Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942

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Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 Page 67

by Ian W. Toll


  17 “was loaded”: Ed Johann quoted in Van der Vat, Pearl Harbor: The Day of Infamy—An Illustrated History, p. 106.

  17 “I was trying”: Shipfitter 3rd class Louis Grabinski account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 66.

  17 “Some of these men”: Victor Kamont quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 230.

  18 “laying across from me”: Carl Carlson account in Nardo, ed., Pearl Harbor, p. 99.

  18 “I would run”: Seaman 1st class Nick L. Kouretas, USS Raleigh, account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 183.

  18 “I’ll tell you one thing”: William W. Fomby account in ibid., p. 46.

  19 “There was a lot of us there”: Elmo F. Rash account in McCabe, Pearl Harbor and the American Spirit, p. 125.

  19 “There was mass confusion”: Howard C. French quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 278.

  19 “You wiped off”: James Lawson in Jasper, Delgado, and Adams, The USS Arizona, p. 161.

  19 The marine quartermaster sergeant issued: Clemons account in Richardson, Reflections of Pearl Harbor, p. 70.

  20 “dry sandwiches and coffee”: Jack Rogo quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 332.

  20 “you could walk out”: Thomas H. Moorer account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 204.

  20 “I recall finding”: Charles T. Sehe account in McCabe, Pearl Harbor and the American Spirit, p. 133.

  20 the survivors made a concerted effort: Lord, Day of Infamy, p. 176.

  20 The crew of the Nevada: Lorenzo Sherwood Sabin account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 146.

  20 “Things were so bad”: Mason, Battleship Sailor, p. 253.

  21 “Kimmel seemed calm”: Lt. Cdr. Layton quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 304.

  21 As the admiral watched: Brig. Gen. Howard C. Davidson quoted in ibid., p. 370.

  21 “people were frightened”: Lt. (jg) Walter J. East quoted in ibid., p. 356.

  22 “some indication”: “Running Summary of the Situation,” Dec. 7, 1941; CINCPAC Grey Book, Bk. 1, p. 2.

  22 “two enemy carriers”: Ibid.

  22 “The view was held”: Ibid., p. 3.

  22 “with the result that”: Moorer account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 204.

  23 “Somebody handed me”: Warren G. Harding account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 90.

  23 Sailors were seen carrying: Kouretas, USS Raleigh, account in ibid., p. 183.

  23 “You guys stay right here”: Joseph Ryan account in Nardo, ed., Pearl Harbor, p. 92.

  23 “I had no real sense”: Scott Leesberg account in Richardson, Reflections of Pearl Harbor, p. 67.

  24 James Erickson of Chicago: James Erickson, Iris Bancroft, and Pat Vang accounts in ibid., pp. 55, 96, and 85.

  24 Winston Churchill was at Chequers: Churchill, The Second World War, Vol. 3: The Grand Alliance, p. 605.

  25 “So we had won after all!”: Ibid., pp. 666–67.

  25 “slept the sleep”: Ibid., p. 608.

  26 “baskets of documents”: “Japanese Embassy Burns Papers,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 8, 1941, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 38.

  26 As Kato made his way outside: Kato, The Lost War, pp. 61–62.

  26 “could hear those unrehearsed songs”: Smith, Thank You, Mr. President, p. 116.

  26 “quiet and serious”: Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, entry dated Dec. 14, 1941, p. 661.

  27 “It was very cold”: Perry, “Dear Bart,” p. 22.

  27 Shortly after nightfall: Tully, F. D. R.: My Boss, p. 256.

  27 “already had that air”: Cooke, The American Home Front, p. 8.

  27 “The press room was a madhouse”: Perry, “Dear Bart,” p. 21.

  28 The president’s face . . . was drawn and gray: Frances Perkins account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, pp. 117–18.

  29 “represented only the just”: Stimson quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 387.

  29 “pressed his point so hard”: Ickes, The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes, entry dated Dec. 14, 1941, p. 665.

  30 “the principal defense”: FDR quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, At Dawn We Slept, p. 558.

  30 “The effect on the Congress”: Stimson’s diary, entry dated Dec. 7, 1941, quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 388.

  30 “How did it happen”: Goodwin, No Ordinary Time, pp. 292–93.

  30 “They are doing things”: Morgan, FDR: A Biography, p. 618.

  30 “There is no politics here”: “Congress Decided,” New York Times, Dec. 8, 1941, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 22.

  30 The lights on the second floor: “F.D.R. Asks War Declaration at Joint Session Today,” Washington Times Herald, Dec. 8, 1941 in ibid., p. 29.

  31 “A laundry cart”: Cornelius C. Smith account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 221.

  31 men fired their weapons: Ada M. Olsson account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 257.

  31 “You couldn’t go five feet”: Joseph Ryan account in Nardo, ed., Pearl Harbor, p. 92.

  31 At the Navy Yard tank farm: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 365.

  32 “a genuine firefight”: Army Lt. Charles W. Davis quoted in ibid., p. 354.

  32 “all ships present”: Ibid., p. 359.

  32 “Will anyone smack them?”: Allen G. Quynn quoted in ibid.

  33 “It looked like the Fourth”: Curtis Schulze account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 146.

  33 “By God”: Mason, Battleship Sailor, p. 241.

  33 “We had gotten addicted”: Fomby account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 46.

  33 “My God, what’s happened?”: Lundstrom, The First Team, p. 19.

  33 “the sky turned so dark”: Carl Schmitz account in Richardson, Reflections of Pearl Harbor, p. 21.

  Chapter Two

  34 Britain had declared war: Craig Thompson, “Britain Joins U.S. against Japanese,” New York Times, Dec. 9, 1941, p. 14.

  34 “a tense, grim throng”: “Tense Throng Fills Grounds at Capitol Awaiting President,” Washington Evening Star, Dec. 8, 1941, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 44.

  35 “solemn as owls”: Frances Perkins account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 121.

  35 “one arm locked in his son’s”: Cooke, The American Home Front, pp. 13–14.

  35 “Now the president of the United States”: Eleanor Roosevelt, This I Remember, p. 234.

  36 “solemn and angered”: “Roosevelt Says Date of Attack in Pacific Will Live in Infamy,” Washington Evening Star, Dec. 8, 1941, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 44.

  36 “I do not think”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 437.

  36 “their eyes puffy”: Cornelius C. Smith, Jr., account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 222.

  37 “No one could imagine”: Lt. Ruth Erickson quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 369.

  37 “charred, crisp skin”: Smith, Jr., account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 222.

  37 “I can still smell it”: Erickson quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, At Dawn We Slept, p. 535.

  37 “I started to go back and see”: Vivian Roberts Hultgren account in McCabe, Pearl Harbor and the American Spirit, p. 90.

  38 it “got to where”: Jack Kelley account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 59.

  38 “The worst part was”: Cox. Richard L. Frost quoted in Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 369.

  38 At Aiea Landing: Dan Wentrcek account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 76.

  38 “One flatbed truck”: Leslie Le Fan account in ibid., p. 165.

  38 For w
eeks after the attack: Brown, Hawaii Goes to War, p. 43.

  39 “A feeling of elation”: Mason, Battleship Sailor, p. 237.

  39 “Friends back home”: Smith, Jr., account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 220.

  39 “What am I going to say”: Seaman 1st class Nick L. Kouretas, USS Raleigh, account in LaForte and Marcello, eds., Remembering Pearl Harbor, p. 183.

  39 “We had been told”: George E. Waller account in ibid., p. 50.

  40 They had been due back in Pearl Harbor: Richardson, Reflections of Pearl Harbor, p. 50.

  40 At sunset on Monday: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 80.

  40 She inched around the stern: Beaver, Sailor from Oklahoma, p. 150.

  40 In the failing light: Kernan, Crossing the Line, pp. 25–26.

  40 “in sullen little folds”: Beaver, Sailor from Oklahoma, p. 151.

  40 “Where in hell were you?”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 26.

  40 “In a violent way” . . . “there wasn’t anything else”: Ibid.

  41 “Before we’re through”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 81. Captain Doug Moulton was named as the witness.

  41 Halsey descended: Ibid.

  41 “What the hell is there”: Prange, Goldstein, and Dillon, December 7, 1941, p. 372.

  41 A long line of sailors: Beaver, Sailor from Oklahoma, p. 151.

  42 “down the channel”: Kernan, Crossing the Line, p. 27.

  42 “when the resting firemen”: Cooke, The American Home Front, p. 18.

  42 “By nightfall”: Brinkley, Washington Goes to War, p. 92.

  42 quarter of a million government workers: See Cooke, The American Home Front, p. 18.

  43 A nationwide strike: “Welders Call Off Strike,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 8, 1941, in Caren, ed., Pearl Harbor Extra, p. 38.

  43 “Enemy planes”: “N.Y.-Bound Enemy Planes Alarm Entire Northeast,” Brooklyn Eagle, Dec. 9, 1941, in ibid., p. 55.

  43 Numerous reports: “Japs Try to Bomb Coast; Routed Off Golden Gate,” Albany Times Union, Dec. 9, 1941, in ibid., p. 57.

  44 “Death and destruction”: Honolulu Advertiser, Dec. 10, 1941, in ibid., p. 59.

  44 “The atmosphere in the Capitol”: Childs, I Write from Washington, p. 245.

  45 With timing that could not have been: Jackson, That Man, p. 104.

  45 “Equipped with amazing”: Advertisement for The American Magazine in the New York Times, Dec. 8, 1941, p. 21.

  45 Presidential speechwriters: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 312.

  46 “sudden criminal attacks”: Buhite and Levy, eds., FDR’s Fireside Chats, “War with Japan,” Dec. 9, 1941, pp. 198, 200, and 204.

  47 Sam Rosenman went to see him: Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt, p. 312.

  47 “There is no such thing”: Buhite and Levy, eds., FDR’s Fireside Chats, “War with Japan,” Dec. 9, 1941, p. 204.

  48 At dawn on December 7: Peattie, Sunburst, pp. 166–67.

  49 “the whole area was boiling”: Astor, Crisis in the Pacific, p. 61.

  49 No sooner had the bombers: Morison, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. 3: The Rising Sun in the Pacific, p. 170.

  49 The truth about MacArthur’s weird malfunctioning: See Burton, Fortnight of Infamy, p. 123, and Manchester, American Caesar, p. 208.

  50 “a lot like the racing planes”: Davis, Sinking the Rising Sun, p. 75.

  50 The underpowered Buffalo: Burton, Fortnight of Infamy, pp. 300–301.

  50 That impression was nourished: See Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 80.

  50 Japanese cultural norms: See Dower, War Without Mercy, pp. 100–105.

  51 In fact, the Japanese naval aviators: See Burton, Fortnight of Infamy, p. xii; Peattie, Sunburst, pp. 172 and 174.

  51 “She handled like a dream”: Sakai, Caidin, and Saito, Samurai!, p. 190.

  52 One of the Tigers: Charles Bond’s diary entry, Nov. 21, 1941, in Bond and Anderson, A Flying Tiger’s Diary, p. 46.

  52 “like a flock of well-disciplined buzzards”: Lt. John Buckley quoted in White, They Were Expendable, p. 16.

  53 “They’d flattened it”: Ibid., p. 18.

  53 “finish quickly”: Quoted in Costello, The Pacific War, 1941–45, p. 153.

  54 “the main topic of conversation”: Bert Wynn account in “The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse: A series of personal accounts compiled from crew members,” comp. Alan Matthews; online at www.microworks.net/pacific/personal/pow_repulse.htm.

  54 “Oh, but they are Japanese”: Brown, Suez to Singapore, p. 304.

  54 That night over dinner: Ibid., pp. 307–8.

  55 “For me”: Ibid., p. 318.

  55 “Suddenly there was a massive explosion”: Ted Matthews account in “The Sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse.”

  55 “You’ve put up a good show”: Costello, The Pacific War, 1941–45, p. 158.

  56 “We have finished our task now”: Ibid.

  56 “After an hour”: Flt. Lt. Tim Vigors, DFC, RAAF, quoted in the London Gazette.

  57 “The enemy attacks”: Peattie, Sunburst, p. 170.

  57 Churchill was awakened: Churchill, The Grand Alliance, p. 620.

  58 Scenes of chaotic and panicked retreat: Burton, Fortnight of Infamy, p. 150.

  59 “The turning point!”: Hitler quoted in Harvey Asher, “Hitler’s Decision to Declare War on the United States Revisited (A Synthesis of the Secondary Literature),” Newsletter of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), September 2000; online at www.shafr.org/publications/newsletter/september-2000.

  59 “A complete shift”: Goebbels quoted in Black, Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, p. 697.

  60 The Führer’s speech: “Hitler Declares War on the United States,” recorded by the BBC Monitoring Service, Dec. 11, 1941; online at www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.

  60 When he turned to the United States: Ibid.

  60 “The forces endeavoring”: Frank L. Kluckhohn, “U.S. Now at War with Germany and Italy,” New York Times, Dec. 12, 1941, p. 1.

  62 “There was just one thing”: Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins, p. 430.

  Chapter Three

  63 “News special”: Koshu Itabashi account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 77.

  63 “as if my blood boiled”: Ibid.

  63 “I felt like someone”: Toshio Yoshida account in ibid., p. 80.

  63 “Is it all right”: Ei Hirosawa account in ibid., p. 244.

  64 “I was thrilled”: Ryuichi Yokoyama account in ibid., p. 96.

  64 “Never in our history”: Quoted in Buruma, Inventing Japan, p. 111.

  64 “perfectly calm”: Diary of Marquis Koichi Kido, entry dated Dec. 8, 1941, in Goldstein and Dillon, eds., The Pacific War Papers, p. 135.

  64 “imperial rescript”: Emperor’s rescript printed in Cook and Cook, Japan at War, p. 72.

  65 “In order to annihilate”: Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, in an address in Tokyo carried by radio, trans. in the Japan Times & Advertiser, Dec. 8, 1941.

  65 “were swaggering up”: Yoshida account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 80.

  65 A special celebratory sweet: Harumichi Nogi account in ibid., p. 55.

  65 “To be perfectly honest”: Okumiya, Horikoshi, and Caidin, Zero!, p. 43.

  65 Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 259.

  66 “sneak thievery”: Entry dated Dec. 9, 1941, Ugaki, Fading Victory, p. 49.

  66 Japanese historians: See Mitsuharu Noda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 83; and Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 255–57.

  66 “Like a once-bitten stray dog”: New Order in Greater East Asia (April 1942), cited in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 152.

  66 In other publications: Kokusai Shashin Joho (International Graphic Magazine) 21, no. 12, Feb. 1, 1942.

  67 “He ordered me”: Noda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 82.

&nbs
p; 67 He seemed well aware: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 260.

  67 “A military man”: Ibid., pp. 285–86.

  67 “the greatest admiral”: Quoted on the jacket of Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral.

  68 He was a short man: Ibid., p. 2.

  69 Some 120 separate pieces: Ibid., pp. 64–65.

  69 Yamamoto’s “pronounced individuality”: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 275.

  69 As a captain in the mid-1920s: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 76.

  69 “white elephants”: Ibid., p. 91.

  69 He was an internationalist: Asada, From Mahan to Pearl Harbor, p. 183.

  70 “Anyone who has seen”: Ibid.

  71 “taciturn and extremely uncommunicative”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 78, 54, and 5.

  71 “Yamamoto was every inch”: Quoted in Okumiya, Horikoshi, and Caidin, Zero!, p. 176.

  71 “when one was seated”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 54.

  72 “who would tell you straight out”: Ibid., p. 139.

  72 “I viewed him”: Edwin T. Layton account in Stillwell, ed., Air Raid—Pearl Harbor!, p. 276.

  72 “mischievous devil” . . . “Don’t be silly”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, p. 63.

  72 “Hey, that’s the C-in-C!”: Ibid., p. 207.

  73 “sometimes lost his whole uniform”: Noda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 83.

  73 He haunted the casinos: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 151, 54, 164, and 84.

  73 “strong as a horse” . . . “Eighty Sen”: Ibid., pp. 67, 2.

  74 When traveling abroad: Ibid., pp. 53, 147, and 64.

  74 Chiyoko Kawai: Ibid., p. 65.

  74 “younger sister” and the quotes that follow: Ibid., pp. 63, 161, 242, and 58–59.

  75 a party of geishas: Ibid., p. 178.

  75 “If the army had ever seen”: Noda account in Cook and Cook, eds., Japan at War, p. 83.

  75 “If any of you doesn’t fart”: Agawa, The Reluctant Admiral, pp. 147, 85.

  75 “A man of real purpose”: Ibid., p. 85.

  77 Many Japanese were scandalized: Storry, The Double Patriots, p. 24.

  77 “Our Imperial Ancestors”: “The Rescript on Education of the Meiji Emperor,” online at www.danzan.com/HTML/ESSAYS/meiji.html.

  77 “Liberalism and individualism”: Baron Kichiro Hiranuma, Dec. 28, 1940, cited in Tolischus, Through Japanese Eyes, p. 67.

 

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