Richard E. Burge US Navy USS Tennessee |
I was in the navy and was on the Battleship, USS TENNESSEE, during the year 1941. I was in the Signal division and part of our duties was to log the movements and anchorage, and the call numbers of any ship that came in or left the harbor. We were at PEARL HARBOR. While I was on watch in early November, 1941, a Japanese liner called the TAIYO MARU, anchored in the harbor. I was told the TAIYO MARU was a Japanese spy ship and to be cautious of it . The ship stayed anchored in the harbor about two weeks and then left. The U.S. NAVY commanders did not mention the TAIYO MARU to the general fleet, and to this day, thousands of navy personnel have never heard her name. I didn't hear of the TAIYO MARU again until 57 years later. Several months before the attack, we were told that there might be some sabotage. Therefore we were to be cautious and to watch for it. The NAVY DEPT., didn't warn us that the Japanese might be our enemy and might attack us. The USS WARD had picket duty just outside the mouth of PEARL HARBOR, During the 6:00 a.m. watch on Dec. 7, 1941, they picked the sound of a large unidentified submarine, and identified it as a Japanese submarine, trying to sneak into PEARL HARBOR. The WARD fired on it and sank it. The officers of the day didn't report the incident to the rest of the fleet that was anchored at PEARL HARBOR. During the month, the Navy was having its annual celebration and Navy inspection. Friday, Dec 5,1941, three of the Navy's big carriers, loaded with fighter planes, left the harbor. I was logging their movements , and I inquired as to where they were going. I was told by my superior officer just to log them out to sea on maneuvers. Later after the war was over, I learned what had taken place. Secret information was declassified, and I learned on that incident that President Roosevelt had received information that the Japanese were going to attack the PHILIPINES. He sent the carriers, loaded with the Navy's planes to Midway to assist in a back up to the PHILIPINES. Neither the president nor any official told the fleet at PEARL HARBOR, what was going on. No warning of any kind was given to us that we were about to be attacked. Sunday morning Dec.7,1941,I got up early and ate breakfast, (powdered eggs, beans and corn bread). I didn't have any assigned duty or plans for the day. At 7:30 a.m., I decided to go to the Signal Bridge and relieve one of the men on duty , to go down and eat his breakfast. At 7:55 a.m., I reached the bridge, then the bugle sounded to raise colors. (hoist the flag of the day). At that same instant, I heard a plane overhead in a deep dive. I looked up to see who was making all that noise during the changing of the colors (everyone was supposed to stand at attention during this ceremony). At that moment, the plane in the deep dive, released a bomb. It came down and struck the airplane hanger at KANEOCHE AIRFIELD, which was about a fourth mile from where I was standing, Another plane followed the first one and dropped another bomb. Those planes then flew parallel too the seven battleships that were tied up in Battleship Row, machine gunning and taking pictures, At one time, one of the planes was so close (less than 50 feet away), that I could see the gold in the machine gunners teeth when he smiled. He was smiling as he fired machine gun bullets all around us. I was one of the lucky ones that didn't get hit, but some of the men weren't so lucky. The bugle sounded General Quarters, at that moment, and to man your battle stations. My battle station was with the crew in turret no, 2, with the big guns. The turret had three guns with barrel dimensions of 14 inches. They fired a shell that weighed 1500 pounds and each shell took 2 bags of gunpowder, weighing 110 pounds each. There was a million pounds of gunpowder in the magazine on that morning. My battle station was in the powder magazine for turret no. 2. Japanese planes started coming from every direction at that time, some of them were dropping torpedoes. Some were dropping bombs and spraying machine gun fire. Bombs were exploding everywhere, and everything was on fire. The smoke was so thick and black that I couldn't see my feet when I looked down. My station was hit by a high altitude bomb, just as I reached it, several of the men were killed or wounded, that were in our turret. Fragments from the bomb that hit our turret, killed the captain on the USS WEST VIRGINIA, which was tied up alongside the TENNESSEE. The bomb killed and wounded several men that were topside the TENNESSEE. The bomb was about 35 feet above my head. The explosion knocked turret no. 2 out of service. The officer in charge sent the gun crew back topside to help the wounded and to fight fires. When I reached topside, the whole ship was on fire. We were sitting in a pool of burning oil from the other bombed ships. The USS ARIZONA, moored to the back of us was sunk. The USS WEST VIRGINIA, moored to our portside, was sunk. The USS OKLAHOMA, moored forward of the WEST VIRGINIA, was capsized. The USS MARYLAND, forward of the USS TENNESSEE, and to the starboard side of the USS OKLAHOMA, had received heavy bomb damage. Just as I reached topside, the Japs came back in, for their second attack. They buzzed the ships and were spraying the ships through the heavy smoke. I figured my time had come, because the machine gun bullets were hitting the deck al l around me. I laid down on the steel deck and rolled under the anchor chains for protection. The bullets were knocking sparks off the anchor chains, just inches from me. I went to help recover the dead and the wounded from turret no. 2, when the planes let up. I remember one sailor in particular that was burned so bad that the flesh was falling off his cheeks as he tried to talk. The wounded and dead were laying everywhere. The TENNESSEE was sitting in a pool of burning oil. The officer in charge decided we could fire up the engines, and move up a few feet to get out of some of the fire. The ship was wedged tight between the USS WEST VIRGINIA and the mooring block, that wouldn't move, but the props were pushing the burning oil away from the ship. A Japanese plane was shot down over the TENNESSEE, and the plane fell in the water just fifty feet from our ship. The pilot's body lay there for several days, because we had so many of our own men to pick up. The Japanese didn't come back for a third attack, and we were lucky, because there were fuel storage tanks that had five million barrels of fuel in them at that time. Each battleship had over a million pounds of gunpowder in their magazines. The rest of the day was a turmoil and everyone was in a state of shock, because we didn't know what to expect next. I had duty that night on the Signal bridge, and we were told to watch for any unexpected activity. The carriers that were sent out on Friday, Dec. 5, were notified that PEARL HARBOR had been attacked. They were just a few miles away from Midway at the time. The LEXINGTON decided to send two planes (seaplanes), back to PEARL HARBOR. No one knew why they came back. The planes had their instructions on where and how to land. We were cautious for fear the Japanese might try to pull some trick on us. The first plane came in around 3:30 a.m., and landed in the prescribed location and taxied up to where he was supposed to go. The next plane came in and overshot his landing, and tried to take off again. When he did that, every ship in the harbor, that had a gun, opened fire on him . There wasn't enough left of him to identify. We were kept busy for two or three weeks, picking up bodies and body parts, and cleaning up the fire damage. There was a big room full of body parts that had been blown apart by explosives. They were taken to the hills and buried in the pineapple fields, in one big hole. Most of the men that were killed , were buried in a place called the PUNCH BOWL. It was a volcanic crater, high above HONOLULU and in sight of the NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETATY, of the Pacific. The morning after the attack, a crew of workers climbed upon the bottom of the capsized USS OKLAHOMA and pounded a hole in its hull. They rescued over a dozen sailors that were trapped in the OKLAHOMA. Three weeks later, they came back and pounded another hole and rescued another man that had been trapped since the attack. He was still alive, and was one happy sailor! We were wedged in so tight against the mooring block and the sunken USS WEST VIRGINIA that we couldn't move.. The USS MARYLAND was moored in front of us and the OKLAHOMA was sunk beside her. The MARYLAND was finally moved and the quays by the TENNESSEE were dynamited off, so the ship could have enough room to go out forward through the space where the MARYLAND had been anchored. We then headed for the shipyards in Bremerton, Wash., for repairs. Just as we passed the sub nets, going out of PEARL HARBOR, there was a big Japanese sub waiting for us . Several Destroyers were escorting us, so it took only a few minutes to sink that sub. I remember that when it went down, it's Bow came straight up, about fifty feet out of the water. Navy personnel were never told about it. President Roosevelt told Admiral Kimball that the Japs were going to stack PEARL HARBOR, but to keep it silent and not to fire the first shot. Some of the information about PEARL HARBOR is still classified information and has not been released. When you visit PEARL HARBOR and go aboard the monument over the sunken USS ARIZONA, look down in the water at the sunken ship and realize that only a few feet from you, that there over a thousand sailors looking back at you and saying, "WE TOOK THE FIRST SHOT ". The TENNESSEE had several repairs in the shipyard and had some new guns installed .The twenty and forty-millimeter machine guns were installed. They were brought out after the war started, The whole crew had to go to gunnery school to learn how to operate them. After PEARL HARBOR, we went through CORAL SEA and MIDWAY battles and hit several of the conflicts in the SOLOMON and MARSHALL ISLANDS. I later transferred to a new destroyer, the USS BUSH, as head signalman. The BUSH went through several conflicts and was sunk by three KAMIKAZE planes. Before the war was over, I ended up in the NAVY hospital for several months. I was then discharged. Fifty years after PEARL HARBOR, I read an account of some information that had been declassified in the archives. I read about several events that I was involved in, but at that time, I was told that they were something else. I learned from the archives that the U.S. GOVERNMENT and the head Admirals knew that the Japs were going to attack PEARL HARBOR. The NAVY personnel were never told about it. President Roosevelt told Admiral Kimmel that the Japs were going to attack PEARL HARBOR, but to keep it silent and not fire the first shot. Some of the information about PEARL HARBOR is still classified information and has not been released. At the beginning of this story , I wrote about the TAIYO MARU. I had never seen or heard anything about the ship until 57 years after the war. I read an account written by the Japanese of their preparation to attack PEARL HARBOR. The TAIYO MARU had chartered a course for the Japanese fleet to take in the North Sea, to attack PEARL HARBOR. They also took information on the difficulties they would encounter. Such as the winds, the atmospheric pressure, and the roll of the vessel, and order things they might encounter. During its stay in PEARL HARBOR, it took information on the movements of the U.S. FLEET. It also took several pictures of the U.S. NAVY ships. It returned to Japan, then the Japs started their action to attack PEARL HARBOR. Before the attack, we had several warnings that something was about to take place. The spy ship, TAIYO MARU , being at PEARL HARBOR in November, 1941, and then meeting with the JAPANESE spys that were at HONOLULU that the Navy already knew about, The sinking of the Japanese sub at 6:30, a.m. , on Dec. 7,1941, that was trying to sneak into the harbor. The Fleet wasn't alerted about any of these things. Shortly before the attack, the Army radar picked up a large number of planes heading for PEARL HARBOR. Because of inexperienced personnel, it was ignored and the Fleet wasn't alerted of possible danger. The U.S. Government knew for several months that we were going to be attacked, but they didn't tell the FLEET anything about it . Several hundred sailors are still lying in their sacks, never knowing what hit them. When you visit PEARL HARBOR and go aboard the monument over the sunken USS ARIZONA, look down in the water at the sunken ship and realize that only a few feet from you, that there's over a thousand sailors looking back at you and saying , "WE TOOK THE FIRST SHOT'. I SAW THE FIRST BOMBS OF WORLD WAR 11, DROPPED AND I SURVIVED THE WAR. |
Information provided by Richard Burge |
