Edwin W. Hegwer US Navy USS Oglala

On October 5, 1941, we came to Port Chicago in California and picked up 400 live mine, then went back to Pearl Harbor.  We docket at West Lock to unload. I went to the sub base to divers school.  It was a 6 week school and I graduated on December 7, 1941.  I went down to the second deck and hollered "the Japs are attacking, this is no Bull ----".  Did the same at the first deck, then I went to the diving tower where the office was.  No one was there, so I went down to the salvage tug, but no one was there either. As I stood on the dock with a helpless feeling, I heard planes and looking to my left, here comes a torpedo plane headed right for Battleship Row.  I started looking for something to throw at it to hit his propeller and there was nothing to throw.  There were three of them.  I can still see the face of that Jap pilot. The crew showed up and they sent us out in the harbor channel in case the baby subs go in.  Never saw any.  We then went to the USS California, pushing against it to keep it from rolling over and it settled down in the mud. The next day, we went to the California and started diving on it.  It had a hell of a big hole in it.  The Brass didn't believe us.  But it ended up that the hole was a hell of a lot bigger than we said. We raised a plane out of the water that was shot down.  We were diving all over the harbor. By the way, I won't tell about all the things I saw.  There wasn't a soul out there who wasn't a HERO. My brother was at Kaneohe Naval Air Station.  He was a 1st Class Yeoman.  I got transferred over there, then to lighter than air at Lakehurst New Jersey school about July 1942.  When school was over on November 1, 1942, I transferred to Mossett Field NAS in Sunnyvale, California. Was discharged November 5, 1942 as a Chief Airship Rigger.

Information provided by Edwin W. Hegwer.