First Hand Accounts of December 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor
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US Fleet Organization, 1939
US Fleet Organization 1939 Battle Force US Fleet: USS California (BB-44)(Force Flagship) Battleships, Battle Force (San Pedro) USS West Virginia (BB-48)(flagship) Battleship Division 1: USS Arizona (BB-39)(flag) USS Nevada (BB-36) USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)(Fl. Flag) Air Unit - Observation Sqn 1-9 VOS Battleship Division 2: USS Tennessee (BB-43)(flag) USS Oklahoma (BB-37) USS California (BB-44)(Force flagship) Air Unit - Observation Sqn 2-9 VOS Battleship Division 3: USS Idaho (BB-42)(flag) USS Mississippi (BB-41) USS New Mexico (BB-40) Air Unit - Observation Sqn 3-9 VOS Battleship Division 4: USS West Virginia (BB-48)(flag) USS Colorado (BB-45) USS Maryland (BB-46) Air Unit - Observation Sqn 4-9 VOS Cruisers, Battle Force: (San Diego) USS Honolulu (CL-48)(flagship) Cruiser Division 2: USS Trenton (CL-11)(flag) USS Memphis (CL-13) Air Unit - Cruiser Squadron 2-4 VSO Cruiser Division 3: USS Detroit (CL-8)(flag) USS Cincinnati (CL-6) USS Milwaukee (CL-5) Air Unit - Cruiser Squadron 3-6 VSO Cruise Division 8: USS Philadelphia (CL-41)(flag) USS Brooklyn (CL-40) USS Savannah (CL-42) USS Nashville (CL-43) Air Unit - Cruiser Squadron 8-16 VSO Cruiser Division 9: USS Honolulu (CL-48)(flag) USS Phoneix (CL-46) USS Boise (CL-47) USS St. Louis (CL-49)(when commissioned Air Unit - Cruiser Squadron 8-16 VSO 1 Destroyers, Battle Force (San Diego) USS Concord (CL-10) Ship Air Unit 2 VSO Destroyer Flotilla 1: USS Raleigh (CL-7)(flag) Ship Air Unit 2 VSO USS Dobbin (AD-3)(destroyer tender) (served 1st & 3rd Squadrons) USS Whitney (AD-4)(destroyer tender) -
World War II
World War II. – “The Blitz“ This information report describes the events of “The Blitz” during the Second World War in London. The attacks between 7th September 1940 and 10 th May 1941 are known as “The Blitz”. The report is based upon information from http://www.secondworldwar.co.uk/ , http://www.worldwar2database.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz . Prelude to the War in London The Second World War started on 1 st September 1939 with the German attack on Poland. The War in London began nearly one year later. On 24 th August 1940 the German Air Force flew an attack against Thames Haven, whereby some German bombers dropped bombs on London. At this time London was not officially a target of the German Air Force. As a return, the Royal Air Force attacked Berlin. On 5th September 1940 Hitler ordered his troops to attack London by day and by night. It was the beginning of the Second World War in London. Attack on Thames Haven in 1940 The Attacks First phase The first phase of the Second World War in London was from early September 1940 to mid November 1940. In this first phase of the Second World War Hitler achieved great military success. Hitler planned to destroy the Royal Air Force to achieve his goal of British invasion. His instruction of a sustainable bombing of London and other major cities like Birmingham and Manchester began towards the end of the Battle of Britain, which the British won. Hitler ordered the German Air Force to switch their attention from the Royal Air Force to urban centres of industrial and political significance. -
The Dread Taboo, Human Sacrifice, and Pearl Harbor
The Dread Taboo, Human Sacrifice, and Pearl Harbor RDKHennan The word taboo, or tabu, is well known to everyone, but it is especially interesting that it is one of but two or possibly three words from the Polynesian language to have been adopted by the English-speaking world. While the original meaning of the taboo was "Sacred" or "Set apart," usage has given it a decidedly secular meaning, and it has become a part of everyday speech all over the world. In the Hawaiian lan guage the word is "kapu," and in Honolulu we often see a sign on a newly planted lawn or in a park that reads, not, "Keep off the Grass," but, "Kapu." And to understand the history and character of the Hawaiian people, and be able to interpret many things in our modern life in these islands, one must have some knowledge of the story of the taboo in Hawaii. ANTOINETTE WITHINGTON, "The Dread Taboo," in Hawaiian Tapestry Captain Cook's arrival in the Hawaiian Islands signaled more than just the arrival of western geographical and scientific order; it was the arrival of British social and political order, of British law and order as well. From Cook onward, westerners coming to the islands used their own social civil codes as a basis to judge, interpret, describe, and almost uniformly condemn Hawaiian social and civil codes. With this condemnation, west erners justified the imposition of their own order on the Hawaiians, lead ing to a justification of colonialism and the loss of land and power for the indigenous peoples. -
July 2004 Contact: [email protected], Or Check out Web Site
“We will always remember. We will always be proud. July We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.” August President Ronald Reagan September June 6, 1984 - Normandy, France 2004 "Rest well, yet sleep lightly and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide firepower for freedom…” THE JERSEYMAN Long Beach, California...December 28, 1982 President Ronald Reagan at the 4th Recommissioning of USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) “...Well, the New Jersey today becomes our 514th ship and represents our determination to rebuild the strength of America's right arm so that we can preserve the peace. After valiant service in Vietnam and after saving the lives of countless Ma- rines, the New Jersey was decommissioned in 1969. During that solemn ceremony, her last commanding officer, Captain Robert Peniston, spoke prophetically when he suggested that this mighty ship, “Rest well, yet sleep lightly; and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide fire power for freedom.” Well, the call has been sounded. America needs the bat- tleship once again to provide firepower for the defense of freedom and, above all, to maintain the peace. She will truly fulfill her mission if her firepower never has to be used. Captain Fogarty, I hereby place the United States Ship New Jersey in commission. God bless, and Godspeed.” In Memory of President Ronald Wilson Reagan Commander In Chief THE JERSEYMAN n May 29, 2004, formal dedication of the WW2 National Memorial took place in Washington, DC. The event was simulcast to the Battleship New Jersey Memorial and Mu- seum, with an audience estimated at well over 1,100 WW2 Veterans and their guests, plus 800 guests that were general public attendees. -
(June 1941) and the Development of the British Tactical Air Doctrine
Journal of Military and Strategic VOLUME 14, ISSUE 1, FALL 2011 Studies A Stepping Stone to Success: Operation Battleaxe (June 1941) and the Development of the British Tactical Air Doctrine Mike Bechthold On 16 February 1943 a meeting was held in Tripoli attended by senior American and British officers to discuss the various lessons learned during the Libyan campaign. The focus of the meeting was a presentation by General Bernard Montgomery. This "gospel according to Montgomery," as it was referred to by Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder, set out very clearly Monty's beliefs on how air power should be used to support the army.1 Among the tenets Montgomery articulated was his conviction of the importance of air power: "Any officer who aspires to hold high command in war must understand clearly certain principles regarding the use of air power." Montgomery also believed that flexibility was the greatest asset of air power. This allowed it to be applied as a "battle-winning factor of the first importance." As well, he fully endorsed the air force view of centralized control: "Nothing could be more fatal to successful results than to dissipate the air resource into small packets placed under the control of army formation commanders, with each packet working on its own plan. The soldier must not expect, or wish, to exercise direct command over air striking forces." Montgomery concluded his discussion by stating that it was of prime importance for the army and air 1 Arthur Tedder, With Prejudice: The war memoirs of Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Lord Tedder (London: Cassell, 1966), p. -
Three Views of the Attack on Pearl Harbor: Navy, Civilian, and Resident Perspectives
MARJORIE KELLY Three Views of the Attack on Pearl Harbor: Navy, Civilian, and Resident Perspectives POPULAR UNDERSTANDING of the attack on Pearl Harbor will undoubtedly be colored by the release of the $135 million epic Pearl Harbor, the fifth most expensive film in movie history. Described as "an adventure/romance in which everything blows up at the end," Disney's Touchstone Pictures recreated the December 7, 1941 Japa- nese attack on the U.S. Navy as its visual climax with an impressive array of special effects. During the film's production, Honolulu Star- Bulletin journalist Burl Burlingame was already at work enumerating the movie's technological inaccuracies and shortcomings.1 In a sec- ond article which focused on the film's portrayal of race, Burlingame noted that originally the producers, executives, and director of Pearl Harbor said they would spare no expense in accurately portraying the attack—even obtaining the approval of veterans groups. During the filming, however, producer Jerry Bruckheimer "waffled mightily on the subject of accuracy," recharacterizing his project as "gee-whiz-it's- just-entertainment."2 With the film's release on Memorial Day of 2001, a new generation's perception of the attack will likely forever be influenced by the images and impressions engendered by the film. Also influential, however, have been the two films used to orient the more than one million visitors a year to the USS Arizona Memo- rial, administered by the National Park Service (NPS) on the Pearl Marjorie Kelly is a cultural anthropologist whose research specialty is the representation of culture in museum and tourist settings. -
December 2017 Newsletter
Freedom’s Voice The Monthly Newsletter of the Military History Center 112 N. Main ST Broken Arrow, OK 74012 http://www.okmhc.org/ “Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History” Volume 4, Number 12 December 2017 Merry Christmas & Happy New Year USS Oklahoma Memorial Important Dates The USS Oklahoma Memorial on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor December 24 thru January 1 – Christmas/New Year Holidays was constructed in 2007. The memorial honors the 414 sailors and fifteen Marines who died on Oklahoma, on December 7, Military History Center Closed 1941, and the following few days. Less than a third of the men on board when Oklahoma was torpedoed escaped. By the time The MHC will reopen January 2. Oklahoma was raised in 1943, the men’s identification had be- come separated from their remains. The Defense POW/MIA Happy Hanukkah Accounting Agency is currently engaged in a project to identify the unknowns by DNA matches. Several have already been identified and their remains returned to their families. From the Editor Throughout the year, we have endeavored to bring readers timely news of MHC activities and events, as well as interesting stories. Each month we highlight a specific exhibit or artifact of the museum. The MHC displays artifacts from all America’s wars from the Revolutionary War to the present War on Terror. Many of the MHC’s artifacts and photographs are unique to the MHC and cannot be found in any other museum. Artifacts are only part of the story. Our mission is “Promot- ing Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History”. -
Historical Report: Ship Incident 221 (USS Oklahoma) Pearl Harbor, City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawaii United States
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Historical Report: Ship Incident 221 (USS Oklahoma) Pearl Harbor, City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawaii United States by AJ Plotke, PhD Asia-Pacific Directorate Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency 590 Moffet St, Bldg 4077 Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, HI 96853-5530 27 October 2017 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Historical Report: Ship Incident 221 (USS Oklahoma) Pearl Harbor, City and County of Honolulu, State of Hawaii United States Asia-Pacific Directorate Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency 27 October 2017 INDIVIDUAL ASSOCIATED Service Branch Name Rank Date of Loss Status Number of Service 7 December GLENN, Arthur (NMI) 1610221 MM1c USN KIA 1941 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Machinist’s Mate First Class (MM1c) Arthur (NMI) GLENN first joined the service on 12 April 19171, reenlisted again in the U.S. Navy on 25 February 1939, and reported for duty aboard the USS Oklahoma on 7 March 1941.2 As part of the effort to check Japanese aggression, the U.S. Pacific Fleet conducted exercises in the waters off the Hawaiian coast beginning in May 1940. After the maneuvers the fleet remained in Pearl Harbor, Oahu, to provide a more forward presence than was possible from the U.S. west coast.3 The USS Oklahoma (BB-37) arrived in Pearl Harbor on 6 December 1940, one year and one day prior to the Japanese attack, and spent the next several months participating in exercises and conducting patrols.4 On the morning of 7 December 1941, a fleet of Japanese carriers launched formations of dive bombers, torpedo planes, and fighters against the vessels moored in the shallows of Pearl 1 “NMS-L “Request for Prosthetic Dental Treatment” for GLENN, Arthur, dtd 24 October 1933, Official Military Personnel File for GLENN, Arthur, 1610221, Record Group 24: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel, 1789- 2007, National Archives at St. -
From the Nisshin to the Musashi the Military Career of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku by Tal Tovy
Asia: Biographies and Personal Stories, Part II From the Nisshin to the Musashi The Military Career of Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku By Tal Tovy Detail from Shugaku Homma’s painting of Yamamoto, 1943. Source: Wikipedia at http://tinyurl.com/nowc5hg. n the morning of December 7, 1941, Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) aircraft set out on one of the most famous operations in military Ohistory: a surprise air attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawai`i. The attack was devised and fashioned by Admiral Yamamoto, whose entire military career seems to have been leading to this very moment. Yamamoto was a naval officer who appreciated and under- stood the strategic and technological advantages of naval aviation. This essay will explore Yamamoto’s military career in the context of Imperial Japan’s aggressive expansion into Asia beginning in the 1890s and abruptly ending with Japan’s formal surrender on September 2, 1945, to the US and its Allies. Portrait of Yamamoto just prior to the Russo- Japanese War, 1905. Early Career (1904–1922) Source: World War II Database Yamamoto Isoroku was born in 1884 to a samurai family. Early in life, the boy, thanks to at http://tinyurl.com/q2au6z5. missionaries, was exposed to American and Western culture. In 1901, he passed the Impe- rial Naval Academy entrance exams with the objective of becoming a naval officer. Yamamoto genuinely respected the West—an attitude not shared by his academy peers. The IJN was significantly influenced by the British Royal Navy (RN), but for utilitarian reasons: mastery of technology, strategy, and tactics. -
PEARL HARBOR WARNINGS 27 November and 3 December 1941
PEARL HARBOR WARNINGS 27 November and 3 December 1941 Message Sent by Navy Department, 27 November 1941: This dispatch is to be considered a war warning. Negotiations with Japan looking toward stabilization of the conditions in the Pacific have ceased and an aggressive move is expected with the next few days. The number and equipment of Japanese troops and the organization of the naval task forces indicates an amphibious expedition against either the Philippines, Thai, Kra Peninsula, or possibly Borneo. Execute an appropriate defensive deployment preparatory to carrying out the tasks assigned in War Plan 46 [The Navy’s war plan]. inform district and army authorities. A similar warning is being sent by the War Department. Department of Army dispatch, 27 November: Negotiations with Japan appear to have terminated to all practical purposes, with only the barest of possibilities that the Japanese Government might come back and offer to continue. Japanese future action unpredictable, but hostile action possible at any moment. If hostilities cannot, repeat, cannot be avoided, the United States desires that Japan commit the first overt act. This policy should not be construed as restricting you to a course of action that might jeopardize your defense. Prior to hostile Japanese action you are directed to undertake such reconnaissance and other measures as you deem necessary, but these measures should be carried out so as not, repeat, not to alarm civil population or disclose intent. Report measures taken. Should hostilities occur, you will carry out the tasks assigned to Rainbow Five [the Army’s war plan]so far as they pertain to Japan. -
The USS Arizona Memorial
National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places U.S. Department of the Interior Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial (National Park Service Photo by Jayme Pastoric) Today the battle-scarred, submerged remains of the battleship USS Arizona rest on the silt of Pearl Harbor, just as they settled on December 7, 1941. The ship was one of many casualties from the deadly attack by the Japanese on a quiet Sunday that President Franklin Roosevelt called "a date which will live in infamy." The Arizona's burning bridge and listing mast and superstructure were photographed in the aftermath of the Japanese attack, and news of her sinking was emblazoned on the front page of newspapers across the land. The photograph symbolized the destruction of the United States Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and the start of a war that was to take many thousands of American lives. Indelibly impressed into the national memory, the image could be recalled by most Americans when they heard the battle cry, "Remember Pearl Harbor." More than a million people visit the USS Arizona Memorial each year. They file quietly through the building and toss flower wreaths and leis into the water. They watch the iridescent slick of oil that still leaks, a drop at a time, from ruptured bunkers after more than 50 years at the bottom of the sea, and they read the names of the dead carved in marble on the Memorial's walls. National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places U.S. Department of the Interior Remembering Pearl Harbor: The USS Arizona Memorial Document Contents National Curriculum Standards About This Lesson Getting Started: Inquiry Question Setting the Stage: Historical Context Locating the Site: Map 1. -
Explorations the Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities for the State of North Carolina
Volume VI, 2011 Explorations The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities for the State of North Carolina www.uncw.edu/csurf/explorations.html [email protected] Center for the Support of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships UNCW Honors College Randall Library University of North Carolina Wilmington Wilmington, NC 28403 copyright © 2011 University of North Carolina Wilmington Cover photographs: “Smoky Mountain Sunset” © Frank Kehren “Sunset Poplar” © BlueRidgeKitties “Outer Banks” © Patrick McKay ISBN: 978-0-9845922-7-2 Original Design by The Publishing Laboratory Department of Creative Writing 601 South College Road Wilmington, North Carolina 28403 www.uncw.edu/writers Dedication George Timothy Barthalmus (October 27, 1942- May 12, 2011) We lost our good friend George last spring. He was the inspiration behind Explorations and the State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, SNCURCS. George was known for his outreach to and support of student researchers- indeed, we feel he was the champion for undergraduate research in our state. We miss his infectious smile and bright, engaging eyes, his energy and excitement. Our hearts go out to his family, and we are glad for the time we shared with him. Volume VI of Explorations is dedicated to the memory of George Barthalmus. Photo courtesy of http://www.ncsu.edu/faculty-and-staff/bulletin/2011/05/students-colleagues- remember-barthalmus/ Staff Editor-in-Chief Katherine E. Bruce, PhD Director, Honors College and Center for the Support of Undergraduate