Joseph C. Engel US Navy NAS Kaneohe Bay |
On December 7, 1941, I was attached to VP-12, Kaneohe Naval Air Station on the windward wide of the island, north of Pearl Harbor. I was an enlisted pilot AMM1/CN AP (Naval Aviation Pilot). We, my wife Angelina, and our son Joe, Jr. lived on the base. That morning, we left for church just outside the main gate. We said hello to our neighbor, Dale S. "Chubby" Lyons. He was going down to the hangar to repair and paint his son's bicycle for Christmas. After coming out of church, we could see the bombing and strafing of our hangars. The Marine at the gate said, "You're not going to bring your family in here, can't you see we are under attack?" I said, "I have to go down to the squadron" and I told my wife to go out to the beach until it was over. She said "I have to bet a blanket and some food," and proceeded to our quarters. On the way down to the hangar, I was told to report to the armory, where I was given a 30 caliber rifle, ammunition, and a 1918 vintage helmet. The helmet came in two boxes. The first box had the metal and the other had the leather liner and attaching screws. I never had time to assemble the helmet. This rifle and my marksmanship were not ver effective for shooting down enemy aircraft, but I survived the bombing and strafing. After the first attack, we were told to put our whites into the coffee urn as we were too conspicuous from the air. I didn't want to put on wet clothes, so I borrowed a shirt and trousers from a Marine. After the second attack we set up a defense on the hill using machine guns from the armory and those salvaged from the damaged PBYs. All our hangars and aircraft were destroyed or damaged. About 23:00, they told some of us to get some sleep because they would bus us to Pearl Harbor in the morning for patrol duty. Before going to sleep, I said to myself, "We have our Navy and Army Air Force at Pearl and we would respond". We did not know the status of these units. On arrival at Pearl Harbor, we found everything on fire with ships upside down. Motor boats and motor launches floating about with no one in them, the oil was about three feet thick in the water. The next morning, we took off on a fourteen hour patrol. The floats would not react, so we went with them down which slowed up up considerably. Later we found a bullet hole in the worm gear. On that patrol, we spotted a submarine and dropped a depth charge on it. It turned out to be a whale. This happened so often that they formed a whale bagger's club. On return to Pearl Harbor that night, we were fired on by confused American gunners. On Monday, a week after the raid, my wife and son attended the funeral for the eighteen military, one civilian, and the Japanese pilot killed that day. Ninety seven military personnel were injured. The Japanese pilot, Lieutenant Iida IJN apparently was the flight leader. He wore civilian clothes under his flight suit and had American money in his pocket. John W. Finn, Aviation Chief Ordinance man, was awarded the Medal of Honor and a Purple Heart for heroic services performed that day. After three weeks of patrol duty at Pearl, I returned to Kaneohe and my family. I had no communication with my family for these three weeks. Our Tropical Island Paradise was no longer a paradise. Our living conditions changed considerably. We had to paint our windows black so light could not be seen from the outside. Automobile headlights were painted black except the center about the size of a silver dollar. We had to turn out the lights before opening the doors. A marine guard enforced this order. When the air raid alarm sounded, all dependents had to go to the air raid shelter. My son's first words were "Air Raid Mama". Dale Lyons had his leg blown off when a bomb destroyed our hanger. He later returned to active duty and qualified as a carrier pilot with and artificial leg. |
Information provided by Joe Engel. |
Dale "Chubby" Lyons |
The Engel Family |
