Tales From The Travels

I’ve always been fascinated with the history of the Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941. When I was stationed at Pearl Harbor I enjoyed going around the island and seeing the sights associated with the attack. My command, FICPAC, was located right across the street from the Arizona Memorial. I’ve read a number of books about the attack and will catch a show every now and then on TV. I recently saw one on the Military History Channel about the ‘Myths of Pearl Harbor’ and was interested in one particular statement they made. They said that only one battleship was lost in the attack – the Arizona. I always thought there was a second. Well, after checking I’ve learned that they were technically correct, the second ship was no longer classified as a battleship at the time of the attack. And therein lies a story.

One of the great places I enjoyed going to while in Pearl Harbor was Ford Island. This is the big island in the middle of the harbor. Today, it is a military housing complex with a few small commands. There’s a bridge connecting it to the main island today, but when I was there in the early-1980s the only way to the island was by ferry, which made it very private. I would take the ferry over and just walk around the island. It was very peaceful and tropical and no one ever bothered me when I went looking around at the sights.

Ford Island was a seaplane facility before and during the war and had large hangers and a runway. The runway has houses built on it now and no planes have landed there in decades. The hangars were still there, long since abandoned but not secured. I would walk around in these hangars, passing through the ready rooms and offices, imagining what it was like on that morning with the men scrambling to respond to the attack while avoiding the bombs and strafing runs at the same time. There are still bullet holes visible from the attack that made it easier to visualize. Standing there and seeing the ghosts in my mind, the attack was a lot less history and a lot more reality.

Working my way around the island, I came across some wreckage a memorial on the western side of the island. This was what remained of the USS Utah and the men that are still entombed within. The Utah was a former battleship (BB) that had been redesignated as a gunnery training ship (AG). So, technically, it was not a battleship when it was lost during the attack, so the show was correct.

The Utah was moored up at the berth on the west side of Ford Island in early December, 1941. When the attack occurred, the crew responded and tried to get the ship underway, but it took several heavy hits and began to take on water. Before long, it began to list and capsized shortly thereafter. Fifty-eight men died. At least one of them was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

At that time, the memorial consisted of a flag and plague. From the vantage point of the memorial, you would have been looking out across the Utah that morning towards the west, straight at the Japanese dive bombers that were coming in across the western locks of Pearl Harbor to seal the fate of the ship and crew. I asked around at my command and no one there even knew about it. Today, there is a new memorial that is more elegant, but still little known.

So, if you’re in Hawaii and are interested, ask about the USS Utah memorial on Ford Island.