*copyright 2002 DESA webmaster
A TRIBUTE
BY
KENNETH KING, USS TILLS DE 748
THE DAWN CAME.
SUNLIGHT SPREAD ITS GOLDEN BEAMS UPON PARADISE.
PALMS WAFTED IN THE BREEZE.
THE SMELL OF SALT TINGED THE AIR.
AND THE PEOPLE BEGAN TO ARISE AND BEGIN THEIR SUNDAY ROUTINE.
IT WAS QUITE AN ORDINARY DAY.
AN ORDINARY DAY THAT BECAME EXTRAORDINARY
AND AWOKE A SLEEPING GIANT.
IN THE SPACE OF A FEW SHORT HOURS THAT MORNING,
HELL HAD COME TO PARADISE.
SUDDENLY THE SKIES WERE FILLED WITH BLACK OILY SMOKE.
THE AIR TINGED WITH A POISONOUS FUME.
THE CALM SOUNDS OF THE MORNING WERE REPLACED WITH
EXPLOSIONS, ENGINES OF AIRCRAFT, CRACKS OF RIFLES,
STACCATO BURSTS OF MACHINE GUNS, DEAFENING BOOMS OF 3" AND 5" CANNON,
ALARMS, SHOUTS, AND THE WAILS OF CHILDREN.
AIRCRAFT DIVED OUT OF THE SKY, THEIR ENGINES SCREAMING LIKE BANSHEES.
THEY SLICED THROUGH THE AIR AT TREE TOP HEIGHT, SOUNDING AKIN TO A THOUSAND THUNDERING DRUMS.
BOMBS, TORPEDOES AND BULLETS CAME FROM ABOVE.
A FIRESTORM OF TERROR AND CARNAGE.
WARSHIPS WERE CRACKED OPEN LIKE EGGS.
FUEL, AMMUNITION AND OIL, DETONATED EASILY IN THAT MAELSTROM.
PLANES, LINED UP AS IF ON PARADE, ON THE GROUND.
FLATTENED AND DESTROYED AS IF BY A GIANT HAMMER.
AND THE SAILORS, SOLDIERS, COMMANDING OFFICERS,
MEN AND WOMEN NEAR THIS INFERNO,
WERE CUT DOWN WHERE THEY STOOD,
IN DISBELIEF AND SADNESS.
VALIANT, BRAVE, AND HUGELY COURAGEOUS EFFORTS
WERE BROUGHT FORTH TO BEAR.
IN HOPES OF STEMMING
THE TIDE OF DESTRUCTION.
BUT WE WERE TOO LATE.
PEARL HARBOR WAS ALL BUT DESTROYED.
THE BATTLE WAS ALREADY OVER.
BATTLESHIPS, CRUISERS. SUNK OR AFLAME.
A VIRTUAL ARMY AIR FORCE GONE, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.
UNTOLD CASUALTIES, DEAD OR DYING.
AND THE ENEMY, ONLY SHOWING THE RED CIRCLE OF THEIR PLANES,
RETREATED BACK TO THE SAFETY OF THEIR CARRIERS.
AND THEN PROCEEDED TO THEIR HOME WATERS.
AN ACT LOOKED UPON AS COWARDICE.
AFTER THE INITIAL SHOCK
WE BEGAN TO ASSESS THE DEVASTATION.
AND WERE HORRIFIED.
YET, THROUGHOUT THE TERROR AND THE SADNESS,
SOMETHING NEW CAME INTO BEING.
A FRIGHTENING, AND TERRIBLE, RESOLVE.
TO DEFEND OUR FREEDOM, TO AVENGE OUR DEAD,
AND TO BRING TO JUSTICE THOSE RESPONSIBLE.
AND WE DID SO, AT A TERRIBLE PRICE.
TODAY, AND EVERYDAY, WE SHOULD REMEMBER DECEMBER 7TH, 1941.
SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001 WAS NOT THE FIRST TIME WE WERE VICTIMS OF TERROR.
NOR APRIL 19TH, 1995, IN OKLAHOMA CITY.
NO, THE SEVENTH OF DECEMBER WAS OUR AWAKENING.
WE HONOR THE FALLEN AND THE SURVIVORS OF DECEMBER 7TH, 1941.
YOUR SACRIFICES WERE MANY.
YOUR BLOOD WAS SPILLED AND YOUR COURAGE TESTED.
AND YOU WERE NOT FOUND LACKING.
BRAVERY OF THIS MAGNITUDE
DESERVES THE REVERENCE OF ALL IN THIS COUNTRY.
WE REMEMBER. WE WILL REMEMBER.
ALWAYS, AND FOREVER. |
click photo for a larger view
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
 |
Burning ships in Pearl Harbor Drydocks, 7 December 1941 |
 |
Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941,
The burned-out, sunken wreck of USS Arizona (BB-39), photographed some days after the attack. |
 |
Sailors stand amid wrecked planes at the Ford Island seaplane base, watching as USS Shaw (DD-373)
explodes in the center background, 7 December 1941.
USS Nevada (BB-36) is also visible in the middle background, with her bow headed toward the left.
Planes present include PBY, OS2U and SOC types. Wrecked wing in the foreground is from a PBY. |
 |
A Marine rifle squad fires a volley over the bodies of fifteen officers and men killed at Naval Air Station Kanoehe Bay during the Pearl Harbor raid. These burial ceremonies took place on 8 December 1941, the day after the attack.
Note sandbagged emplacement atop the small hill in the right middle distance. |
 |
"Farewell to Thee"
Following Hawaiian tradition, Sailors honor men killed during the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Naval Air Station
Kaneohe, Oahu. The casualties had been buried on 8 December. This ceremony took place sometime during the following
months, possibly on Memorial Day, 31 May 1942. |
 |
Chief Boatswain Edwin J. Hill, USN, (1894-1941)
Edwin Joseph Hill was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 4 October 1894. He enlisted in the Navy in 1912 and later became a warrant officer,
rising to the rank of Chief Boatswain. During the 7
December 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, he was serving on board USS Nevada (BB-36). In the midst of the attack, he led the ship's line
handling detail in casting off from the quays alongside Ford Island so that Nevada could get underway. He was killed by enemy bombs while attempting
to drop anchor at the end of the battleship's brief sortie. For his heroism during the Pearl Harbor action, Chief
Boatswain Hill was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
The escort ship USS Hill (DE-141), 1943-1974, was named in honor of Chief Boatswain Hill. |
|
