A Veteran's Journey

Trivia Questions (Answers @ end)

1. Who said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”?
2. In what movie did we hear the following exchange?
   “You know what top secret is?”
   “Yes, sir. It’s the kind of mission where you get medals, but they send ‘em to your relatives.”
3. In what song (and who sang it) did we hear the following?
   Precious memories keep a lingering on
   Every time I hear our favorite song
   Now you’re gone, left this emptiness
   I only reminisce the happiness we spent
   We used to dance to the music
   Make romance through the music

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Initial Attack

At an hour past dawn on December 7, 1941, Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor was a scene of usual activity: white-uniformed officers and sailors going about their everyday early morning tasks. Over half the officers and about 90% of the ships’ enlisted men were aboard their assigned ships.

The first of two waves of attacks hit its target, beginning at 7:53 a.m. Hawaii time: 366 Japanese fighters and bombers attacked the airfields and battleships. In three groups of twelve, twelve, and five, the attackers approached Battleship Row at 160 knots per hour at a mere sixty-six feet above sea level, thereby avoiding detection.

The second wave of 168 planes attacked other ships and shipyard facilities at 8:55 a.m. Two hours later, it was all over by 9:55. By one o’clock in the afternoon, the carriers that launched the planes from 274 miles off the coast of Oahu were on their way back to Japan.

While 100 commissioned warships and service auxiliary ships were present at Pearl Harbor, only 16 were damaged. Japan’s key focus was to eliminate the battleships: they were the biggest threats.

Two of those battleships were lost forever.

Damaged Battleships

USS Arizona (BB-39) and USS Oklahoma (BB-37) sunk in the initial attack. Arizona exploded and sank after a bomb detonated in a powder magazine… 1,177 officers and crewmen… nearly half the total number of fatal casualties suffered at Pearl Harbor on that day.

Several torpedoes sank Oklahoma during the attack… 429 crew died when she capsized.

Other battleships were damaged, but managed to survive.

The USS Nevada (BB-36) was the only battleship to get underway during the attack, but was hit by one torpedo and at least six bombs while steaming away, ripping open a hold 48’ x 33’ twenty feet below the waterline. She beached at Hospital Point. She was later refloated and repaired, and served as a convoy escort in the Atlantic, eventually retiring in 1946.

USS California (BB-44) lost 100 crew members that morning, being hit by two torpedoes below the armor belt and suffering extensive flooding damage. After several days of flooding, she settled into the mud with only her superstructure remaining above the surface. Refloated and later dry-docked at Pearl Harbor for repairs, she served many missions during the war. USS California was decommissioned in 1947.

USS West Virginia (BB-48) was sunk by six torpedoes and two bombs, hit from above by dive-bombers, but later salvaged from the seabed… 106 men died on West Virginia.

USS Cassin (DD-372) and USS Downes (DD-375), Mayan-class destroyers, were in dry-dock when an incendiary bomb ignited fuel tanks on Downes. Cassin slipped from her keel blocks and rested against Downes; both destroyed by uncontrollable fires. While the ships were considered lost, the Navy salvaged their machinery and equipment to be used on other ships.

USS Oglala (ID-1255) was a minelayer and the flagship of the Pacific Fleet Mine Force. Torpedo planes hit her during the first attack. She rapidly took on water, but was later salvaged and continued service until 1965.

Obviously, there was much more to the Pearl Harbor attack than briefly described above and is well-documented by many historians.

However, one thing we should never forget is that 2,403 men and women died; another 1,178 wounded. The attack destroyed 188 planes and crippled a Pacific Fleet that included eight damaged or destroyed battleships.

On December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war granted by Congress and the United States entered what was to become known as World War II.

My Father’s Reaction

My dad, A.Z. Adkins, Jr., was attending The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He wrote in his diary (You Can’t Get Much Closer Than This: Combat with the 80th Infantry Division World War II in Europe):

December 7, 1941, began just like any other Sunday at The Citadel. Early morning reveille, followed by physical training and a good breakfast, then Sunday service in Summerall Chapel. Little did we know this would be the “date which will live in infamy.”

When I first learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor late in the afternoon, most cadets were spending their casual Sunday sleeping or listening to music on the radio when the reports began. ‘Pearl Harbor bombed’ and ‘Japanese attack the Philippines.’ Word traveled fast through The Citadel.

My first instinct, like that of most cadets, was to drop out of college, join the Army, and fight those cowardly bastards who had murdered innocent Americans. In fact, some of my Citadel buddies did just that.

In a letter dated December 9, 1941, I wrote to my dad. “All the cadets, just like everybody else, are gravely concerned with matters. None of us wants to sit still, but we all realize that is the only thing to do. So we will just continue our regular schedule.”

My father’s advice was solid: “Finish school, son. This will be a long war and you’ll have your chance to serve your country and fight.” As usual, my father was right.

After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, it meant more to me than ever to be an American–a feeling that would surface again and again in my years in the U.S. Army and continue throughout the rest of my life.

Pearl Harbor—Westpac ‘75

After 15 months at NAS Agana, Guam, I reported aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), an aircraft carrier, in March 1975. I worked on the flight deck as an aircraft Crash firefighter.

Kitty Hawk left San Diego in May 1975 to begin a 6-month Westpac cruise—my first and only Navy cruise. On the way, we stopped over in Pearl Harbor for a few days.

Like all military branches, the Navy has many traditions. “Manning the Rails” is one of the most revered of those traditions. Everyone who takes part dresses in the uniform-of-the-day. Sailors line up at arm’s length, called Dress Right, around the edge of the flight deck, facing out. We’d be at Parade Rest until called to attention at the appropriate time, such as sailing past the Arizona Memorial.

I would venture to guess that most Navy veterans stationed aboard a ship on the West Coast have, at one time or another, visited Pearl Harbor. Many of them took the time to visit the Arizona Memorial; I was one of them.

We had to take a ferry out to reach her. The memorial actually straddles the sunken battleship. Even though there were dozens of visitors there, both Navy sailors and civilians, it was quiet and serene—almost like a library or a church before a funeral. It was not as big as I thought it would be, at least not when compared to Kitty Hawk.

The most visible feature of the ship is the barbette to gun turret number three—it pokes out above the water. I distinctly remember looking down into the crystal clear water and thinking of all those men—more than eleven hundred still entombed. It was a very solemn time for all of us.

As I got older, I’ve often thought back to that initial visit—these guys were our age. They had lost their lives 34 years earlier defending our country, their ship, and their fellow shipmates in an unprovoked attack.

A Somber Remembrance

Several years ago when I turned 60 years old, my wife & I, accompanied by long-time friends, visited Hawaii to celebrate our collective birthdays. Besides visiting Maui and Kauai, we spent a few days in Oahu. We all wanted to visit the Arizona Memorial. But like before, I felt a need to pay my respects.

As we approached the memorial by ferry, once again, I felt a sense of honor, visiting these men who gave their lives… men who were just boys like I’d been while I served in the Navy 1973-77.

As we often say in the Navy, “Rest in Peace, shipmates. We have the watch.”

Answers:

1. Harry S. Truman.
2. Pearl Harbor (2001), Lt. Col Jimmie Doolittle (Alec Baldwin) & Rafe (Ben Affleck).
3. It’s the Same Old Song (1965), Four Tops; written by Edward Holland Jr., Lamont Dozier, & Brian Holland.