs. Finally, I got a ride out to the main gate and caught a cab home."
Abe K. Lovell
Truck driver for an electrical engineer on base
The Kailua Elementary School was turned into an aid station. ... Lots of us 15 years old or older volunteered to help. ... We picked up people from the base and walking alongside the road. Lots of people on Mokapu Road were scared and needed help. The center sent out teenage boys to Bellows ... and they found dead bodies and some parts of bodies. ... They had to put them in body bags and tag them. It was sad and made quite a few of them sick."
Dorynne Decker Ringler
Growing up in Kailua
Days later, a newspaper reporter came to our home ... (he) called my father a hero. My father, Julio DeCastro, a calker and chipper, and a crew of 21 other civilian men chipped away at metal for more than 24 hours, freeing 32 sailors from rising water aboard the capsized USS Oklahoma. After hours of grueling physical labor, my father and his crew returned to the shipyard. The men changed, said goodbye to one another and parted company. . . . My dad walked five miles home ... After three long nights, a man, exhausted and covered with oil and soot walked through our front door. It was my father. He humbly summarized his experiences by saying he was tired, as he did not sleep, and hungry, as he did not eat, during the three days."
Rose Marie Castro Marks
Who was 12 years old
On the morning of December 7, l941, our Navy lieutenant neighbor in Waikiki woke us with the news that the Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor.
My husband, Captain John H. Earle, USMC, had just reported aboard the USS Arizona the day before to take over command of the Marines from Major Alan Shapley, who had orders to the Mainland. (I was delighted to see my husband that night after a long absence, as he had been stationed aboard the USS Tennessee, which had been at sea prior to December 6. At last, he could catch up with the Arizona and carry out his orders to report to his 'new' ship.) My husband and the neighbor hurriedly left for Pearl Harbor, to find when they arrived that the attack was still going on, with the Arizona and other ships burning. My husband rounded up the fifteen Marines who were left (out of the original 85 aboard the Arizona) and took them to his former ship, the Tennessee, which had been moored nearby and had fortunately escaped the most severe damage.
The office of Naval Intelligence in the Alexander Young Building, where I was employed as a secretary, sent a car later that morning to gather up as many of its employees as it could; we were told to bring 'a toothbrush and a change of clothes' as we might have to stay overnight. As it turned out, we were there at the hotel for a week, standing 'watches' every four hours; among other things, war involves paperwork!
Barbara Earle
I was employed by the U.S. Naval Air Station located on Ford Island.
Transportation to the Ford Island was by ferry boat; sometimes when the ferry boat has mechanical problems, the motor launch is used to reach Ford Island. On Dec. 7, 1941, it was my day off. This morning I heard airplanes flying over the School and Liliha Strett area, thinking it was a military maneuver. I turned on the radio and it reported that the Japanese attacked Oahu by surprise.
My sisters were attending Sunday School at the Salvation Army on Vineyard Street. Mom immediately wanted me to bring my sisters home from the Sunday School. My sisters were unaware of the attack. Neither did the staff at the Sunday School know of the attack. On our way home, it was scary because airplanes were firing in the sky, and amidst the noise and dark smoke in the sky we fortunately reached home safely. I returned to work at the U.S. Naval Air Station on Ford Island the following day. Any ‘boom’ sound was frightening, also (we were) afraid of a repeat attack around the Pearl Harbor area. We had to tote a gas mask every day. A downed aircraft was found in the waters near Ford Island. Navy personnel brought the airplane to shore and removed the…dead Japanese pilot from the aircraft. I assisted in translating the ‘kanji’ (Japanese characters} on the instruments removed from the airplane. Many ships were anchored in the Ford Island docks to be serviced. (It was) sad to see the battleships overturned from the attack.
Marion Wong
>> Racial tensions
I was 15 years old. That Sunday morning, I got up very early, got cleaned and dressed and went to St. Anthony’s Church in Kalihi for Sunday Mass. My two friends and I had decided to make some money by going to Moanaloa Golf Course after church to caddy.
We walked from Kalihi to the golf course, an area known as Red Hill today. We got to the clubhouse before 7 a.m. and were immediately asked to caddy. Just as we finished the 8th hole, we could hear planes flying over us. The planes were so low that we could see the pilots and the emblem of the rising sun under the planes’ wings, confirming that they were Japanese. Within five minutes we could see these planes diving down at Pearl Harbor and this continued for a long time. We were so confused and didn’t know what was going on when someone in a speeding jeep came by and yelled, ‘Japan is attacking Pearl Harbor. Run back to the clubhouse.’
By the time we got back to the clubhouse, the Army had already set up machine guns on the ridge around the golf course. The clubhouse was chaotic. Some of the military personnel were still drunk from the night before and were trying to sober up quickly. The radio was blaring with the announcement ‘all servicemen were to report back to the base immediately.’ Servicemen were just taking any car with keys in it back to the base.
My friends and I started back home when we saw an old man driving a Plymouth. He was heading towards Aiea but we got into his car and demanded that he take us to Kalihi. As we passed Fort Shafter, soldiers with rifles stopped and made the four of us get out of the car. They stripped the car’s interior (including seats) and trunk. After we put everything back in the car, they let us continue on to Kalihi. I thanked the old man for dropping us off at home. We were scared but I could see how much more frightened he was. I forgot to mention, the old man was Japanese.
When I got home, my mother said my father went looking for me at the golf course. When he finally got back home he was a little angry but glad that I was home safely.
Everyone was outside when we saw a Japanese plane heading towards Waikiki with an American plane on its tail. Soldiers in trucks were yelling at everyone to take cover because they might start shooting.
Life, as I knew it, changed forever that morning, and as long as I live I will never forget December 7, 1941"
Robert Louis Marks
15, who was to spend the morning caddying at Moanalua Golf Course
On this Sunday morning at age 18, I became a mature adult fast. We were called back to work by the radio station. The only transportation to work was to ride the Oahu Railroad choo-choo train. All other vehicles were not allowed to enter the naval base. Upon arrival at the base, it was a mass of confusion. The emergency crews, firemen, and medical corps men, were all over the place doing their respective duties. Bodies were wrapped with canvas and stacked high in front of our machine shop 31.
We were instructed to stand by for emergency duty and not to wander around or chances that you might get shot at. If you were not born with (round) eyes and a fair complexion, you were sure to be fired at. That night a fellow machinist and I hid in the shop. All night, we leaned in fear on an 18-inch pillar hinged to the ground floor deck that held up the building. When our lost patrol plane flew over our machine shop in the darkness, one of the ship's berth near our shop opened fire with their guns. The shop rocked back and forth, like a hinged door, opening and closing. Luckily there was no damage. Although our shop was designed for earthquake purposes, I wonder if the engineer had thought of gunfire power also.
The second night I was assigned to the ship's engine room. The general alarm sounded to ‘man your battle stations!’ I was shaking with fear. I had to get up to the top side, for fear of getting trapped in a fire or having the compartment flooded with water. As I climbed the last rung of the ladder, I heard the hatch door slammed shut. I found myself running as fast as I could up three decks, each time with the hatch door slamming after me. As, I got up to the top side, the sky was colored red, red, red, with traces of red tracer bullets. I was told later that for every six bullets fired, one was a red tracer bullet. Can you imagine how many bullets were up there? Later the cease fire was sounded. It was our own aircraft carrier plane they were shooting. Pilots were unable to land on their mother carrier in the darkness nor could they land on the damaged airfield at Hickam.
When war was sounded, all ships in the harbor was ordered out to sea. I remember this skipper who beached his ship into the mud flat at the end of a sugar cane field, when his ship's propulsion engines quit. It was at the end of dry dock 4. Had he not beached his ship to the side, he would have caused a blocked entrance and exit problem. Long after the war, the skipper was decorated for seamanship and good presence of mind. That was a great honor. Looking back, I thank God that I'm still alive, although, I was forced to grow up on Dec. 7, 1941."
Henry D. C. Lum
Trainee marine machinist
My eldest brother and co-workers were on their way to work, passing through the vicinity of Pearl Harbor ... At first, they thought it was just a practice maneuver, but then realized it was no joke, they drove their car into the cane field to hide ... Not hearing from him for days, we checked the casualty list every day in the newspaper, fearing the worst ... A few days later, my brother returned. He was haggard, dirty and hungry from hiding and climbing over mountains to avoid the security and immense uneasiness of the military in the area of Pearl Harbor. We were so relieved."
Charles Higa
8 years old
On the way to Schofield Barracks, we saw the pitiful sight of the Arizona in flames and smoke. ... It was drizzling and I was so afraid driving but the MP was speeding and we all had to follow. Enemy planes was still flying overhead and the anti-aircraft shell was shooting which I felt like (I was) in a real battle zone. At the same time, I felt so small and timid when I learned the enemy was Japan. Both my parents were Japanese aliens. As we approached Schofield Barracks, I saw quite a few of the AJAs 100 Infantry boys, so I felt encouraged."
Noboru Oda
May's Market delivery driver, volunteered as an ambulance driver
>> The longest night
My parents huddled around their large wooden radio console that also received short-wave frequencies as they listened to the latest newscasts in the darkened house. ... My dad turned the dial to one of the colored, glowing short-wave frequencies. There, for the first time in my life, I heard the word 'Manila.' It stayed with me because whenever I heard the name again, I would think of vanilla ice cream, an item that was soon to become difficult to purchase because of war shortages."
Lionel Medeiros
Whose parents owned Colonial Bakery in Kaimuki
I was 19 years old, living in Kalihi with my parents, older brother, his wife and daughter. My brother, Mac, had bought his daughter Betty a bicycle for Christmas and I was taking a practice ride. There were lots of planes flying overhead but I thought they were doing maneuvers as that was happening all the time then.
A neighbor boy came running over to our house and said he heard on the radio that there was a ship on fire at Pearl Harbor. My brother said, ‘Get into the car. Let’s go see.’ We all got into the car and drove toward Pearl Harbor. We were on Dillingham when a MP stopped us and asked where we were going. Mac said, ‘We’re going to Pearl Harbor,’ and the MP said, ‘Oh, no you’re not! Turn around and go home!’
We turned on the radio in the car then and we heard the announcer say, ‘This is the real thing, the Japs have bombed Pearl Harbor. All military return to their stations.’
I started to cry as my boyfriend, Glenn Hoyt, was on the USS St. Louis, a cruiser in Pearl Harbor, later called the Lucky Louie because it didn’t get hit during the bombing. That night my sister-in-law’s family moved in with us as they had to evacuate their home at Hickam. We didn’t get much sleep that night as everyone kept saying, ‘They’re coming back, they’re coming back.’ We staying out on our porch that night waiting in the ‘blackout.’
A year later I married Glenn Hoyt.
Bea Hoyt
Oceanside, Calif.
Waiting for word was a helpless feeling. My sister-in-law's husband was in the Navy and on duty. We didn't say much but our thoughts were the same: Are we going to see our husbands again? ... Through some miracle, Adam got home safely. Two or three hours had passed since the strike. He was shaky and pale. He described the horror of the unexpected attack, young bodies riddled, multiple explosions and fires starting everywhere around Hickam Field. He had gotten down on his knees and crawled away from the onslaught through the bushes and sugar cane fields. We cried and hugged each other. My sister-in-law was less fortunate. She never saw her husband again."
From memoirs of Lupe O. Souza
Her husband, Adam, was a civilian worker at Hickam
It was the longest night of my life. The next day, there were government people banging on the door. They were passing out black-out lights ... They looked at us very strange. Afterwards, I went to the market; people were staring at me. ... I didn't know what these people were thinking as they stared at me, but I did know one thing ... 'I'm an American.'"
Gladys Uemoto
Alone with her mother that night
