Robert East Schofield Barracks |
I was stationed at Schofield Barracks on 12/7/41, 24th Division, 3rd Engineers. I had been there about a year before the attack. At the time of the attack we were eating breakfast in the mess hall of the barracks. Suddenly we heard many planes coming in, machine gunning our barracks, as they headed to Wheeler Field, about a mile from us. At first we thought it was maneuvers going on, until windows were shattering around us. We started running out of the mess hall and saw the planes with the rising sun on them. Luckily no one in our group was injured. Unfortunately we had no ammunition in the barracks and were unable to do anything. The people at Wheeler Field weren't as fortunate as us and many were killed in the mess hall there, and many more trying to get to their planes, which most were destroyed in the bombing. We were unable to get to Pearl Harbor for a week as everyone was restricted to the post. When we finally arrived there and seen the destruction of the ships we could not believe it. Some of us had friends aboard these ships. We found out later most of them had been killed in the attack. I was one of the fortunate ones to survive and thank God everyday. |
Information provided by Robert East |
