Herman Hart Kait US Navy USS Monaghan |
Information provided by Herman H. Kait. |
Herman H. Kait By Thomas Schultz At age 92, retired Navy Capt. Hart Kait could still recall, in vivid detail, how Japanese pilots swooped from the skies over Hawaii and unleashed a torrent of torpedoes, bombs and bullets that killed nearly 2,400 American men and women, and shaped the future of the world. "I reminisce quite a bit," Capt. Kait said. During most of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Capt. Kait (a lieutenant aboard the USS Monaghan at the time) labored with crew mates to save that vessel from harm in the harbor's East Loch. The crew succeeded. Ant eh Monaghan sank a Japanese midget submarine after dodging a torpedo, ramming the sub and exploding depth charges 30 feet below the ocean surface. Capt. Kait has a black-and-white photograph of himself and a fellow sailor standing aboard the destroyer's deck just 15 minutes before the first Japanese fighter planes appeared. |
Hart Kait is greeted by fellow Pearl Harbor survivor, Ernest Ruiz at a ceremony at Pearl Harbor. Picture provided by Herman H. Kait. |
Hart Kait (Left) talks with his skipper, William Bulford, on the deck of the USS Monaghan in this photo taken on Decmber 7, 1941, about 15 minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor began. Picture provided by Herman H. Kait. |
