Alexander R. Horanzy US Army Schofield Barracks |
I volunteered to go into the service when I turned 17 on July 1939. I chose the Army Infantry and served on year state side, then I again volunteered for foreign service and chose Hawaii, Oahu. I arrived in Hawaii on November 2, 1940 and was assigned to Schofield Barracks (Infantry) which is located about 15 miles north of Pearl Harbor. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, I was with my outfit the 24th Infantry Div. Some of our units spent a week long field problems (maneuvers) at the northern end of the island. We returned to Schofield Barracks on December 6, 1941 and some of us never got to sleep until about 2:00 a.m. On December 7, 1941, we decided to sleep late that morning. At approximately 7:50 a.m., we were awakened by low flying Japanese planes. They began strafing the area with machine gun fire and heading towards Wheeler Field, Army Air Corps, which is adjacent to Schofield Barracks. Japanese planes started to descent upon Wheeler Field strafing and bombing the area. Most of our planes were destroyed and damage was heavy with casualties and loss of life. As the Japanese were attacking, I was assigned with other soldiers to an ammunition warehouse that was full of explosives. The warehouse situated in the center of a large field. We began to load trucks with ammunition and explosives to fortify the north shore of the island, because we anticipated that the Japanese troops were going to make a landing there. We were inside the warehouse, carrying out the ammo to load the trucks, when we heard the planes coming overhead. We quickly stopped what we were doing and ran for cover. We started to run toward a ravine that was about five feet deep to give us some protection, just in case the planes would fire on us. Somehow we never got to the ravine, we were caught in the middle of the field while the Japanese planes were overhead flying low and strafing and bombing Wheeler Field. We must have run for cover out of the warehouse three or four times, every time when we heard the planes coming over us. To this day, I wonder why they never fired upon us or bombed the warehouse that was full of explosives. They could have fired upon us while we were running for cover in the middle of the open field toward the ravine, or maybe they were saving their attack for the grand prize, Pearl Harbor, in which they succeeded. I think if the Japanese had known that the warehouse was full of explosives, they would have bombed it and I would not be writing you today. During the night, same day of the attack, a warning alarm was sounded of a Japanese gas attack in our area. We wore our gas masks all that night because we did smell different types of odors. As dawn began to break, we realized it was not a gas attack, but the burning destruction that emitted fumes, caused by the Japanese attack. Immediately after the attack, the division moved to set up defense against a possible invasion on the northern part of the island that never took place. When the day was over, five Japanese fighters had been brought down by the 24th Division's small arms fire. The division was the first Army unit to feel the fury of Imperial Japan and the first to fight back. Later the division moved to Australia for jungle training. We then invaded New Guinea and other Islands in the Pacific fighting our way to the Philippines. This topic I will not write about, it's another episode. Anyway, I contacted malaria in the jungle of New Guinea and was sent home on rotation points because I had served in the Pacific for four years. When I got home I spent six months in and out of Army Hospitals fighting malaria and for a few years after, I was discharged from the Army. At the time of the attack, I was 19 years old and enlisted when I was 17 years old in 1939. I was discharged in 1945 for a total of six years. I had three other brothers who served in World War II other than myself, two in the Army and two in the Navy. My younger brother was killed in Okinawa by a Japanese mortar attack in May 1945. He was with the 77th Division (Army). Another brother was in the Army during the Korean War, making five brothers that served in the military. |
Information provided by Alexander R. Horanzy. |
Red Rose This Rose signifies America's National Flower. This Rose appears to have dew drops on it, but no - it's America's tear drops that still mourns with sorrow for those gallant American's who gave their lives for their country on Pearl Harbor and various Military installations on the Island of Oahu on the morning of December 7, 1941. Red, White & Blue ribbon represents America's Flag. With Liberty, Freedom & Democracy. Alex Horanzy Pearl Harbor Survivors Liberty Bell Philadelphia, PA Chapter No. 1 |
