Thursday, December 7, 2006
New Mexicans Recall Dec. 7, 1941, When Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor and Changed the Face of the 20th Century
Of the Journal
On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Homer Garcia was sweeping sand out of his tent. James Rounding was about to go for breakfast. Ray Baker was looking forward to a flying lesson, and John Stanhope had just read a story in the local newspaper: "War with Japan is imminent."
The morning exploded at 7:55, when the first dive bomber struck over Pearl Harbor. In less than two hours, much of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was destroyed or damaged, more than 2,000 were dead, and the United States aimed itself toward war.
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President Franklin Roosevelt called the attack "unprovoked and dastardly," and the date as one that would "live in infamy."
Today, on the 65th anniversary of that world-changing assault, you can meet Garcia, Rounding, Baker and Stanhope and listen to their stories.
The veterans were photographed and interviewed by Journal photographer Pat Vasquez-Cunningham.
Garcia, 89, lives in Albuquerque. He was from Kingsville, Texas, and joined the Army Air Corps when he ran out of money for college. A mechanic and crew chief, Garcia was stationed at Bellows Field, an airfield on the beach in southeast Oahu.
"Well, here they come," Garcia told a pilot as about a dozen aircraft with the red Japanese rising sun painted on them flew overhead.
Rounding, 83, is a Boston native now living in Belen. He was a Navy radio technician first class, stationed on the USS Phoenix, a light cruiser.
When the planes came, it took a while for people to believe there was an attack; moments later, Rounding was on a platform, where he could see the guns below him turning red hot as they fired at the planes overhead.
Baker, 86, lives in Albuquerque. He was a native of Oklahoma and a Navy radioman on the USS Curtiss, which patroled the harbor— and which a Japanese torpedo missed.
"It was the surprise of our lives," he said of that morning,
By the time he got to his battle station, the USS Utah was capsizing, its crew jumping into oily, burning waters, and the Japanese were shooting at anything that moved.
Stanhope, 87, is a Kansas native now living in Albuquerque. He joined the Navy at 17 and was a machinist's mate second class aboard the USS Tennessee, a battleship.
His ship lost five men in the attack, about which only that morning he'd read might happen.
"This place is going to be hit today," he predicted, and moments later saw the bombs dropped on the USS West Virginia and the explosion that destroyed the USS Arizona.
About 50 to 75 people were on the Arizona's bow: "They were there. Then they weren't."
Prelude to An Attack
Japan fought on the side of the Allies in World War I and joined the League of Nations in 1920. However, it withdrew in 1933 after it occupied Manchuria, signed a pact with Germany in 1936 and joined the Axis powers in 1941.
Western nations, including the United States, imposed embargoes on Japan after that nation attacked the rest of China as part of its plans to control Asia.
The embargoes, especially on oil, led Japan to eye territories in Southeast Asia. To that end, the U.S. Pacific Fleet, moved from California to Hawaii, would have to be immobilized.
On Nov. 26, 1941, the Japanese force moved across the Pacific; at dawn on Dec. 7, it was about 200 miles north of the island of Oahu.
At 6 a.m., the first wave of 181 planes flew south, to hit Pearl Harbor at 7:55 a.m. Torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal fighters and fighters hit the fleet and airfields. A second wave of 170 planes was launched about a half-hour later.
The U.S. aircraft carriers were not at Pearl Harbor. However, eight battleships were, seven of them at Battleship Row near Ford Island. The USS West Virginia and the USS Oklahoma sank. The USS Arizona exploded.
Less than two hours later, 21 ships were lost or damaged; 2,403 people were dead. Almost half, 1,177, were on the Arizona.
The Japanese lost 29 planes.
Sources: Department of Defense, Wikipedia
Remembering the Fallen
The Sons & Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors will host a memorial service at 2 p.m. today at United Methodist Church, 9500 Constitution NE.
The service marks the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which prompted the United States to declare war on Japan and enter World War II. Karen Barela, the organization's national vice president, said several Pearl Harbor survivors will attend the service.
For more information, call Barela at 861-2007.
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