Jerome Frank Savadina Hickam Field 5th Bomb Group |
Information provided by Jerome Savadina and his daughter Anna Leonard. |
At the time of the incident, I was a 22-year-old private 1st class enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 around 6 am, I was on special ground defense duty with another soldier. We were outside on the quadrangle by the barracks. Around 7:30 am before the bombs hit we heard airplanes but we were not able to visually see them yet. I mentioned to the other soldier on duty with me that it looks as though the Navy is practicing dive bombing as they did on many Sunday mornings. I then saw the airplane bomb bays open up and the bombs beginning to fall. The bombs hit Pearl Harbor first and then Hickam Field. I could then identify the aircraft as I saw the red ball of the "Rising Sun". We were able to make it to safety without being hit by the strafing fire from the airplanes. Mass confusion was beginning to set in at this time. We ran to obtain machine guns but the supply room was locked. Some time later a large supply of blankets arrived on a truck for the wounded that would be brought to Hickam Field Hospital. The truck driver would not release the blankets without proper signatures from an officer. The policy at that time made the driver responsible to compensate the military for the blankets if they were not accounted for, so he held up the aid until the proper authority would sign off on them. Finally a doctor who was an officer arrived and signed for them and told the driver "Son this is war, things will be done different now, this is not business as usual". In the ensuing confusion a fleet of American B-17's from the 19th Bombardment Group on their way to the Philippines to be stationed there landed at Hickam Field for refueling. This added to the confusion, which was happening all around us. Nothing was really organized until the next day. Everyone was jumpy and you could hear open fire going off all night, long after the Japanese had left. Our military was shooting at anything suspicious. One thing that still rings clear in my mind today is the hand painted signs on old scraps of wood that read " Merry Christmas to everyone except the rising sun which will be a setting sun long before next Christmas". Several of these were visible in front of the barracks. During the bombing on Hickam Field there were men killed while sleeping in the barracks and many were killed and injured in the large mess hall, which served all stationed at Hickam Field. This is my account and I consider myself extremely fortunate to have survived the surprise attack. I feel blessed to be able to be here and personally pass along my story and experience to my children and grandchildren. |
