SUNDAY IN HELL: PEARL HARBOR MINUTE BY MINUTE






A powerful and surprising new history published beginning 11 November 2011 in e-book and print-on-demand forms.

Effective 1 April 2014, Open Road Integrated Media purchased E-Reads and now manages the approximate 1,200 titles E-Reads held, including Sunday in Hell, Pearl Harbor Minute by Minute.


Photograph Gallery

Photograph Credits Guide

Bill McWilliams Links

Chapter 11 Photos

Chapter 12 Photos

Chapter 13 Photos

Chapter 14 Photos



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Chapter 11: Reverberations



Matson Navigation Company's SS Matsonia before conversion to a troop transport. MNC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Soldiers' bunks, four high and consisting of canvas lashed to pipes and supported by chains, comprised the sleeping quarters for troops on the Matsonia after she was converted. MNC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The US Army Transport Monterey was chartered by the government on 3 December 1941 with plans underway to convert to a troop transport and carry troops to Manila, Philippine Islands. Note the deck gun mounted on the forward deck. When news of the Pearl Harbor attack came she was in San Francisco harbor, where she was relieved of her cargo and reloaded with plane parts and other vital war material. All three Matson liners were diverted to Oahu, departing in Convoy 2005 on 16 December with troops and war materials to reinforce the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions against a possible Japanese invasion of the island. MNC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Lurline, fully converted to a troop transport, leaving Brisbane, Australia on
11 September 1945, with 3,560 persons on board, including Australian war brides. MNC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Positions of Japanese Submarines off the West Coas
of the United States, December 1941.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Japanese submarine I-70, after sustaining damage in a pre- war collision. IJN



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The Matson Line's freighter, Lahaina, sunk by Japanese submarine I-9,
on 11 December 1941, about 700 miles northeast of Oahu. MNC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The night of 7 December Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox decided he must go to Oahu to conduct a personal - but obviously official visit and preliminary investigation. In a highly classified mission he departed Anacostia Naval Air Station, California, at the south end of San Francisco Bay, aboard a large Navy seaplane, on 9 December 1941, and arrived safely at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on Thursday 11 December. Lieutenant Commander 'Beauty' Martin, Kaneohe's commander, met him at the seaplane ramp and showed him the devastated air station, the wrecked PBYs, the burned hangars, and the officers and men 'trying to salvage something of value.' This photograph is an aerial view of the hangar area at Kaneohe, 9 December 1941, two days after the Japanese air attack destroyed nearly all of the station's patrol planes. Note wrecked hangar in center. There are at least six PBY 'Catalina' flying boats on the ramp and around the hangars. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Secretary Knox saw what was left of Hangar 2 at Kaneohe, after this photo
was taken during or shortly after the raid, when it was burning.
Note the apparent bomb crater in the foreground. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Pearl Harbor presented a grisly picture to Secretary Knox and his group of visitors, 'the shambles of the Battle Line of the world's mightiest fleet.' Foremost in their minds, however, 'was the human loss and suffering.' During the visit, they watched men remove bodies from the oil-covered waters while others worked briskly 'clearing up wreckage and preparing for another attack.' The most painful sight of all were the hundreds of wounded at the Naval Hospital, some 'so terribly burned and charred as to be beyond recognition.' The next morning he visited the Hawaiian Department's command post for an extensive briefing. He spent about two hours in the command post, and was given photographs of damage, and casualty lists to take back to Washington. Photographs typical of what he might have received included the bomb crater between Hangars 15-17 and 11-13 at Hickam Field. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



At Hickam heavily damaged Hangar 11 after the attack.
Note the tail of the damaged aircraft. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Wreckage and debris scattered among hangars at Hickam. Firemen work
feverishly to operate pump from a damaged fire truck. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Wheeler Field interior close-up of Hangar 1 after Japanese bombing attack. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Japanese bombing of Hangar 3 at Wheeler Field. The roar of flames at Hangar 3 when it was burning was punctuated by firecracker-like explosions from the great quantity of ammunition taken out of aircraft parked on the ramp and stored in the hangar. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Wheeler Field soldier looks over the remains of a P-40.
Note Hangar 4 in the background. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Army Air Force officer inspecting the wreckage of planes at Wheeler Field. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Army Air Force Lieutenant General Delos C. Emmons was already on Oahu 17 December 1941,
leading an investigation team dispatched to the island by General Marshall when he
was directed to relieve and replace General Short, effective that day. USAF



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Front row L-R, Lieutenant General Walter C. Short, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel; L-R, Major General Frederick L. Martin and Rear Admiral Patrick N.L. Bellinger, in an undated photograph. Kimmel, Short and Martin were informed of their reliefs from command on 16 December 1941. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Chapter 12: Surprise Departure, and '...Am Going Home"



Cruiser St. Louis (CL-49), the command ship for Task Group 15.6, escorting Convoy 2005, which left San Francisco on 16 December 1941 - the first wartime troopship convoy to leave the West
Coast for the Pacific Theater. Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 6 March 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Lawrence (DD-250) led St. Louis, the two Task Group 15.6 submarine screens and Convoy 2005 out of San Francisco Harbor, passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge at 1640 hours on 16 December 1941. She left the formation on the 18th and returned to Mare Island. Photo taken off Mare Island Navy Yard, 23 June 1942. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Preston (DD-379), submarine screen for Task Group 15.6 and
Convoy 2005. Cropped photo at the Mare Island Navy Yard, 15 August 1942. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Smith (DD-378), submarine screen for Task Group 15.6 and
Convoy 2005. Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 28 July 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Light cruiser Phoenix (CL-46), the command ship and lead escort for Task Group 15.7 and Convoy 2004, which departed San Francisco for Honolulu. She was underway at 0636 hours the morning of 17 December 1941, leading three destroyers, the supply ship Aldebaran (AF-10) and the transports Tasker H. Bliss and SS President Garfield. An additional transport out of San Diego and two oilers from the port of San Pedro joined the formation on 18 December. In this photo she steams down the main channel off Ford Island's burning battleships, past the sunken and burning West Virginia, at left, and Arizona, at right, approximately 1110 hours, shortly after the raid ended the morning of 7 December 1941. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Cushing (DD-376), submarine screen for Convoy 2004, departed San
Francisco for Honolulu early morning 17 December 1941. Photo
taken off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 15 July 1942. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Perkins (DD-377), submarine screen for Convoy 2004, en route from
San Francisco to Honolulu. Photographed from the seaplane tender
TAngeer (AV-8) in a south Pacific harbor, 25 February 1942. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Humphreys (DD-236) submarine screen for Convoy 2004. Photo taken of the
World War I-era 'four-stacker' destroyer off Mare Island Navy Yard, 20 March 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Supply ship Aldebaran (AF-10), sailed in Convoy 2004, heavily loaded with ammunition
and carrying 104 seamen to new assignments in the Pacific Fleet. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



US Army Transport Tasker H. Bliss, a 12,568-ton transport, here the former SS President Cleveland is pictured under Dollar Line ownership. Later acquired by the Presidents' Line, she was leased by the Army 31 July 1941, and was capable of carrying 2,435 troops. In Convoy 2004 she carried the 1st and Provisional Battalions of the 161st Infantry Regiment to reinforce troop strength on Oahu. NPSSFHMML



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Transport SS President Garfield, troop transport in
Convoy 2004, San Francisco to Honolulu. NPSSFHMML



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



After dark on 17 December, 200 miles south of Oahu, Japanese submarine I-75 torpedoed and sank in approximately six minutes, another Matson freighter, the 3,252-ton SS Manini. The sinking was so rapid, her crew had no time to send an emergency signal. MNC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Curtiss SOC-3 scout-observation floatplanes, named 'Seagull,' flying in formation circa 1938-39, were aboard cruisers prior to and during World War II. These aircraft were part of Cruiser Scouting Squadron 9 (VCS-9), which included the cruisers Honolulu (CL-48), St. Louis (CL-49), Phoenix (CL-46), and Detroit (CL-8). NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Transport USS Harris (AP-8), sailed out of San Diego and joined Convoy 2004 on the 18th, accompanied by the oilers Platte (AO-24) and Sabine (AO-25), which sailed out of San Pedro to meet the Harris. Destroyer Division Seventy escorted and performed submarine screening duties for the three ships. Each tanker carried nearly its maximum capacity of diesel oil, fuel oil, and gasoline, a total of 146,000 barrels - or approximately 8,030,000 gallons - to be discharged into storage tanks in Honolulu, at Hickam Field, and in Pearl Harbor. The Harris was carrying supplies, military equipment and provisions in its cargo holds, a company of 177 marines from the headquarters, 2nd Marine Division, with their unit equipment; a detachment of 33 medical corpsmen and two doctors, 74 Navy, Marine Corps and Army officers, and six civilians including two doctors. NPSSFHMML



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The oiler USS Sabine (AO-25) joined Convoy 2004 the morning
of 18 December 1941, en route to Oahu. NPSSFHMML



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Oiler Platte (AO-24) joined Convoy 2004 the morning of
18 December 1941, en route to Oahu. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Cruiser Detroit (CL-8), command ship of Task Force 15.2 convoyed the Coolidge and Scott from Honolulu to San Francisco, departing 19 December 1941. Coolidge and Scott arrived in Honolulu 16 December, having departed from Manila, Philippines, the last days of November, carrying normal loads of passengers - but took on additional passengers, mandatory evacuees from Oahu, including 180 severely wounded in the 7 December attack. (125 on Coolidge and 55 on Scott) Detroit photographed off the Mare Island Navy Yard, 18 February 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Cummings (DD-365), submarine screen for Task Force 15.2. The convoy arrived
in San Francisco Christmas Day, 1941. Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 4 March 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



USS Reid (DD-369), submarine screen for Convoy 2004. Photo
taken off Mare Island Navy Yard, 22 March 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Tucker (DD-374), with destroyers Flusser and Case, composed the submarine screen for Task Force 16. TF-16 departed Pearl Harbor for repair and modernization Saturday, 20 December 1941, and included the bomb-damaged battleships Maryland, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. In this photograph, Tucker is off Mare Island Navy Yard, 14 March 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Flusser (DD-368), submarine screen for Task Force 16.
Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 12 January 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Destroyer Case (DD-370), submarine screen in Task Force 16.
Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 20 February 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The first full convoy load of mandatory evacuees, totaling 3,504, the great majority women and children, departed from Honolulu for the West Coast on three Matson Liners, the Lurline, Matsonia and Monterey, 26 December 1941. The evacuation was hurriedly planned, chaotic, tense and fear-filled. They were sailing into the teeth of an obviously dangerous submarine threat. Joey Border and other evacuees encountered the conditions illustrated in this 31 December photograph, when they processed in at the Castle and Cooke Ship Office to board the Lurline no earlier than 1 p.m. and no later than 4 p.m. on Christmas Day. The captain of the Lurline knew he had 57 wounded on board, plus a doctor and two nurses to care for them, but the hectic pace of loading the three liners, prevented his knowing how many passengers he had on board, until a count was obtained en route. UHHL



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Chapter 13: Three Matson Ladies Plus Escorts: Convoy 4032



Admiral Chester W. Nimitz arrived in Pearl Harbor on Christmas Day 1941, and
took command of the Pacific Fleet in a 31 December ceremony. NPSAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Joey Border, having arrived in Honolulu on board the beautifully appointed Lurline in September 1941, remarked in her diary on 26 December after she saw the ship's 'redecorated' Grand Ballroom - '...Fooey!' Following is similar to what she observed. Interior of Lurline"s Grand Ballroom after the liner was fully converted to a troopship. Photographed on 15 June 1942 when 67th, 68th and 72nd Army Ordanance Companies were billeted in the room, Pier 39, San Francisco Port of Embarkation. USAMHI



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The destroyer Sands (DD-243) rendezvoused with Task Force 16 when it split on 27 December 1941. With the Tucker she performed submarine screening duties, bringing the Pennsylvania
(BB-38) into San Francisco. Off Mare Island Navy Yard, 10 February 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Battleship Pennsylvania undergoing repair and modernization,
Mare Island Navy Yard, 2 March 1942. NAPR



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Port of San Francisco circa 1938. In this photograph, one of the Matson Navigation Company's passenger liners is moored at Pier 32S, the third slip to the left of the Oakland Bay Bridge. On 31 December 1941, Lurline moored at Pier 30N, on the north side of the U formed by Piers 30 and 32. SFHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



United Airlines ticket office at 400 Post Street and the intersection of Powell Street, at the northwest corner of Union Square, where Joey Border purchased tickets to Seattle, Washington, for her and 'the Tennessee Twelve' 31 December 1941. Note the bus parked in front of the ticket office, the same means of transportation they took to the San Francisco Airport at 5:00 pm for a 6:50 pm departure on Flight 11. SFAMC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Exterior of the San Francisco Airport, circa December 1941. SFAMC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Interior of the San Francisco Airport, circa December 1941. SFHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



United Airlines Flight 11, the 21-passenger, Douglas Mainliner Club DC-3 named 'City of Seattle,' which flew Joey Border and the Tennessee Twelve to Seattle, the night of
31 December 1941. They arrived in Seattle at midnight. SFAMC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Chapter 14: Love and Sacrifice



Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, who commanded the Carrier Striking Force at Pearl Harbor, and his Army peer, General Yoshitsugu Saito, attempted to defend the island of Saipan against the American assault. On 6 July 1944, in the final stages of the Battle of Saipan, Nagumo committed suicide. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Imperial Japanese Navy, was killed on Bouganville Island in the Solomons 18 April 1943, by coincidence Easter Sunday and the first anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, when his Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty' transport bomber was shot down by Army Air Force P-38G aircraft flying out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. Portrait photograph, taken during the early 1940s, when he was Commander in Chief, Combined Fleet. NHHC



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The cruiser New Orleans (CA-32) Camouflaged at Tulagi, Solomon Islands, some days after she was torpedoed during the Battle of Tassafaronga on 30 November 1942. Note that her stern is riding high, and that her forward end is low in the water. The torpedo and subsequent explosion had severed her bow between # 1 and # 2 eight-inch gun turrets. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The destroyer Ward (APD-16), converted to a fast transport, burning in Ormoc Bay, Leyte, Philippine Islands, after she was hit by a Kamikaze on 7 December 1944. The destroyer O'Brien (DD-725) is fighting fires from alongside, as landing craft circle to rescue survivors. The O'Brien later sunk the Ward with gunfire. Photographed from the Crosby (APD-17). Ironically, the commanding officer of the O'Brien that day was William W. Outerbridge, who commanded the Ward three years to the day earlier, when her crew fired the first shot of the Pacific war and sunk the Japanese midget submarine outside the entrance to Pearl Harbor. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The President Coolidge, sinking on 26 October 1942 after hitting two mines while traversing the Scorff Passage into Segond Channel, Espiritu Santo Island, New Hebrides. Troops of the 172nd Regimental Combat Team, the 43rd Division, climb down ropes and cargo nets to escape as the ship lists to port at a rate of about one degree per minute. Some are fortunate to be taken to shore by lifeboat or raft, others must swim. Two men lost their lives in the tragic accident, which could have been far worse were it not for the actions of Captain Henry Nelson, his crew and the disciplined response by the officers and men of the 172nd RCT. NA



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Joey pins on Bob Border's Navy wings of gold, Pensacola,
Florida, September 1942. Borders' Collection.



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



The adopted squadron emblem of VC-40, a measure of respect accorded their skipper,
Lieutenant Commander John H. 'Red' Pennoyer, who had brought them together at
Tongue Point Naval Air Station, Oregon, and taken them to war. NNAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Composite Squadron (VC) 40's combat tour in the South Pacific between August 1943 and April 1944 included numerous shifts to new airfields as Allied forces advanced up the Solomon Islands chain. VC-40 was a ground based Navy squadron, and conditions were rustic, as evidenced by aircrews seated on a log on the island of Bougainville for a mission briefing. NNAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Squadron photograph of VC-40 on Bougainville Island at the conclusion of their combat tour. The squadron's combat tally displayed on the board shows 1084 sorties with successful destruction of aircraft, ships, and enemy antiaircraft positions. Note that the squadron flew SBD Dauntless dive bombers and TBF Avenger torpedo bombers during their tour. NNAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



With a 1,000 lb. bomb on the centerline and a 100 lb. bomb on each wing, an SBD-5 Dauntless dive bomber of Composite Squadron VC-40 taxis to the end of the runway on Torokina for take off on a strike against Talili Bay west of Rabaul on 6 April 1944. This aircraft was part of a ninety-plane strike group consisting of both Navy and Marine planes. Bob Border and his radioman/gunner, R.W. Walcott, flew this mission, and two days later completed their last, and most memorable bombing mission with VC-40. NNAM



* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Photograph Credits Guide


HA - Hawaii State Archives

IJN - Imperial Japanese Navy

MNC - Matson Navigation Company

NA - National Archives

NAPAR - National Archives Pacific Alaska Region

NAPR - National Archives Pacific Region

NNAM - National Naval Aviation Museum Collection

NPSAM - National Park Service, Arizona Memorial

NPSSFHMML - National Park Service, San Francisco Maritime Museum and National Historical Park Library

NHHC - Naval History and Heritage Command

SFAMC - San Francisco Airport Museum Collection, gift of United Airlines

SFHC - San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

UDML - University of Detroit Mercy Library, Photographic digital image from the Fr. Edward J. Dowling, S.J. Marine Historical Collection

UHHL - University of Hawaii, Hamilton Library Archives and Special Collections

PAAR/UMLSCF - Pan American World Airways, Inc. Records, Special Collections, University of Miami Libraries, Coral Gables, Florida

USAF - US Air Force

USAFM - US Air Force Museum

USA - US Army

USAMHI - U.S. Army Military History Institute, World War II Signal Corps Photograph Collection

USMASC - USMC Archives and Special Collections, Jordan Collection

USMCHC - US Marine Corps History Center

USN - US Navy

Borders' Collection - Robert Lee and Mary Joleen Border


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *



Webmaster: Tom Sims, USMA '55

All rights reserved - Bill McWilliams