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Author Topic: Pearl Harbour Witness Accounts.  (Read 5511 times)
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Edward
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« on: December 07, 2009, 11:14:30 AM »






Sixty-eight years ago this morning, Jim Ford was finishing up his work as the butcher on the Navy ship USS Argonne. The sun had risen over Pearl Harbor, and America's Pacific fleet was coming awake on a Sunday morning.

Ford, a petty officer second class, had been training a new crew member since 3 a.m. He had just showered and was about to head to shore, where he could get some sleep. But Ford wouldn't get ashore that day, or for many of the uncertain days that followed.

At 7:55 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, leaving 2,403 Americans dead and 1,139 wounded.

"We didn't have any guns on the ship," Ford said of the Argonne, a converted craft repair ship launched in 1920. "It was a hell of a time not to have any guns. The Japanese were going for the big ships, though."

The Argonne closed the hatches as the attack started. Ford watched through the portholes as Japanese planes swooped down on surrounding vessels. The Argonne had recently given its usual berth to the cruiser USS Helena, which was torpedoed amidships as the crew ran to battle stations. The blast killed 20 sailors

"I was dumbfounded," he said. "Fortunately, we were trained for the job, regardless of what happened. We knew what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to be, regardless of an attack. You don't think too much about it. You're doing your job. You may get a little scared, afterwards. I don't know how to explain it. It was just something else."

When the Argonne's crew emerged from below deck after the attack, Ford saw a smoky, confusing scene. The severity of the attack began to dawn on him. The Argonne's crew immediately got to work helping wounded men and recovering bodies from the water. Since the Argonne was undamaged, many of the surviving sailors were given safe haven on the vessel. Ford's orders were to cook as much food as he could.

The attack that morning was a defining moment for the United States, changing public opinion about whether to join World War II. As some Japanese had warned, the surprise attack "awoke a sleeping giant." In his declaration of war, the day after the attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would declare Dec. 7, 1941 "a date which will live in infamy."

With "Remember Pearl Harbor" as a battle cry, the nation came together, built armed forces that destroyed and defeated Japanese forces on land, on the water and in the air. Emporer Hirohito surrendered in August 1945.

Today, Ford, 89, and his family will attend a Pearl Harbor remembrance at California Grill in Watsonville. The gatherings are typically a chance for survivors, family and the public to come together, Ford said, to remember the day and to dine together. Ford has kept in touch with the one remaining crew member who he knows is still alive.

Ford was born in Eva, Ala. His family then moved to Roswell, New Mexico. After the war, Ford stayed in the Navy, serving 20 years altogether.

Ford met his wife, Ruth, in 1945. She worked as a secretary to the ship's services manager. They were married in Boston in 1947. The Fords moved often, living in Boston, Virginia, China Lake, Guantanamo Bay and the Philippines. After retiring from the service, Ford worked as a golf pro.

The Fords had three children, one of whom has since died, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

For a time in Jim and Ruth Ford's lives, they traveled, constantly, eventually getting to all 50 states. At the Ford's Aptos house, they have a map, labeled with the routes that they drove and pins designating the cities and towns they visited. They also have a large American flag inside the foyer.

Ford said that he rarely talks about his military service, even with his family.

"I haven't told them a heck of a lot," Ford said. "You just don't feel like talking about it too much. It's been so long."

Ford's wife, Ruth, said that every once in awhile, they take out old newspaper clippings and photos.

"All of these things do go through his mind periodically, but not constantly," she said. "We've lived a very full life. We've done many things, gone to many places. It's only around Pearl Harbor Day that we talk about it."

John Ford, Jim's son, said he doesn't remember talking much about the war with his father.

"I asked him about it a number of years ago," John Ford said. "He and my mom compiled a book of articles and photos in response to my questions. Sometimes, I see a look in his eye, and I remember that my dad was just this young kid with all this stuff going on around him. I try to remember that. You look back, though, and it's one of the most pivotal moments in United States history."

Jim Ford, who suffered a stroke about 10 years ago, remembers most of his time in the Navy fondly.

"Every time I think about the Navy, I think about the Argonne," he said. "I don't miss the tours at all. I just miss the people I served with."

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Edward
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« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2009, 11:17:06 AM »



PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii  —  Retired firefighter Ed Johann was a teenage apprentice seaman on Dec. 7, 1941, when he spotted Japanese planes coming in over Pearl Harbor.

He thought they were U.S. aircraft conducting drills until explosions and flames erupted from stricken ships in the harbor.

Then came screams of sailors; the stench of burning oil and flesh.

The 86-year-old is due to return Monday to Pearl Harbor for the first time since World War II to attend a ceremony marking the 68th anniversary of the attack on the U.S. naval base that pulled America into the war.

"I really don't know how I'm going to handle it," said Johann, from his home in Oregon. "When I think about it, all I have is unpleasantness. I'm sure it's not like that now."

Then, he and two other sailors were waiting to ferry passengers on a small boat to and from the USS Solace, a hospital ship that was moored in Pearl Harbor.

Johann's motor launcher boat rushed to the USS Arizona, which was hit by several bombs, one of which struck her forward ammunition magazines and set off a massive explosion. Already fueled and manned when the attack began, their 30-foot boat was the first rescue vessel to arrive at the scene.

They found the water littered with people — some wounded, some dead, some unharmed. Many were covered in the leaking oil from the ships.

They loaded as many as they could and delivered them to the hospital ship before returning to the USS West Virginia for more.

"As we're pulling them out of the water, a lot of times the skin would come right off the arm," Johann said. "They would just be black with oil, except maybe you could see the white of their eyes."

The planes kept coming. Dive-bombers plunged out of the sky, dropping bombs and strafing the water and ships with machine gun fire before roaring back up for another round. Torpedo bombers flew in level to drop their submersible weapons for underwater assaults.

The burning, sinking vessels at first lowered men into Johann's makeshift rescue boat. But some sailors started to panic and jump into their small ship, forcing it to pull away so it wouldn't sink too.

"Some of the sailors would be like in shock and some of 'em would be like going out of control, screaming and hollering," Johann said.

The next morning — after nervously worrying the Japanese planes would return — Johann's boat unloaded men from the Solace who failed to make it through the night and delivered them to land.

"We had them stacked like cordwood in our boat. The open end where the feet was sticking out was these big brown tags that said 'unknown, unknown,"' Johann said. The military hadn't adopted dog tags yet and many couldn't be identified.

The attack sank four U.S. battleships and destroyed 188 U.S. planes. Another four battleships were damaged, along with three cruisers and three destroyers.

More than 2,200 sailors, Marines and soldiers were killed.

"We didn't survive by any skill," Johann said of his boat. "It was just luck, pure luck. Because all we were concentrating on was trying to save people, and not save ourselves."

Johann served the rest of the war on the USS Wright, a seaplane tender. After 1945, he returned to California where he worked in sawmills before moving to Portland, Oregon. where he spent 28 years as a firefighter. He retired to a beach cottage in Lincoln City and where he served on the city council, helping build hiking trails and campaigning against domestic violence.

Every Independence Day on July 4, he goes to bed early to avoid the fireworks because they remind him of Pearl Harbor's explosions. Even so, the blasts keep him awake.

But the horrors he went through also led him to become a firefighter.

"I think I had it in my mind," Johann said, "I wanted to help people."

For years, Johann said he wouldn't go to the annual observance in Hawaii in honor of those killed in the attack. But now that he's 86, it seemed liked a good idea.

"If I'm ever going to do anything like that I'd better do it now," Johann said. His son, who lives on Maui, will accompany him.

Organizers expect between 40 and 50 survivors of the attack to come. Overall, some 2,000 people are expected to attend the ceremony on a pier overlooking the spot where the Arizona sank.

The bodies of more than 1,000 sailors and Marines are still on board, and small drops of oil continue to rise from the battleship.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579584,00.html?test=latestnews

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Edward
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« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2009, 11:26:10 AM »

Please copy and paste all news stories of survivors in this thread for a history account of that day.
Soon ALL these people will have passed and there story must be remembered.
My Mom lived in Hawaii and was married to a Airforce service man during the attack. He survived and she later became a leader of a woman organization during world war 2.
My uncle served on a ship in the Radio room.
Both my mom her husband of that time "my older sister father" and my uncle have passed on.
I remember the Navy showed up in Full Dress to my Uncles funeral and handed my aunt "who worked for Navy Intelligence" A American Flag folded proper, just 2 years ago now.
A sad but proud moment for all of us. There stories of that time will stay in my mind forever and I will always attempt to pass them on to my children.
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