Statewide County HI Archives News.....Military History - Part 4.; The attack and aftermath. June 25, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 July 10, 2008, 8:39 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands June 25, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 June 25, 2008 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A study in Time, of the Hawai'ian Islands by Darlene E. Kelley Military History - Part 4. The attack and aftermath. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Attack -- Japanese military leaders recognized American Naval strength as a chief deterrent to war with the United States. Early in 1941, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, had initiated planning for a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet at the beginning of any hostilities that the Japanese might undertake. The assumptin was that before the United States could recover from a surprise blow, the Japanese would be able to seize all their objectives in the Far East and could then hold out indefinately. By September 1941, the Japanese had practically completed secret plans for a huge assult against Malaya, the Phillipines, and the Netherlands East Indies, to be coordinated with a crushing blow on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in the Hawai'ian Island at O'ahu. Early in November, Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was named commander of the Pearl Harbor Striking Force, which rendezvoused secretly in the Kuriles. The force of some 30 ships included six aircraft carriers with about 430 planes, of which approximately 360 took part in the subsequent attack. At the same time, a Japanese Advance Expeditionary Force of some 20 submarines was assembled at the Kure Naval base on the west coast of Honshu to cooperate in the attack. Submarines of the Advance Expeditionary Force began their eastward movement across the Pacific in mid November, refueled and resupplied in the Marshalls, and arrived near O'ahu about December 5 ( Hawai'ian time ). On the night of December 6, 7 five midget ( two man ) submarines that had been carried " piggy back " on large submarines cast off and began converging on Pearl Harbor. Nagumo's task force sailed from the Kuriles on November 26 and arrived, undetected by the Americans, at a point about 200 miles north of O'ahu at 0600 hours ( Hawai'ian time.) on December 7, 1941. Beginning at 0600 and ending at 0715, a total of some 360 planes were launched in three waves. These planes rendezvoused to the south and then flew toward O'ahu for coordinated attacks. In Pearl Harbor were 96 vessels, the bulk of the United States Pacific Fleet. Eight batleships of the Fleet were there, but the aircraft carriers were all at sea. The Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet was Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, Army forces in Hawai'i, including the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions, were under the Command of Lt. General Walter C. Short, commanding General of the Hawai'ian Department. On the several airfields wre a total of about 390 Navy and Army planes of all types, of which less than 300 were available for combat or observation purpose. The Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and on the airfields of O'ahu began at 0755 on December 7, 1941 and ended shortly before 1000. Quickly recovering from the initial shock of surprise, the Americans fought back vigorously with antiaircraft fire. Devastation of the airfields was so quick and thorough that only a few American planes were able to participate in the counterattack. The Japanese were sucessful in acomplishing their principal mission, which was to cripple the Pacific Fleet. They sunk three battleships, caused another to capsize, and severally damaged the other four. All together the Japanese sank or severally damaged 18 ships, including the 8 battlships, three light cruisers and three destroyers. On the airfields the Japanese destroyed 161 American planes ( Army 74, Navy 87 ) and seriously damaged 102 ( Army 71, Navy 31 ). The Navy and Marine Corps suffered a total of 2,896 casualties of which 2,117 were deaths ( Navy 2,008, Marines 109 ) and 779 wounded ( Navy 710, Marines 69). The Army ( as of midnight, 10 December ) lost 228 killed or died of wounds, 113 seriously wouned and 346 slightly wounded. In addition, at least 57 civilians were killed and nearly as many seriously injured. The Japanese lost 29 planes over O'ahu, one large submarine ( on december 10 ). and all five of the midget submarines. Their personnel losses ( according to the Japanese sources ) were 55 airmen, nine crewmen on the midget submarines, and an unknown number on the large submarines. The Japanese carrier task force sailed away undetected and unscathed. On December 8, 1941, within less than an hour after a stirring, six minute address by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress voted, with only one member dissenting, that a state of war existed between the United States and Japan, and empowered the President to wage war with all the resources of the Country. Four days after Pearl Harbor, December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Congress, this time without a dissenting vote, immediately recognized the existance of a state of war with Germany and Italy, and also rescinded an article of the Selective Service Act prohibiting the use of American armed forces beyond the Western Hemisphere. ++++++++++++++++++ There were three hospitals in O'ahu the wounded were received. They were Tripler Army Medical, Schofield Hospital, and Hickam Field Hospital. Civilians were received at other Hawai'ian hospitals throughout O'ahu. The Army Nurse Corp listed fewer than 1,000 on its rolls on December 7, 1941. Eighty two Army nurses were stationed in Hawai'i serving at the three Army medical facilities that morning. Tripler Army hospital was overwelmed with hundreds of casualties sufferiing from severe burns and shock. The blood spattered entrance stairs led to hallways where wounded men lay on the floor awaiting surgery. Army and Navy nurses and Medics ( en- listed men trained as orderlies ) worked side by side with civilian nurses and doctors. As a steady stream of seriously wounded service men continued to arrive through early afternoon, appalling shortages of medical supplies became apparent. Army doctrine kept medical supplies under lock and key, and bureatic delays prevented the immediate replacement of quickly used up stocks. Working under tremendous pressure, medical personel faced shortages of instruments, suture material, blood, and sterile supplies. Doctors performing major surgery passed scissors back and forth from one table to another. Doctors and nurses used cleaning rags as face masks and operated without gloves. Nurses at Schofield Hospital and at Hickam Field faced simular difficult circumstances. The Chief nurse at Hickham Field, 1st Lt. Annie G. Fox,was the first of many Army nurses to receive the Purple Heart, established by General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. This decoration originally was for " outstanding performance of duty and mertitorius acts of extraordinary fedility." After 1932, however, the medal was usually restricted to those who were wounded or injured by enemy action. Although unwounded, Lt Fox received her medal for " her fine example of calmness, courage, and leadership, which was of great benefit to the morale of all she came in contact with, patients, personell, and Doctors." This citation forshadowed the Nurses contributions to World War II. ++++++++++++++++++= The aftermath of of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor affected the lives of all who lived on the islands. People in locations around the islands, not just at Pearl Harbor, died in the attack. Later the same day, martial law was declared, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended and army troops began to take up positions around all of the major islands. Army General Walter Short took over power of the Government as Military Governor. Curfews, censorship of Newsapers and mail, and rationing became the new order. Gas masks were passed among the civilain population, as well as to the school children. Constant fear of land attacks, were on the minds of all. Japanese, long a major portion of the population in the islands, became the questioned enemy and Japanese businesses were closed down. Government buildings in Hawai'i, including 'Iolani Palace were turned into military bases. The front partioned with barbed wire. The beaches were lined with barbed wire. Once a vacation retreat, the Royal Hawai'ian Hotel was leased by the U.S. Navy as a major rest and relaxation center for military personell. The Average stay was 10 days at $1.00 a day for officers and a quarter for enlisted men. This lovely hotel had barbed wire in front which stretched the length of Waikiki Beach. As mentioned in the above, an air of suspicion existed across the rest of the Hawai'ian islands because approximately 118,000 of the civilians were of Japanese descent. Plans were developed to evacuate 100,000 to the continental U.S, but then this discussion ws ended. Only 1,000 were transfered and interned. Over the following years of the war, lands deemed necessary for military training, transport and other uses were condemned and appropriated by the military. Private property such as that at Waipi'o, Hawai'i was converted into an anphibious assualt base and the entire island of Kaho'olawe became military-owned lands. While martial law was initially proposed as a temporary measure, it was to remain in effect for the remainer of the war. While the bases employed Hawai'i's people, thousands came from the mainland for jobs with the military, which created housing problems. Businesses were used to construct housing with the barest minimal wage. Conviscation of plantation lands were used to construct this housing as well as for food to feed the working military civilians. Such were the conditions caused by the Annexation and the Japanese invasion. ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Exploration and findings __Historical finds Accordingly to the Honolulu advertiser is said that O'ahu was probably the most heavily armored island in the world . Now better known for surf and sand, O'ahu's hard edges are not to far below the surface. The Kunia Regional Signals Intelligece Operations Center, with three floors, each the size of a football field, lies hidden beneath pineaple fields near Wheeler Army Airfield. It was built after December 7,1941, Japanese attack for aircraft assembly and repair. It is now an intelligence receiving hub for the National Security Agency. The old coastal defense batteries and fire control stations dotting island hilltops are easier to spot. Kama'aina have clambered in and around them for years. The Battery Randolph at Fort DeRussy, circa 1911, resoutely anchors one end of Waikiki while Diamond Head fortifications anchor the other. The U.S. Army museum of Hawai'i occupies Randolph. Before going bankrupt, a contractor in 1969 succeeded in demolishing the Fort's Battery Dudley, but got no further than the parapels at Randolph, with its 15-foot-thick seawalls. It seems that the wreckng ball callapsed first. There are far more batteries and bunkers out there then meets the eye. Many who have had access to them discover inside them more than an echo and muddy interior " We are surprised every day, as we find more and more", stated a member of the Coast defense study group The military controlled one third of O'ahu during the war years, and one Army official said there were over probably 300 tunnels. An owner of property on Sand Island Access Road, by the name Kamaunu claims that several years ago, they brought up from one of these tunnels a Civil Defense field hospital stored and long forgotten, and since the mid 1950's in a World War II gun battery in Kailua. She was flabbergasted by what she found. The cache included hundreds of sealed crates. There were 200 cots and 200 wool blankets, splints, blood transfusion kits, porcelain bed pans and urnals, and vials of dried up potassium penicillin crystalline for shots that were given with " horse needles that really hurt." The items bore 1940's dates. All were new, in the box, directions included. There was an old Dentist chair, an old operating table -- all stainless steel -- but of no use to us today. For decades, Ron Deisseroth and his mushroom business co-existed with the field hospital in twin 155 foot deep bunker, a spot that suited both. Sheltered beneath at least 200 feet of earth at the deepest point, Battery 405 -- with kitchen, infimary and bunks -- originally supported two Mk, VI 8 inch Navy Guns. Five simular batteries were built around the island. A facade meant to look like a two story home -- intended to throw off would be invaders -- once camoufloged the tunnel's entrance. The gentleman above mentioned, grew mushrooms from 1950 to about 1992, stated he remembers schoolchildren trooping up the hill for a disaster prepardness drill. " I guess they wanted them to know where to go, in case of an attack." This man had leased the land for his mushroom business from the Kane'uhe Ranch and when he lost his lease, he had to clear out the bunker. That meant everything -- including the locked-up field hospital. He called the Army and the O'ahu Civil Defense. He tried to contact everyone, and nobody laid any claim to it. So he hired a locksmith to open the steel door and sold the contents to Military HQ for about $6,000. It was like opening a time capsule. The field hospital was an unusual find, and most old unsecured bunkers were cleaned out or rifled through years ago. Most guns, meanwhile, were cut up for scrap. But the bunkers remain of historical value. Not widely known is that both the USS Arizona's big stern turrets with triple 14 inch guns were salvaged. One was placed at Kahe Point and called Battery Arizona. the other went to Mokapu Point. Gaines, a retired archivist and librarian professor at Parkland College in Champaign, Ill and an expert on O'ahu coastal defenses, said vandals got into the Battery Arizona ithe late 1960's and started a fire in a power generating room, which also was used to store Civil Defense supplies. After that the bunker was abandoned. The Hawai'i Army National Guard, which still uses part of the old Fort Ruger at Diamond Head, estimates that publically accessible portions represents 25 percent of the battery and tunnel complexes there. Construction on Fort Ruger began in 1906, with Battery Harlow completed in 1910. Its plotting room, not often seen by the public, has a pe-World War I mechanical data transmission system for mortars that were capable of lobbing 12 inch shells high over Diamond Head and out to sea. "The defense boom had its impetus prior to the turn of the century with Countries like Germany, Russia, France, and England, eyeing Hawai'i." states the coordinator of the Army museum. Brig. General, Montgomery M. Macomb, commander of the Army's District of Hawai'i, said in 1911 that " O'ahu is to be encircled with a ring of steel." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/military17nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/ File size: 15.7 Kb