Torpedo Bombers Began Their Runs On Battleship Row
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Japanese first-wave attack aircraft descended on Ford Island and Hickam airfields. Torpedo bombers began their runs on Battleship Row. Pearl Harbor was under attack. On this particular Sunday morning all was SOP – standard operating procedure – in the Pacific Fleet. Chapel services were planned, mess halls and gal- leys were laying out breakfast, launches to and from shore were readying, and men on duty rosters were preparing for their watch. Japanese aircraft swooped out of the morning sky, lining their sights on capital ships.
At 0755 hrs, Lt. Cmdr Logan Ramsey stood at the window of Ford Island Command Center watching the color guard hoist the flag. A plane buzzed by and he snapped, “Get that fellow’s number!” Then he recalled, “I saw something … fall out of that plane …” An explosion from the hangar area cut his words short. Racing across the hallway, Ramsey ordered the radioman to send out the following message: “Air raid, Pearl Harbor. This is NO drill.” The message went out on the local frequencies at 0758 hrs.
Captured after the war, this photo shows as a torpedo hit geysers upward from the Oklahoma
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In a moment the scene of battleships and tenders preparing for morning ser vices, mess call and watch changes was transformed to battle alert. Torpedo planes nosed down, leveling and dropping their deadly loads into the water. Wakes streaked towards berthed vessels. Observers were confused, surprised, and horri fied as the nature of the situation dawned. Rear Admiral W. R. Furlong aboard the Oglala, which was berthed in the Pennsylvania’s normal position, saw a bomb fall from one of the approaching aircraft. He made a mental note that the flyer would be in trouble with his CO, when the plane banked and Furlong saw its insignia – a Rising Sun! “Japanese!” He yelled: “Man your stations!”
from the book Pearl Harbor 1941 - The Day Of Infamy
by Carl Smith
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The youngest army or navy survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack would be 97 years old now. The end of the WW2 era as a living group of people is imminent.
the surprise attack and american losses at pearl harbor that day threw our nation into 2 wars and spurred an also ran nation on the world stage into the dominant super power in the span of 5 years.
daily we suffer more american lives lost at pearl because of no competent leadership in DC and no federal pandemic plan from them for nearly a year. later this month we will graduate to the 9/11 loss of lives which also started wars. earlier this month the domestic covid death toll surpassed the death toll of US service people in the vietnam war.
My sister's birthday is December 7th... 1945.
Having visited Pearl Harbor many times over the years and going to the Arizona memorial and touring the battleship Missouri was always quite powerful.
In 2011 I was at Pearl and was fortunate to meet with four survivors of that fateful day. We talked for over an hour and it was a real honor to be among these men.
Sterling R. Cale. SGM, US Army (Retired)
Herb Weatherwax, Staff Sargent, US Army
Robert G Kinzler, Captain, US Army (Retired)
Alfred Benjamin Kame'eiamoku Rodrigues. SKC, US Navy (Retired)
If they were still with us today they would be 98 to 103 years old.
I purchased a book entitled, From Fishponds to Warships, PEARL HARBOR. (A complete illustrated History by Allan Seiden.) Each of these fine gentlemen signed the book for me.
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