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At Pearl Harbor On Day It Started

The following story was sent by Charles Russell, his memories of World War II.  Charles Russell of Bismarck, served in the US Navy in the Pacific Theatre during World War II as Chief Radioman.

"I was on board the USS Downes on the morning of  December 7, 1941 at Pearl Harbor.  The Ship was hit heavily on the second round of aerial bombing and was very badly damaged.  I managed to get off the ship without injury and was assigned to the USS Craven on December 8, 1941.  The Craven was an escort ship to the USS Enterprise for a lot of the time.  We were involved in a number of air and sea engagements as well as a support ship for a number of landings.  I was authorized to wear nine stars on the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre Ribbon, not including Pearl Harbor.  I reached the rank of Chief Radioman and was discharged from the US Navy on December 21, 1945.

I was born and raised near Piedmont, Mo.  Attended grade schools in the area and graduated from Piedmont High School in May of 1938.  Employment was very tight at that time and the Navy seemed to be an excellent choice, so in the spring of 1939 I enlisted at Poplar Bluff.  I was called to active service on August 8, 1939.  I was sent to San Diego, California for "boot" training and then assigned to radio school for a period of six months.  After leaving school I was assigned to the light cruiser USS Detroit, not liking duty aboard the cruiser I applied for a transfer to a smaller ship, that was granted and sometime during the year of 1940 I went aboard the destroyer USS Downes.   We were assigned to the United States Pacific Fleet and were operating in and out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, our home port.

On the morning of December 7th, 1941, the sun rose and was shining brightly, as it usually did, over the beautiful Hawaiian Islands.  The United States Pacific Fleet, or most of it, lay at anchor or was berthed inside the harbor.  Our ship, the USS Downes, along with the USS Cassin and the battleship USS Pennsylvania was berthed in the Navy Yard dry dock under going repairs. It was Sunday routine to all the ships, shore leave, church and what you could call just a day off.  The Fleet had been holding maneuvers in and around the Hawaiian Islands for some time prior to that day and the crews were always happy to get into port for a few days for shore leave and rest.   On the morning of the 7th, I had gotten up, had breakfast and was sitting in the main radio control room, I was a radio operator aboard the ship, reading the Sunday paper.  Little did I think or realize that in a matter of a few minutes we would be under an aerial bombardment from Japanese war planes which would immediately cast this Nation into World War II.   The first wave of planes, a reported 353 in all, came in over the Islands at about 7:55 a.m. Hawaiian time, 11:55 a.m. Central Standard time.  The dive bombers went apparently directly to the air fields to destroy the run-ways to prevent American planes, which were escorting the bombers and torpedo planes during the action, raked and strafed any and everything they saw that moved, including human beings.  Housing units around Pearl Harbor were even strafed and a reported 68 civilians lost their lives while 35 more were reported wounded, mostly from strafing.

The roar of the first planes and the first explosions did not bring much to my attention.  I was sure the Army was conducting exercises of some kind.  It was not until the second or third explosion that I walked outside of the radio room to see what was taking place.  I could hardly believe what I was seeing, the sky was full of planes and one good look was all that I needed to tell me that they were Japanese planes and that the explosions that I had heard were bombs or torpedoes from those planes.  I knew that we were under attack at that moment.

Our ship had not been hit up to this point but a short time after the initial attack the Japanese sent in some high level bombers with fighter escorts.  The two destroyers and the Pennsylvania were sitting ducks for the bombers.  They not only wanted to destroy ships but to put the dry dock out of commission also.  The Downes was hit with three (3) 500 pound incendiary bombs.  The first hit we took was precisely on top of a set of torpedo tubes which were armed with live war heads, the bomb exploded the war heads which amounted to 2,400 pounds of explosives along with the bomb itself, the mid section of the ship was completely demolished, the second hit the ship took was to the rear part, the emergency radio room was in that area, it was destroyed and two of the ships other radio operators were killed instantly, the third came down on the forward part of the ship dangerously close to where I was.   I left the ship at that point and found my way to a steel boiler out in the Navy Yard, where along with a civilian Navy Yard worker, we crawled under the boiler to avoid the continued strafing.  The incendiary bombs caught the leaking oil in the dry-dock afire and the two destroyers were completely engulfed in flames.  With the bomb hits and the fire the ships were damaged beyond repair and both were stricken from the active Navy roster.  After the attack was over and the fires extinguished what was left of our crew gathered at the side of our former ship.  About twenty of the approximately eighty men aboard at the time of the attack did not survive, many that did were severely injured, I was not.  One crew member and a very close friend, Nolan Eugene Pummill, who came from this area did not survive.

The attack lasted for approximately 2 hours.  I wish it was possible for me to relate the exact amount of damage and destruction that took place within that 2 hour span, but plainly it is not.  The Japanese were reported to have suffered only minor losses.  A reported 188 US war planes were destroyed while another 159 were badly damaged.  Air fields in the area were bombed and damaged beyond use, 18 US War Ships lay capsized, sunk and burning in the firey oily waters of Pearl Harbor.  Hospitals and emergency rooms were full of wounded, many of whom did not survive.  Within 2 hours a quiet Sunday morning turned into a raging inferno which will live on the pages of history books as the day of INFAMY.

The final paragraph of the report turned in by the Commanding Officer of the USS Downes, Lieutenant Commander W. R. Thayer, USN, sums up the story in pride and pathos: "The ship was lost, but the commanding officer has naught but praise for the officers and men of the crew who fought her under such unfortunate circumstances.  They did their utmost to inflict damage on the enemy, working against almost insurmountable odds.  They did all in their power to save the ship from fire.  They showed that they were real shipmates with a concern for each other's safety.  They were loyal and determined. Their primary concern during the engagement was to get the guns in action, and their biggest regret was that they couldn't meet the enemy in a fair fight at sea.  I am proud to have commanded the USS Downes."

By the night of December 7th, many of the survivors, including myself, slept on the bowling alley lanes at the receiving station.  The next morning we were awakened to hear the National Anthem and then the President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, declare war on Japan.

I was assigned to another destroyer, USS Craven, on the evening of December 8th and we departed Pearl Harbor early on the morning of December 9th, in quest of the now ENEMY.  When I went aboard the Craven I had absolutely nothing in the world but the clothes on my back.  The crew of that ship was kind enough to take up a collection and donated the money to me to purchase a change of clothes, tooth brush, razor and other essential items.  I shall be forever grateful.  My folks, back in Piedmont, did not know that I had survived the attack until we returned to port and a letter was written, that letter was received in Piedmont on December 24th, Christmas Eve.  They were aware that the ship had been destroyed from news reports.

From December 9th, 1941 until August 14, 1945 we criss-crossed the Pacific Ocean from Midway Island to Iwo Jima and Okinawa, mile by mile, island by island, forcing the Japanese back westward.   After a long and hard three years and nine months, many island landings, a number of sea and air engagements, nine of which the Craven was involved in, plus 2 atomic bombs, Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945.  The signing of the peace accords took place aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo harbor and peace was once again restored to the world.

December 7th, 1991, marked the 50th anniversary of the sneak attack which took the lives of 2335 American servicemen with injury to another 1143.  With God's help I survived.  This year, the 50th anniversary, finds only about 14,000 ex-servicemen and women who still survive that witnessed the greatest tragedy to befall this Nation.  Let's not let it happen again.

I was discharged from the United States Navy on December 21st, 1945.  I obtained gainful employment in 1947 with the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company in St. Louis and retired from that company on December 15th, 1980.  Betty and I now live in Bismarck, Mo.  I am a life member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.

A grateful Nation presented a Commemorative Pearl Harbor Survivors medal to those of us who fought and lost on December 7th, 1941.  The medal was presented to Missouri Pearl Harbor Vets by Admiral M. Backer at St. Louis, Mo on November 10, 1991.  Congresswoman Joan Kelly Horn represented the US Congress who authorized the medal.

The DAILY JOURNAL, St. Francois County., Wednesday, April 26, 1995.

 
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