Remember the 'other' Pearl Harbor
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Central O'ahu Writer
PEARL HARBOR — It was a bright, clear Sunday afternoon, and Chester Carbaugh was sitting on his bunk reading mail from home.
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The 17-year-old had just joined the Navy, spending his first three months aboard the LST-39 mooring in West Loch at Pearl Harbor.
Wood Beeghly tosses a rose into West Loch to honor the 163 men who died there 60 years ago.
Just after 3 p.m., an explosion ripped through LST-353, the tank landing ship next to the LST he was on. Carbaugh jumped from his bunk and hurried to the deck, where he was shrouded in billowing black smoke. The explosion set off a chain reaction, triggering fires on adjacent ships laden with munitions and gasoline in preparation for the invasion of Saipan.
Six ships sank, 163 men died, 396 were wounded.
Exactly 60 years later, Carbaugh returned to Pearl Harbor yesterday for the first time since 1945, overwhelmed with emotion as he stood where it all happened.
"When I got off the admiral's barge and walked up the ramp through the honor guard, that almost got to me," said Carbaugh, 77, at a ceremony commemorating the disaster. "I was just thinking that basically it shouldn't have happened."
The tragedy at West Loch on May 21, 1944, marked one of Hawai'i's greatest disasters in terms of casualties. Yet many don't know anything about it.
"It was a big military secret during (World War II)," said Alan S. Lloyd, a historian with the USS Missouri Memorial Association. "But I'm sure if you had been around Waipahu when it happened, you sure knew about it."
That wartime secrecy kept information about the incident classified until 1962. And despite numerous newspaper articles and even a History Channel documentary, the tragedy at West Loch, sometimes called the second Pearl Harbor, is still relatively unknown.
And that's a shame, said Lloyd, who was 12 when it happened. He saw the mushroom cloud over Pearl Harbor from his back yard atop Makiki Heights.
"It's important that people realize the sacrifice they made to protect our country," he said.
Jim Reed will never forget.
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The 17-year-old Marine private first-class was sleeping in a cot beneath a canvas tarp on the deck of the LST-43.
A Navy honor guard fires a 21-gun salute during yesterday's ceremony.
He heard the first explosion. Within seconds, the canvas above him caught fire and fell on him. He wasn't burned, but he injured his leg jumping from ship to ship to escape the flames and falling metal debris. He decided to swim toward the cane fields in the distance, struggling to stay afloat with his injured leg. Just when he thought he wouldn't make it, someone pulled him to shore.
The stranger carried Reed piggyback through the cane fields, with shrapnel raining down on them from the second, more violent explosion. He laid Reed down and disappeared.
"He was my guardian angel, I always say," Reed said yesterday.
The thought of shipmates who died consumed him during the solemn 30-minute ceremony. Nine survivors, their families and guests listened to the recounting of the tragedy by Rear Adm. Michael S. Roesner, deputy chief of staff for logistics, fleet supply and ordnance.
"I came here to honor the men that didn't make it," Reed said, "the ones who were never able to live."
With a slow, steady gait, Reed strode to the edge of the pier and, like the other survivors, tossed two red roses in the water. He saluted his fallen comrades and walked back to his seat. In the distance was the rusting bow of LST-480 along the shoreline of Hanaloa Point.
"It took my breath away," said Reed, who retired as a locomotive engineer, of the ceremony. "It was a real honor to be part of that."
Survivors Wood Beeghly, Alex Bernal, Herschel Dugan, Gerald Kelleher, Roy Sannela, Walter Slater and Robert Sullivan also attended the ceremony. It was the largest group of West Loch survivors to come together at Pearl Harbor. Only one came to the 50th anniversary commemoration.
Carbaugh and his wife of 35 years, Darlene, planned the trip from Salem, Ore., in three weeks, scheduling time to drive around O'ahu, have dinner on a catamaran and shop for gifts.
"He really wanted to come," she said. Darlene Carbaugh was curious to see the place her husband had talked so much about.
Like many survivors, which historians say could number in the thousands, Carbaugh talks about his experiences to anyone who will listen. It's a part of history that's often overshadowed by other wartime events, such as the attack on Pearl Harbor.
For the past five years, Carbaugh has been sharing his experience with high school students in his hometown, Salem. He goes to the schools dressed in his sailor blues, which still fit.
"It's just something they oughta know," he said. "They don't normally talk about this in their history classes."
Reed also has been trying to spread the word. He collects articles about the West Loch tragedy and helped with the History Channel documentary. He said it's his way of honoring the men who died.
"We're not trying to be heroes here," Reed said. "We just want to get the word out."
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
