_Cpl Joe R. Driskell_, circa _1941, later awarded the Navy Cross for
heroism on board_ Nevada _at Pearl Harbor. Driskell had been in the
Civilian Conservation Corps in Wyoming before he had enlisted in the
Corps. When general quarters sounded on board_ Nevada (_BB-36_) _on
7 December, he took up his battle station as gun captain of no. 9
5-inch/51 gun, in casemate no. 9, on the starboard side._]
Jones’ gallantry--which earned him a posthumous Medal of
Honor--impressed Private Howard M. Haynes, who had been confined before
the attack, awaiting a bad conduct discharge. After the battle, a
contrite Haynes--“a mean character who had shown little or no respect
for anything or anyone” before 7 December--approached Lieutenant Drake
and said that he [Haynes] was alive because of the actions that Ensign
Jones had taken. “God,” he said, “give me a chance to prove I’m worth
it.” His actions that morning in the crucible of war earned Haynes a
recommendation for retention in the service. Most of _California_’s
Marines, like Haynes, survived the battle. Private First Class Earl D.
Wallen and Privates Roy E. Lee, Jr. and Shelby C. Shook, however, did
not. Nor did the badly burned Private First Class John A. Blount, Jr.,
who succumbed to his wounds on 9 December.
_Nevada_’s attempt to clear the harbor, meanwhile, inspired those who
witnessed it. Her magnificent effort prompted a stepped-up effort
by Japanese dive bomber pilots to sink her. One 250-kilogram bomb
hit her boat deck just aft of a ventilator trunk and 12 feet to the
starboard side of the centerline, about halfway between the stack
and the end of the boat deck, setting off laid-out 5-inch ready-use
ammunition. Spraying fragments decimated the gun crews. The explosion
wrecked the galley and blew open the starboard door of the compartment,
venting into casemate no. 9 and starting a fire that swept through the
casemate, wrecking the gun. Although he had been seriously wounded
by the blast that had hurt both of his legs and stripped much of his
uniform from his body, Corporal Joe R. Driskell disregarded his own
condition and insisted that he man another gun. He refused medical
treatment, assisting other wounded men instead, and then helped battle
the flames. He did not quit until those fires were out.
Another 250-kilogram bomb hit _Nevada_’s bridge, penetrating down into
casemate no. 6 and starting a fire. The blast had also severed the
water pipes providing circulating water to the water-cooled machine
guns on the foremast-guns in the charge of Gunnery Sergeant Charles
E. Douglas. Intense flames enveloped the forward superstructure,
endangering Douglas and his men, and prompting orders for them to
abandon their station. They steadfastly remained at their posts,
however, keeping the .50-caliber Brownings firing amidst the swirling
black smoke until the end of the action.
Unlike the battleships the enemy had caught moored on Battleship
Row, _Pennsylvania_ (BB-38), the fleet flagship, lay on keel blocks,
sharing Dry Dock No. 1 at the Navy Yard with _Cassin_ (DD-372) and
_Downes_ (DD-375)--two destroyers side-by-side ahead of her. Three of
_Pennsylvania_’s four propeller shafts had been removed and she was
receiving all steam, power, and water from the yard. Although her being
in drydock had excused her from taking part in antiaircraft drills, her
crew swiftly manned her machine guns after the first bombs exploded
among the PBY flying boats parked on the south end of Ford Island. “Air
defense stations” then sounded, followed by “general quarters.” Men
knocked the locks off ready-use ammunition stowage and _Pennsylvania_
opened fire about 0802.
[Illustration: _Close-up of the forward superstructure of_ Nevada
(_BB-36_) _taken a few days after the Japanese attack as the battleship
lay beached off Waipio Point. In the upper portion of this view can
be seen the forward machine gun position with its four .50-caliber
water-cooled Brownings--the ones manned by Gunnery Sergeant Douglas and
his men during the battle on 7 December. Note the extensive fire damage
to the superstructure below. In the lower portion of the picture can
be seen one of the ship’s 5-inch/51s, of the type manned by Corporal
Driskell at the start of the action._]
The fleet flagship and the two destroyers nestled in the drydock ahead
of her led a charmed life until dive bombers from _Soryu_ and _Hiryu_
targeted the drydock area between 0830 and 0915.[B] One bomb penetrated
_Pennsylvania_’s boat deck, just to the rear of 5-inch/25 gun no. 7,
and detonated in casemate no. 9. Of _Pennsylvania_’s Marine detachment,
two men (Privates Patrick P. Tobin and George H. Wade, Jr.) died
outright, 13 fell wounded, and six were listed as missing. Three of
the wounded--Corporal Morris E. Nations and Jesse C. Vincent, Jr., and
Private First Class Floyd D. Stewart--died later the same day.
[B] For what became of the two destroyers, and the Marines
decorated for bravery in the battle to try to save them,
see page 28–29.
[Illustration: Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Russel Fox, USMC, as the
Division Marine Officer on the staff of Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd,
Commander, Battleship Division One, was the most senior Marine officer
to die on board _Arizona_ on the morning of 7 December 1941. Fox had
enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1916. For heroism in France on 4
October 1918, when he was a member of the 17th Company, Fifth Marines,
he was awarded the Navy Cross. He also was decorated with the Army’s
Distinguished Service Cross and the French Croix de Guerre. Fox was
commissioned in 1921 and later served in Nicaragua as well as China.]
As the onslaught descended upon the battleships and the air station,
Marine detachments hurried to their battle stations on board other
ships elsewhere at Pearl. In the Navy Yard lay _Argonne_ (AG-31), the
flagship of the Base Force, the heavy cruisers _New Orleans_ (CA-32)
and _San Francisco_ (CA-38), and the light cruisers _Honolulu_ (CL-48),
_St. Louis_ (CL-49) and _Helena_ (CL-50). To the northeast of Ford
Island lay the light cruiser _Phoenix_ (CL-43).
Although _Utah_ was torpedoed and sunk at her berth early in the
attack, her 14 Marines, on temporary duty at the 14th Naval District
Rifle Range, found useful employment combatting the enemy. The Fleet
Machine Gun School lay on Oahu’s south coast, west of the Pearl Harbor
entrance channel, at Fort Weaver. The men stationed there, including
several Marines on temporary duty from the carrier _Enterprise_ and
the battleships _California_ and _Pennsylvania_, sprang to action at
the first sounds of war. Working with the men from the Rifle Range,
all hands set up and mounted guns, and broke out and belted ammunition
between 0755 and 0810. All those present at the range were issued
pistols or rifles from the facility’s armory.
Soon after the raid began, Platoon Sergeant Harold G. Edwards set about
securing the camp against any incursion the Japanese might attempt
from the landward side, and also supervised the emplacement of machine
guns along the beach. Lieutenant (j.g.) Roy R. Nelson, the officer in
charge of the Rifle Range, remembered the many occasions when Captain
Frank M. Reinecke, commanding officer of _Utah_’s Marine detachment
and the senior instructor at the Fleet Machine Gun School (and, as his
Naval Academy classmates remembered, quite a conversationalist), had
maintained that the school’s weapons would be a great asset if anybody
ever attacked Hawaii. By 0810, Reinecke’s gunners stood ready to prove
the point and soon engaged the enemy--most likely torpedo planes
clearing Pearl Harbor or high-level bombers approaching from the south.
Nearby Army units, perhaps alerted by the Marines’ fire, opened up
soon thereafter. Unfortunately, the eager gunners succeeded in downing
one of two SBDs from _Enterprise_ that were attempting to reach Hickam
Field. An Army crash boat, fortunately, rescued the pilot and his
wounded passenger soon thereafter.
On board _Argonne_, meanwhile, alongside 1010 Dock, her Marines manned
her starboard 3-inch/23 battery and her machine guns. Commander Fred
W. Connor, the ship’s commanding officer, later credited Corporal
Alfred Schlag with shooting down one Japanese plane as it headed for
Battleship Row.
When the attack began, _Helena_ lay moored alongside 1010 Dock, the
venerable minelayer _Oglala_ (CM-3) outboard. A signalman, standing
watch on the light cruiser’s signal bridge at 0757 identified the
planes over Ford Island as Japanese, and the ship went to general
quarters. Before she could fire a shot in her own defense, however, one
800-kilogram torpedo barrelled into her starboard side about a minute
after the general alarm had begun summoning her men to their battle
stations. The explosion vented up from the forward engine room through
the hatch and passageways, catching many of the crew running to their
stations, and started fires on the third deck. Platoon Sergeant Robert
W. Teague, Privates First Class Paul F. Huebner, Jr. and George E.
Johnson, and Private Lester A. Morris were all severely burned. Johnson
later died.
[Illustration: