Sunday in Hell, page 1
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Sunday In Hell
Pearl Harbor Minute By Minute
Bill McWilliams
For Joey and Bob Border
Whose Lives of Love and Sacrifice Inspired This Book
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they
will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
Edmund Burke
Thoughts on the Cause of Present Discontents
Table of Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Foreword
Author’s Explanation
Preview
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Source Notes
Bibliography
Photograph Credits Guide
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Endnotes
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 - The New Totalitarians
The Rise of Nazi Germany
In the United States - Isolationism
Fascism’s Rise to Power
Japanese Aggression and Hawaii’s Growing Importance in the Pacific
The Spanish Civil War: Europe’s Proving Ground for World War II
Japan’s “Special Undeclared War”
Pan American Airways Suspends Pacific China Clipper Service
The US Navy Continues to Modernize
The Subtle Preparations for War in Hawaii
Aboard the USS Tennessee—
Soviet Russia Turns Toward Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland
The Germans Assault Denmark, Norway and Western Europe
Hitler Looks to the East - But Other Axis Conquests Come First
Japan’s Reawakening, America’s and Hawaii’s Growing Restlessness
The Navy’s Pacific Forces Move Forward and Hawaii Prepares for War
The Army Activates the Hawaiian Air Force
Chapter 2 - A Diary of Happy Times
Ships, Beaus, and a Young Woman’s Diary
The Tennessee Ensign
Love, the Relentless Ensign, and the Cub Reporter
Ships and Airplanes
A Brother’s Diary
Wedding in a Long Beach Chapel
The Navy Wife
Chapter 3 - Voyages
Tennessee Sails Southwest
“Am going to Hawaii!!”
A Cruise On the Lurline
The Gathering Storm
Chapter 4 - Prelude
“Winds” Messages
Enterprise: Twelve F4F Wildcats to Wake Island
Aircraft Carriers Lexington and Saratoga at Sea
On Oahu: Boat Day, Charity Football, “Battle of the Bands,” and Tranquility
The First Shots of the Pacific War
Launching to Strike: The First Wave
Enterprise: Scouts Launch
Opana RADAR: Large Flight of Aircraft, Range 132 Miles
Twelve B-17s to Hickam Field
Chapter 5 - “AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL”
Tactics for Surprise - and Deadly Weapons Loads
The Sinking of the SS Cynthia Olson
First Blows on Oahu: Shattered Military Air Fields and Aircraft
A Single Zeke at Bellows Field - A Warm-up for the Second Wave
Plans to Counter Sabotage, Levels of Alert, and Training
Disbelief, Bombs and Falling Antiaircraft Rounds
A Savaged Fighter Command
Fighting Back in the Air…
A Surgeon’s Unforgettable Emergency Recall to Duty
The B-17s’ Welcome to Oahu…
The First Attack on Bomber Command
Zekes and Vals Rake Ewa
Chapter 6 - Inferno, Carnage, and Valor: Attack on the Pacific Fleet
The Capsizing of USS Oklahoma (BB-37)
The West Virginia (BB-48): Down
Arizona (BB-39) and Vestal (AR-4): Sudden Death and Valor
The Death of USS Utah (AG-16) and Saving of Light Cruiser Raleigh (CL-7)
Dock 1010: The Struggle to Save Oglala (CM-4) and Helena (CL-50)
Chapter 7 - “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition…”
From Tragedy - Inspiration
Into the Maelstrom: Enterprise’s Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6)
California (BB-44): Flagship Wounded
Battleships Maryland and Tennessee: Gunners and Rescuers
Battle in the Middle Loch: The Sinking of a Midget Submarine
Nevada the Brave: Her Colors Emerge Into the Sunlight
Chapter 8 - The Second Wave
A Recall to Duty
Pennsylvania, Cassin, Downes, and Shaw: Attack on the Dry Docks
California and Nevada Down
Following Through on Their Pearl Harbor Mission - and Into a Hornets’ NestThe Second Time Around: Air Fields
Land, Reload, and Into the Air Again: P-40s and P-36s on the Attack
Underway…the Last Two Torpedoes, and More Enemy Planes
Chapter 9 - The Aftermath: 7 December
Where Is the Japanese Fleet?
Scouting Squadron Six Joins the Search
Saving Lives and Counting Losses
Navy and Marine Medical Services Were Ready
Rescues In the Harbor
Pearl’s Divers
Pan American Clippers: Three Changed Flight Plans, One Clipper Destroyed
The SS Lurline, Homeward Bound in Wartime Conditions
The Cruiser, the President and the Former President
Chapter 10 - “…A Date Which Will Live in Infamy…”
Civilian Medical Services Answered the Call
Martial Law Declared
Potential Saboteurs Taken Into Custody
Evacuations to Safer Areas - The Prelude to Seaborne Evacuations
Troops on the Move
A Letter Home
Fear, Anger and Tragedy: Hell Revisited on Good Men
Two More Small Victories: Another Midget Submarine and The First Prisoner of War
Divers Arrive to Aid in Rescue and Salvage Work
A Bright Light at the End of Another Dark Day
Chapter 11 - Reverberations
The Enemy Below
The Sinking of I-70
The Gatherings
Orders to Evacuate
Cutting the Lines
New Army and Navy Commanders in Hawaii
Chapter 12 - Surprise Departure, and “…Am Going Home”
The Enemy Below - Revisited
“The President’s Lady” Sails from Honolulu: Task Force 15.2
Task Force 16: Dash to Resurrection
The Missing
They Came From the Early Morning Mist…
The Battle of Los Angeles
Chapter 13 - Three Matson Ladies Plus Escorts: Convoy 4032
The Noble Purser
“Mighty Mouse” and Committees
A Late Christmas at Sea
Another Surprise Attack
A Song From the Nifty-Nine Club
Tennessee Comes Home
The Pursers’ Reply
Flight to Joy
Chapter 14 - Love and Sacrifice
Mobilizing American Military and Industrial Might
The Accounting
Internment of Japanese and Japanese-Americans in the Continental United States
The Turning
The Decisive Battle of Midway
The Death of Imperial Japan’s 7 December Carrier Striking Force
Ghosts of Pearl Harbor: Tragedy, Irony and Inspiration
No Greater Love…
FOREWORD
Sunday in Hell: Pearl Harbor Minute by Minute, is a fresh, new, meticulously-researched history that takes us through America’s first fierce and most disastrous battle of World War II. Set in the historical context of the preceding ten years of the Great Depression, we see clearly our nation’s steadfast hold on isolationism, and the rise of the 20th Century’s new totalitarians, leading to the shattering Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Told by the people who lived its events, the attack abruptly thrusts us into the midst of war and all its powerful cross-currents of emotion. Then comes the bitter aftermath, and America’s first dark days of struggle in the great, wide Pacific, where the fury began and as Admiral Nimitz related, “uncommon valor became a common virtue,” inspiring a nation. In reading this history we learn anew why the words sacrifice, love, faith, patriotism, and “Remember Pearl Harbor,” will forever reverberate through American history. In Sunday in Hell, we become acquainted with two brothers, both 1939 graduates of the United States Naval Academy (Annapolis) who room together aboard the Pacific Fleet’s USS Tennessee. On board Tennessee in Puget Sound Navy Yard, the younger brother and a Marine reserve officer’s daughter meet and begin a magnificent journey, while America lurches toward the cataclysm that forever changes the world. Throughout separate voyages to Hawaii on the Tennessee and the beautifully-appointed ocean liner, SS Lurline, we sail with them in the summer of 1941 into the relaxing, tropical warmth of the islands, as
On the bridge of the destroyer USS Ward, when her crew fires the first shots of the Pacific war at a Japanese midget submarine.
Inside the cockpits of eighteen Douglas Dauntless (SBD) dive-bombers from Scouting and Bombing Squadrons Six, as they launch from the carrier Enterprise.
From the first moments of the crushing blows on military airfields throughout the island of Oahu to the savage attacks on the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor.
With the attacking fighter pilots, torpedo and dive bomber crews in action over Pearl Harbor.
At the airfields while a small band of Army Air Force fighter pilots courageously scramble into the air against overwhelming odds.
In the rush to battle stations with ships’ crews, beside men performing uncommon acts of courage, heroism and valor, as they fight to save their shipmates, themselves, and their ships.
And among the stunned, initially uncertain, and disbelieving civilian populace in Honolulu.
The attack’s aftermath in December 1941, with its numerous reverberations on Oahu, the continental United States, across the wide Pacific and around the world follows. Three weeks replete with never told, seldom heard, or incomplete stories including the controversial declaration of martial law in Hawaii, and the immediate detaining of more than 400 suspected Japanese spies and sympathizers. Plus the aerial and sea hunt for the Japanese strike force while responding to the aggressive enemy submarine activity. Sunday in Hell will tell in vivid detail the inspiring responses of military and Hawaiian civilian populations filled with history that will shed new light on the events of 7 December 1941. This book will strengthen Americans pride in their nation as seen through the hearts and minds of those who lived it. For readers of all ages, from high school through retirement, the book brings a deep look into a generation whose sacrifice will echo down through the ages. It is the premier story of American citizens that quite literally saved civilization and our nation’s hard won freedoms, when the new totalitarians of the twentieth century stalked the earth.
Thomas B. Fargo
Admiral,
USN (Ret)Former Commander,
U.S. Pacific Command (2002-2005)
AUTHOR’S EXPLANATION
Readers will see both traditional civilian and 24-hour military time keeping in this history. As an example, on board a company-owned ocean liner, a typical morning clock time will normally be expressed as 9:25 a.m. or 9:25 in the morning. On board a Navy combatant such as the battleship Tennessee, or in an Army unit war diary, the same time will be expressed as 0925 hours. At 9:25 p.m., in the evening, military time will be 2125 hours.
The Japanese flew three different types of carrier aircraft during the 7 December air raid. For ease of reading the aircraft will carry the nicknames given them later in the war. The Nakajima Type 97 BN2 carrier attack aircraft, which flew as a torpedo bomber and horizontal or level bomber in the attack, during 1942 was given the nickname “Kate” by the Allies. The Aichi Type 99 D3A1 carrier bomber, primarily employed as a dive bomber by the Japanese, in the same 1942 period earned the nickname, “Val.” The Mitsubishi Type 0 A6M2, fast, highly maneuverable, heavily-armed fighter, was alternatively nicknamed the “Zeke,” or “Zero” later in the war.
All Japanese names in the narrative, diplomats’ names, ship and submarine commanders, airborne attack leaders, and crewmembers of ships and aircraft, are displayed in the Western convention. That is, the first and family names are reversed from what is normally expressed in the Japanese culture and language.
For readers unfamiliar with Navy, Army and Army Air Force terms and jargon, there are on the spot explanations throughout the narrative, with one exception. The terms “frame 88, frame 104, or frame 175,” or other frame numbers will be in Chapters 5 and 6. Frame numbers assist in describing ship damage and where, more precisely, Japanese torpedoes struck ships the raiders successfully attacked.
To visualize the meaning of frames and frame numbers, imagine a ship in the process of construction, with no steel plates yet attached to its main members, or frames to form its complete hull. The ship’s keel is the main bow to stern longitudinal structural member, at the ship’s bottom, underlying the entire ship’s construction. The keel is literally the ship’s backbone.
Frames are the vertical cross-members attached to the keel and spaced at intervals, numbered progressively higher from bow to stern, and with the keel’s length, give the ship its size and shape - as well as provide the framework for walls, or bulkheads, which are used to compartmentalize the vessel. Frame 1 is closest to the ship’s bow and its highest numbered frame is closest to the ship’s stern. The total number of frames increase with the lengthening of the ship.
PREVIEW
In 1930, Albert Einstein wrote in What I Believe. “A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer lives are based on the labors of other people, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.” For the people whose lives and deaths are recorded in the events described in this book, for this work and what was attempted in its writing, no words could better express my gratitude for all that was given by so many. Without the long ago labors of some, and without the assistance of so many others willing to give of their time and energies in the past seven years, this work would have been impossible.
One book above all others referenced in the bibliography helped in providing a springboard and roadmap to another lens through which Pearl Harbor might be viewed. For this work and its authors I write a deep and sincere thank you. Gordon W. Prange, whose thirty-seven years of research culminated in At Dawn We Slept, The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, died in 1980, before his marvelous work was published. In consonance with his wishes, two of his former students, Dr. Donald M. Goldstein and Chief Warrant Officer Katherine V. Dillon, USAF (Ret.), collaborated, and continued the massive job of editing his multivolume manuscript totaling more than 3,500 pages into the classic it has become. Particularly valuable was the work’s deep insight into Japanese plans and objectives, the thorough analysis of strategic and tactical errors and omissions, the thinking on both sides of the attack plan and execution - and the personalities of key leaders and participants on both sides. In no other source could be found the straightforward summary of the American government’s and military’s investigations and boards of inquiry into the Pearl Harbor disaster.
Through the lenses of the foregoing book, and seven others described in the acknowledgements, emerged yet another, complementary view of Pearl Harbor and its aftermath. From hundreds of sources come the words and voices of men, women, and children on Oahu that day, at sea and in the air, on the receiving end of the Japanese attack.
From Pearl Harbor’s Pacific Fleet, Oahu’s military and civilian airfields, Army posts and forts, and the numerous other targets of opportunity swept up in the horror-filled assault. From the attack’s brutal realities and chaotic, shattering aftermath come stories seldom if ever told. From the island’s populace, tourists in Honolulu and civilians in outlying towns and farming areas. From passenger liners at sea, a freighter under attack by a Japanese submarine before the air raid began. From Navy task forces at sea, and Pan American Airways’ Clippers en route, the great passenger-carrying flying boats of that era - come the words and reactions of people abruptly engulfed in war’s violent, deep, crosscurrents of emotion.
