Thread by @IkeHarumba

Second annual 🧵 w updates. #PearlHarborRemembranceDay

Dad, second from left: "I... enlisted in US Army Air Corps, 8 August 1941, for assignment to Hawaii." 1/

“I received orders to report to Fort Riley, Kansas... had I been a bit smarter, I could probably been enlisted in the grade of corporal or sergeant since I had completed almost four years of prior military training and had reached the grade of tech sergeant in the ROTC.” 2/

“...we arrived at the Presidio in San Francisco and took a boat to Angel Island, Fort McDowell, the embarkation point for Pacific assignments. We spent several days performing routine details such as KP or other detail work while a shipment of recruits was assembled." 3/

"While there... several of us were selected to spend a weekend at Mills College for women in Oakland, CA. ...lots of good food, dancing, swimming etc. The girls were nice and felt that theirs was an effort to help homesick service men." 4/

"About the last of August 1941, our transportation was set up and we departed San Francisco for the Pacific on the SS Lurline. People on our ship were going to Hawaii, Philippians, Australia etc. We convoyed out with the SS Taft." 5/

“There were a lot of casuals aboard both ships; officers, nurses, and others, some destined for Clark Field in the Philippines and some to other points in the Pacific. I’m afraid most of those individuals were either killed or became prisoners and died while in confinement." 6/

“It was a great five-day voyage that ended all too soon at Honolulu. ...our group was ordered onto trucks, the old 6x6's, and taken across the island to Bellows Field... Because of my prior military training, I had been placed in charge of the recruits... 7/

“I was moved on to Wheeler Field, reporting there to my new unit, the 25th Air Material Squadron, 18th Air Base Group. As a private my salary was a handsome $21.00 per month." 8/

“I spent weeks on KP duty alternating that with guard duty. I was one of about fifteen men newly assigned to the guard function and we were issued a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun, all of which had to be cleaned and ready for inspection within an hour or so.” 9/

“On 7th December 1941 I was performing routine guard duty at the base communications shack at Wheeler Field. At about 0730 I watched about a dozen aircraft high overhead forming a Lufbery Circle at approximately 5,000 feet of altitude.” 10/

“They started peeling off, one by one, to start their bombing runs without causing much concern to those of us who were awake, as it was not unusual for US Naval or Army Air Forces to practice attacking each other.” 11/

“The first aircraft commenced his diving attack and I watched his descent with interest. This was about 0740 as I recall. This airplane dropped a bomb which must have struck our engineering hangar, which was hanger number one on the line.” 12/

“In the meantime, aircraft number two... made its run, and this time the bomb hit somewhere near our motor pool. Again, there was not much noise but there was a lot of smoke." 13/

"As the third aircraft made its bomb run the first aircraft had turned out towards the mountain range to our west and came back low in a strafing run on our flight line.” 14/

“At this point I could distinguish the rising sun insignia of the Japanese Air Forces... and then I realized we were in a sure-fire shooting war. …I entered the com shack and woke up the duty clerk." 15/

"He didn’t believe me when I told him we were under attack by Japanese aircraft, so I dragged him outside where he could look up and see what was happening.” 16/

"From this point on and for the next ten minutes or so, we were like ducks in a pond. Since our aircraft were parked in parade formation, bunched together wing tip to wing tip on the ramp, they were easy target for the strafing and bombing activity." 17/

"...very few personnel had access to rifles, pistols or machine guns as the weapons were locked up in supply rooms. Airmen on guard duty were armed with a .45 automatic pistol and five rounds of ammunition plus a 12-gauge shotgun with about five rounds of ammunition." 18/

"Some Supply NCOs were reluctant to release weapons and ammunition on their own authority in spite of the situation, so our response was limited..." 19/

"I noticed a couple of officers fall to the ground right next to my guard post so I went over to assist them. They were uninjured, having ducked some strafing. The three of us sought shelter in the open garages behind the Officers Mess Hall and next to my guard post." 18/

"I decided to take a chance and shoot my pistol at one of the aircraft overhead as it passed by us and so had my pistol out and was just ready to press the trigger when one of the officers, grabbed my arm, saying 'don't shoot, you will give away our position!'" 20/

I thought to myself ‘What position do we have to give away?’ but I didn’t say anything." 21/

"In about 15 minutes, most of our front-line P-40 and P-36 aircraft were damaged or on fire, so we could not launch a retaliation strike from Wheeler." 22/

"The Japanese attacking aircraft then began to zero in on targets of opportunity such as personnel on the ground, or vehicles randomly selected and subjected to repeated strafing. We lost about 200 men to this strafing activity.” 23/

"...my best friend, Red Robbins... from Boston, was killed. He had left the shelter of the main barracks during the attack and sought refuge in the house of an NCO across the street from our barracks." 24/

"Red was in the kitchen, behind the cast iron porcelain sink. During an apparent lull in the attack, he looked out the window to see what was going on and received a bullet in his head, killing him instantly." 25/

“I noticed a car drive rapidly down the flight line, turn around, and then speed out towards the Wahiawa Gate, which was the main entrance to Wheeler. This car contained two officers: Lieutenant Kenneth M. Taylor and Lieutenant George Welch." 26/

"They headed for the dispersed air strip at Haleiwa where we had some aircraft armed and ready for flight. They succeeded in their action and got airborne and inflicted some damage by downing a total of nine enemy aircraft that morning.” 27/

"Later on, a young man approached me at my post and asked me if I knew how to load his rifle, a Springfield 30.06. He apparently didn't get any instruction about the rifle. I asked him if he could use a shot gun and his response was 'Sure'. I suggested we trade weapons..." 28/

"I thus got a good rifle, and 120 rounds of ammo and felt that I could then give a good accounting of myself if the Japanese launched another attack. Months later I was in a little trouble for trading away that shot gun, but nothing came of it." 29/

"Under Geneva Convention rules, shotguns were prohibited weapons in military combat but I guess that young man did not know that either. I stayed on duty for the rest of that day and was relieved by the officer of the day shortly after dark." 30/

"We were on our way to the guard house when all hell broke loose on the western perimeter of the base.” 31/

“A train was bringing ammunition up from Diamond Head. This train was a narrow-gauge railroad belonging to the Dole Pineapple Company and its tracks crossed the western edge of Wheeler Field and Schofield Barracks immediately adjacent to and north of Wheeler.” 32/

“A Hawaii National Guard unit had been federalized that day and was on station on the western perimeter. One of their guards challenged the train as it was crossing his post. Naturally the train failed to stop at the guard’s challenge." 33/

“When the guard opened fire, the whole National Guard unit also opened fire and riddled the engine of the train. Both the engineer and the fireman bailed out, landing in a ditch." 34/

"They left the train running and crawled and walked down the ditch some 20 miles to their station house, arriving in the morning and, I was told, quite their jobs as “too damn dangerous.” 35/

"After that activity was quieted down, I spent the rest of the night helping to clean rifles in an unventilated closet not more than ten feet long and some four feet wide, with the door closed." 36/

"We were using barrels of 100 octane fuel to soak off the cosmoline grease from the rifles, and in a sealed, unventilated small space like that closet, one could not work for more than ten minutes at a time..." 37/

"...because the fumes from the fuel just burned one’s lungs like fire and you just had to get out to get some fresh uncontaminated air." 38/

"For the next few days following the attack conditions at Wheeler were really very hectic. For some of us, regular hours vanished. I found myself guarding a pineapple field on December 8th, several miles from the base, assigned to intercept any infiltrators..." 39/

"My parent unit did not know where I was and thus, missing in action rosters were being formulated. My name was on one of those rosters but fortunately, before an official report could be filed and families notified, I appeared at the orderly room and reported my status.." 40/

Dad remained in Hawaii until 1942. He became an ordnance officer and was transferred to England and France. He served the duration of WWII, Korea, and part of the Cold War, retiring in 1965. Thanks, Dad.