Pictures Reportedly Taken by Sailor During the Japanese Bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941
These pictures were found in an old Brownie camera stored in a foot locker. They were taken by a sailor on the USS QUAPAW ATF-11O, and provided to former Naval Aviator Rodney Stich by former a former Marine. When the name of the sailor who took the pictures is determined, his name will be placed here.
On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the
Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at
Pearl Harbor , Hawaii . By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese
commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck
would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in
port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just
delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway,
and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs in the United
States.)
In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft
carriers (his most important targets), Admiral Nagumo decided to continue
the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of
230 miles north of Oahu, he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack.
Beginning at 0600 hours his first wave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo
bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in
Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours,
consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck at the same targets.
At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo
bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 50 high altitude bombers and 43
Zeros struck airfields and Pearl Harbor Within the next hour, the second
wave arrived and continued the attack.
Thanks to the stupidity, or is it a standard American culture, the warning signs were ignored. These warning signs included, for instance:
Radar operator spotting and
reporting the approach from the northwest, of dozens of aircraft, a
report ignored by Peal Harbor military officers, stating planes were
coming from California. There was a slight difference between a half
dozen planes coming from the east and dozens of aircraft coming from
the northwest!
Two mini Japanese
submarines were spotted and attacked outside Pearl Harbor several
hours before the attack.
War was expected at any
time, but the war-footing called for by the warnings were ignored as
aircraft and personnel were placed as if in peaceful days.
On September 11, 2001, a multitude of warnings were received of airliners being hijacked by terrorists, but the same American culture from December 7, 1941, hadn't changed. And probably never will!
Rodney Stich was a crew member on a PBY Squadron (VP-71) based at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, when the Japanese attack occurred. The squadron then rushed to Hawaii to replace the lost PBY patrol planes.
The efforts to warn and correct the conditions that enabled 9/11 to occur reveals an even worse set of conditions then existed on December 7, 1941. Still, the people did nothing, either before, or after, 9/11, to address these areas of arrogance and corruption. Information at various sites, including Site One; Site Two; Site Three; Site Four; Site Five; Site Six; Site Seven; among others.
Even with this documented evidence, and with books and over 20 years of radio and TV appearances, not a single member of the public, including many subsequent victims of the corruption, could exert the backbone to help expose the deep-seated corruption that is the hallmark of America today.
When the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was over, the U.S. losses were:
Casualties
USA : 218 KIA, 364 WIA.
USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA.
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA.
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA.
TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.
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Battleships
USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss when a bomb hit her magazine.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor.
USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage.
USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.
USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk.
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Cruisers
USS New Orleans (CA-32) - Light Damage..
USS San Francisco (CA38) - Light Damage.
USS Detroit (CL-8) - Light Damage.
USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired.
USS Helena (CL-50) - Light Damage.
USS Honolulu (CL-48) - Light Damage..
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Destroyers
USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Cassin - (DD-37 2) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage.
USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage.
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Minelayer
USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Seaplane Tender
USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.
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Repair Ship
USS Vestal (AR-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.
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Harbor Tug
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.
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Aircraft
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.)
Other sites by Rodney Stich: