James Elmer Keener
US Navy
USS Wasmuth
I was a crew member of the DMS 15 Wasmuth. I had just finished eating breakfast and ambled up on deck when I saw a large ball of fire on the Naval Air Base on Ford Island. My first thought was some one had got a match in a plane's gas tank. Then the noise of aircraft and smoke started.

I recognized the big red sun on the planes' wings. I went up to the flying bridge and tried to load a 50 caliber machine gun, but jammed it as I had no experience on it.
After what seemed a long time general quarters was sounded, so I didn't get the 50 loaded as I had to report to my battle station.

I was hot-shell man on a 4" gun. My job was to catch the empties so as not to get anyone hurt.

This 4" was no good for aircraft. We were strafed and a near bomb. Other than a few bullet holes we were unscathed. I saw a column of smoke go up and burst into flames. It was the destroyer Shaw hit in the magazine. Saw a plane flying over a bunch of destroyers, then it just disappeared, just the wing tips fluttered down.

By now, the Arizona was belching thick back smoke. Meantime the old Utah was capsized and an old cruiser was starting to turn over. One humorous incident I will always remember - a young ensign (as we all were) on a ship along side ran out on deck hollering "Don't shoot at them, You will make them mad."

So help me, I heard and saw that. Guess the poor guy will always be embarrassed at that.
In port I was the Captain's Gig Coxswain. They called us away to go to the Dock to pick up our captain. On the way over a plane was headed right for us. Fire was streaming out one side. I was getting ready to get under water when he dove into an aircraft tender Curtiss. On the way to the dock we passed some aircraft wreckage and hauled a chunk aboard with the red sun on it.

After it slowed down we were looking around and the engineer of the gig spotted a pint of Whiskey. I waded in the water and retrieved it. The engineer screwed the top off and took a healthy slug and handed it to me. It looked pretty good so I took some. My first introduction to whiskey. After one slug I didn't need any more of that, so my buddy finished her up.

We were still waiting on our Skipper, but he had caught another boat to the Wasmuth. I can't tell the lonesomeness as our ship and home and friends sailed out of the harbor without us.

Keep watching for an invasion. At full dark three planes were coming in with blinking lights, but some trigger happy guy let go a burst and then the whole harbor lit up. Seems you could walk on the tracers. Saw one go down in flames and saw the fire ball of it. We spent the night in this car. Don't remember getting much sleep as rifle fire kept going off.
The eighth we crawled out to see the harbor covered with black smoke and the Arizona burning. Mighty lonely and heart rending to see the damage that had been done. Oil seemed to be an inch thick on the water.

After a day or two our ship steamed back in - Home and Hearth. She had dropped 86 depth charges outside the harbor entrance.
Information provided by James Elmer Keener.