Heroes of Pearl Harbor

WORLD WAR II Heroes of Pearl Harbor While Japanese forces rained death and destruction on Pearl Harbor, American personnel acted with uncommon valor and 15 heroic servicemen earned the Medal of Honor. by Robert W. Lee F\or personnel stationed at the U.S. naval base at Pearl Har bor, Sunday mornings were usually uneventful, devoted most ly to church services, rest, and such routine jobs as cleaning, painting, and othervfise keeping the ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in top shape. Such was the agenda at the break of dawn on December 7, 1941. Henry A. Lachenmayer, a 22-year- old band musician on the USS Pennsylvania, kept a diary written on a Royal portable typewriter se questered in his berth aboard the dry-docked battleship. His entry for that fateful day began: It was Sunday again, you might say just another Sunday, but to us in the fleet it meant more than that, it meant the one day of the week that granted us true relax ation, the one day apart from drills maneuvered and work of allsorts. Adayforchurch, anda Pearl Harbor, as seen from the air on October 30,1941. A little more than a month later, the harbor and day for play. the Pacific Fleet moored within it would be lefta smoking ruin bya Japanese attack. We, the band on the Pennsyl vania, had a strenuous day on Saturday. A landing force in vania was struck by a 500-pound bomb, Lachenmayer was sud spection in the morning and a dance band contest in the denly transformed from a musician into a rescue worker and evening which, incidentally, we won. We were still speak makeshift medic. Scampering to his battle station, he helped ing of this same contest the next morning as we heard band squelch a fire ignited by an explosion in the enclosure where anti call go at 10 minutes of 8 and we proceeded to the quarter aircraft shells were stored. Later, he attended as best he could to deck in preparation for morning colors. the wounded. "I wandered around the dressing station, my eyes not believing what they saw. I gave a drink here and loosened an On the way, someone looked toward the Naval Air Station on Ford article of clothing there; there was not much else I could do," he Island a few miles away and noticed planes descending gradual recalled. Later still, he "assisted in taking the dead off the ship ly from high altitude to perhaps 150 feet from the ground before and in bringing on board many rounds of ammunition." leveling off. "To our unsuspecting eyes," Lachenmayer contin While Henry Lachenmayerdid what he could aboard the Penn ued, "it was just another drill [by U.S. planes], though it was sylvania, 65,000 other men and women stationed at Pearl Harbor somewhat peculiar that they would pick Sunday morning for ma reeled under the Japanese onslaught. The devastating attack left neuvering. Not until we saw the flames shoot out of the large more than 2,400 persons dead and more than a thousand wounded. hangar at the head of the small island did we realize the signifi Yet among this carnage American servicemen performed incred cance of the situation." ible acts of courage and heroism. Fifteen received the Congres The Japanese "surprise" attack on the Pacific Fleet, and on air sional Medal of Honor for their feats of daring and bravery. Of craft at the Army's Hickam Field and other nearby military in those, only five lived to receive their medals personally. In the stallations, was underway. When the main deck of the Pennsyl- pages that follow, we remember these heroes of Pearl Harbor. THE NEW AMERICAN • JULY 2. 2001 iWORLDWARII USS Arizona suffered the most devastating blow de livered by the Japanese atPearl Harbor. At about 8; 10 a.m. a 1,760-pound bomb (one ofeight tostrike the battleship) penetrated the deck of the big ship, igniting the forward ammunition magazine diat contained around 1.5 million pounds ofgunpowder. According to survivors and eye witnesses on otherships, the huge vessel, which had re cently returned from fleet maneuvers and was moored along Ford Island, seemed to lift out of the water mo- mentarily before crashing down and sinking within nine Hj* minutes. The entire forward part of the ship virtually dis- integrated from the explosion, and most ofitscrewmem- bers were either killed by KS the blast and the ensuing fires, or by suffocation when ^ USS Arizona was launched June 19,1915. Displacing 31,400 tons, she theybecame trapped. Nowa was 608 feet in length and carried a main armament of twelve 14-inch national shrine at Pearl Har- guns. Moored off Ford Island on the morning of December 7,1941, bor, 945 sailors are still en- Arizona took eight bombs from attacking Japanese warplanes. One of tombed in the sunken ship. | the bombs ignited her magazines, causing a devastating explosion. All Marine private Russell J. \ | told, 1,177 of the ship's crew were killed in the attack, Arizona earned McCurdy, one of the sur- o one battle star for World War II service. vivors, recalls how he and 1 others watched helplessly as - from magazine explosions and a direct bomb hit on the bridge bomb fragments and ship ^ | which resulted in the loss of his life." debris flew hundreds offeet ^ With Captain Van Valken- into the air. "The ship's mid- ,— , _•—•••'• ' =• ^ ^ burgh and Admiral Kidd now secdon opened like abloom- paptainCaptain j iJ'IS among the casualties, Samuel Franklin Van Valkenburgh I , Glenn Fuqua, the ship's dam- ing flower, burning white iFrankl'ii) Van Valkenburgti age control officer, became the hot. Our entire magazine ^ senior surviving officer. It was and forward oil storage exploded, sending tons ofTNT and fuel now his responsibility to oil into the water where it caught fire, sending huge, billowing as many of his crew as possi- clouds ofblack smoke intotheair." In all, 1,177 of theships crew ble. Fuqua had been knocked were lost —nearly half ofthe U.S. military personnel killed that ^ down and stunned by a bomb day and more sailors than died in the Spanish-American War and j that hit the ship's stem early in World War I combined. f the attack and prior to die hor- The commanding officer ofthe Arizona, Captain Franklin Van rendous explosion, but he re- Valkenburgh, was awarded the Medal ofHonor posthumously. 3 gained consciousness intime to The medal, presented by the president inthe name ofCongress, Commander direct fire-fighting and rescue isour country's highest award for outstanding bravery in the pres ence ofan enemy. When the Japanese attack began he was urged S<amuel Glenn Fuqua efforts. According to his cita- as wounded and burned by crew members to seek safety in a protected area of die ship, but instead men poured out of the ship to the quarterdeck after the ex insisted that he remain on the bridge. W plosion, and despite "his harrowing experience, and severe He was killed when the explosives det- •: : enemy bombing and strafing" atthe time, he "continued to onated. All that remained of Captain r - direct the fighting offires in order tocheck them while the VanValkenburgh after the attack was wounded and burned could be taken from the ship and su- his Naval Academy class ring, which • Ipervised the rescue of these men in such an amazingly calm was found welded to the bridge. 5 and cool manner and with such excellent judgment that itin- 0 spired everyone who saw him and undoubtedly resulted in Another Medal of Honor was award- S the saving ofmany lives." When he realized that the Arizona ed to Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell ^ was going down, he ordered that itbe abandoned, butcon- Kidd. His citation records that he "im- mediately went to the bridge and, as ro tinued to remain on the quarterdeck and directed abandon- Commander Battleship Division One, , . ; 2 ing ship and rescue ofpersonnel until satisfied that all per- courageously discharged his duties as L— ^ 1 sonnelthatcouldbe hadbeensaved." Only thendidhehim Senior Officer Present Afloat until the Rear AdmiraiAdmiral self leave the ship. For his outstanding example of leader- USS Arizona, his Flagship, blew up isaaCIsaac Campbell KitKiddd ship and courage he too received the Medal ofHonor. THE NEW AMERICAN • JULY 2. 2001 Thebattleship USS California lost 98ofhercrew when she was sunk in Pearl Harbor by the Japanese attack. Refloated on March 25,1942, California underwent a lengthy reconstruction at the Puget Sound Navy Yard after wiiich she returned tosea on hershakedown cruise onJanuary 31,1944. On October 25th ofthat year, California avenged her sinking at Pearl Harbor by firing more than 60rounds with her main armament at a Japanese battleship and cruiser force during theAmerican victory in the Battle ofSurigao Strait, California earned seven battle stars for World War 11 service. '' • dered unconscious by the nauseous fumes and handi- capped by his painful in- juries,he persistedinhis des- perateeffortsto speed up the supplyof ammunition and at USS California was also bombed, toqjedoed, and set afire, 5 the same time repeatedly causing it to listheavily to portside. Four members of its crew / risked his life to enter flood- earned Medalsof Honorfor their attempts to both repel the Japan- ' . i ing compartments and drag to ese and save fellow crewmembers. ^"•i J .I safety unconscious shipmates Herbert Charpiot Jones was commissioned in the rank of En 1^^ •; 1z whosubmergedwere ingraduallyoil. By hisbeing in- sign in November 1940. By December of 1941, he was serving as an officer on boardthe California. When the ship's mechani ^ispiring leadership, his valiant cal ammunition hoists, which lift ammunition to the ship's anti Ensign effons andhis extreme loyal- aircraft battery, became dis- ^ tierbert Charpiot Jones ty tohis ship and hercrew, he abled, Ensign Jones helped or- ^ - - saved many of his shipmates ganizeand leada partythat be- from death and was largely responsible for keeping the Califor gan hand-transferringthe am- nia in action during the attack." munition.

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