Survivor James Hamlin was offically killed at Pearl Harbor

USS California (BB-44)

James T. Hamlin Born: July 28, 1913 Fireman, First Class USS California (BB 44) 27 Years old

On December 16, 1941, the parents of James T. Hamlin; Mr. and Mrs. Green Hamlin, Harlan, Kentucky, received a telegram from the United States Navy Department advising that their son, James, a sailor in the United States Navy, had been killed during the attack on Pearl Har- bor on December 7, 1941.

A memorial service was conducted in his home town for the dead sailor. His parents were grief stricken.

On New Year's Eve, his father received a second telegram.

Hamlin, now re-assigned to the USS Chicago, was unaware of the commotion, sorrow and tears that had been caused by the erroneous notification of his death.

His full name was James Thomas Hamlin. Twenty six years old when he joined the Navy, he was twenty seven and a crew member of the battleship U.S.S. California, when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

At the time of the attack Fireman First Class Hamlin was on deck trying to read a newspaper. "It was too windy", he said and proceeded below decks of the battleship.

Shortly thereafter, the California was hit. "The torpedoes shook the whole ship. When they shook the ship, dust came off (electrical) cables, and we thought we were being gassed." Hamlin, remembered. "So somebody went and got some gas masks and brought them down. On the canister of this gas mask, there's a piece of tape. When you wear it, you're supposed to take the tape off. Two or three guys didn't take the tape off, and they found 'em later dead - suffocated."

The order was given to abandoned the now sunken ship. Hamlin also remembered a Chief Engineer telling them "what a good ship she was". Along with several others, Hamlin went back on board the California in efforts to "save her". He and his fellow crew members spent the remainder of the day trying to save the "good ship."

While on board attempting to control the damage, Hamilin recalls someone yelling, "You better get used to eating fish heads and rice, boys, 'cause we've lost this war." Hamlin said he was uninpressed at the time. "Not for a minute did we think we would lose the war...I thought the war would be over in ten days." He later commented. In 1944, while on the USS LaSalle at Saipan, Hamlin saw the USS California as it bombarded Saipan and yelled through his tears "Go get 'em, Prune Barge."

James T. Hamlin met Almyra Craig and married her in 1943, while on a 10 day leave. He left the Navy in 1946 after honorably serv- ing his country for the duration of the war. He returned to his wife, Almyra, in Paducah, Kentucky, where worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority until his retirement. He passed away in 1999.

His Grandaughter, Traci Hamlin Boyd said her grandfather had often said that it was difficult to move him and that he had only cried twice; once when his old ship, The U.S.S. California, lit up the sky over Saipan and once again in 1942 near Pago Pago when the ship he was on was broadcasting the Kentucky Derby. He said, when they played "My Old Kentucky Home, I bawled like a baby." Traci recalled, "I remember seeing him cry only once more; when his wife, my grandmother, passed away in 1997".

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