Our Honolulu
Memory better than the movie

By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Staff Writer

Larry "O'Leary" Yoshimura out in Kalihi doesn't intend to see the movie "Pearl Harbor." He didn't see "Tora, Tora, Tora," either. What happened to him on Dec. 7, 1941 was a lot more exciting.

At that time, the enormous, underground oil storage tanks below Red Hill — 100 feet in circumference and 360 feet long — were a deep secret kept under tight security. As a 21-year-old welder constructing the tanks, Yoshimura called himself Larry O'Leary to avoid being taken for a spy.

On Sunday, Dec. 7, after working the swing shift Saturday night, he'd reported for work before the bombing began.

"A cannon went off right over the tunnel. Wham!" he said. "We all ran into the tunnel (leading to the tanks)."

During the bombing, a civilian public works boss ordered O'Leary/Yoshimura and a welder from Texas to come with him. The explosion that had capsized the battleship Oklahoma had burst the water main supplying Ford Island.

There was no fresh water on the island to drink, and they were fighting fires with salt water. "O'Leary" and the Texan were to repair the water main.

"I don't remember any O'Leary on our crew," said the Texan. Yoshimura explained diplomatically, "That's because you worked outside. Me, I was inside. I heard you're the best welder in Texas. I'm Japanese-Irish, the best welder in 'A'ala. Let's go."

Yoshimura and the Texan worked side by side hooking up 100-foot sections of pipe to replace the broken one on the ocean floor. Two tugs in the harbor kept the pipe afloat as it lengthened and extended across the water.

There was no time to sleep or eat. Twenty-four hours passed, and another 24. The welders worked steadily, not stopping to rest, with only pineapple juice to sustain them.

By the end of 72 hours of furious labor, the pipe reached Ford Island.

The Texan had gone home. O'Leary/Yoshimura was still on his feet. The pipe had to be connected at Bishop Point (now known as Hospital Point) before the water could start flowing to Ford Island.

"Can you finish it?" the boss asked.

"Give me an hour," Yoshimura said. As he welded, dead bodies in plastic bags were being brought across from Ford Island.

The water main finished, Yoshimura went to the submarine base mess hall, where he ate a huge helping of ham and eggs before welding a light in place on the pier.

About that time, a patrol came around and marched everybody who looked Japanese to the main gate. Yoshimura said, "They took everything out of our wallets and told us to be off the streets at curfew, 6 p.m. 'After that, we shoot to kill,' they said."

Yoshimura didn't even have bus fare to 'A'ala but he got a free ride, fell into bed at the Kobiyashi Hotel and slept for four days in his dirty clothes. "A haole guy" woke him up and said, "We want you to come back to work."