Pearl Harbor

Only 50 yards in front of out BOQ lies the flame-twisted hulk of the USS Arizona. Another 50 yards ahead of her lies the also battered and burnt hull of the USS West Virginia (the condition of which the U.S. public has no conception). Both ships rest, right-side up, on the bottom of the harbor. AGAIN, 50 yards ahead of the W. Virginia, lies the BOTTOM SIDE UP hulk of the USS Oklahoma (still with a goodly complement of her original crew trapped in her guts). About 500 yards astern of the Arizona, around the band of the island (Ford Island Naval Air Station) lies the also upside down carcass of the USS Utah — again with a good crew of corpses lost in her bowels. Both these ships show evidence of the attempts to free the trapped men by cutting escape holes inn the bottom.

Across the harbor, resting her shattered frame in a drydock, lies the USS California. The Nevada has been pulled out of the mudbank upon which she was resting and sent back to there U.S. for repairs, along with a few other of our heavy units who were on the receiving end of a bomb. The ships which suffered the most damage received from two to eight torpedoes apiece. Numerous small craft, including three cans, were damaged in varying degrees.

When this war is over and the full facts of the disastrous Jap raid on Pearl Harbor, December 7th, become known, it will be realized that this attack was not only one of the greatest naval defeats in history, but also the greatest (to date) single aerial blow ever struck. I’ll certainly have to hand it to those Japs, they’ve missed damn few tricks.