Simon Arthur Smith US Navy USS Bagley |
The following is excerpts form my husband Art, and his shipmates recollection of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. On the "Day of Infamy," the Bagley was moored at Berth B22 of the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for repairs to her keel bilge. She was tied along a dock very proximate to those dry docks that held the Cassin, Downes and Pennsylvania. Art and his shipmates made note that the commanding officer (Lt. Commander Geo. Sinclair) along with the executive officer, the navigator and gunnery officer were all absent on authorized leave. The commander, Lt. Philip Cann, whose temporary command, quick thinking and superb ship handling, along with his many sailors got the Bagley out to sea and doubtlessly saved the ship from severe damage. The information I read made note that during the general quarters alarm, a boatswains mate came running through the sleeping compartments yelling, "Get up you Bastards, the Japs are bombing the hell out of us and we ain't going to the States Saturday." (The ship was to depart for the US on December 13th. As a watertender, Art was engaged in measures to get the Bagley underway, while some of his shipmates were manning machine guns despite the fact some men were not machine gunners. The Bagley was one of the first destroyers to open fire on the infamous aerial raiders. Six planes were downed; all this occurring while the destroyer was under fire. As the Bagley got underway, she passed many burning ships. Fuel oil was burning on the water. Sailors were standing on the deck of a burning ship and they did not know how to get off when suddenly a bomb hit their ship and bounced the men over the burning fuel oil on the water and the Bagley picked them up. In retrospect, the above actually reflects more the history of the Bagley on December 7, 1941, rather than the personal experiences of my husband. ---Patricia A. Smith |
Information provided by Lester Ritchie. |
