MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii -- When the media and WWII historians speak of the Japanese-Attack on Oahu on December 7th, 1941, no mention is made of the attack on Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay. Hopefully some of these shortcomings can be corrected by a recently published book, "The Forgotten Warriors of Kaneohe;' by John "Sid" Kennedy.
NAS Kaneohe Bay was the brainchild of Cmdr. Harold M. Martin who envisioned the base as a training headquarters for the then PBY type patrol aircraft. Martin commissioned the base on February 15, 1941, and soon after Patrol Squadrons 11, 12 and 14, and by November 15, had received 36 new PBY-5 type aircraft from Consolidated Aircraft Company of San Diego, CA. A Patrol Air Wing control center was formed to oversee the training and support of these three squadrons.
Patrol Wing One was under the command of Cmdr. Knefler "Stuffy" McGinnis, with the squadron CO's, VP-11, Lt. Cmdr. L.W. Johnson; VP-12, Lt. Cdr. A.E. Buckley and VP-14, Lt. Thurston B. Clark. Maj. John C. Donehoo was CO of the base Marine detachment of 103 men, and Cdr. Harold M. Martin was the overall base commander of 342 men consisting of 303 enlisted personnel, 31 commissioned officers and 8 warrant officers including Chief Gunner William C. Cronin.
On November 29, 1941, base personnel held their monthly inspection and review on the parade ground in front of the barracks. At the conclusion of inspection and review, Martin called all hands around the reviewing stand and made this statement. "We are as close to going to war as we will ever be." December 7th, eight days later was the day.
Reveille was early on the morning of December 7th, 1941 for the three flight crews of VP-14, with the first plane 14-P-1 flown by Ensign Tanner airborne at 6:30 a.m., followed by 14-P-2 piloted by Ensign Willis, and 14-P-3 flown by Ensign Meyer. I believe that in as much as it was Sunday, and in the Navy, Rank Has Its Privileges prevails. The senior pilots of these three planes slept and let the young ensigns gain some much-needed experience.
At 6:50 a.m., Ensign Tanner's co-pilot, Ensign Clark, sighted the periscope of a submarine just off the channel into Pearl Harbor. The USS Ward was close by. Ensign Tanner dropped two float lights to retain contact. He circled the submarine and dropped two depth charges in front of the sub. As the sub submerged to port, he dropped one more depth charge. He notified Combat wing at 7:00 a.m., who asked for verification after about 15 minutes. Ensign Tanner became the senior Navy airman in the air over pearl Harbor for several hours.
At 7:52 a.m., at NAS Kaneohe, the first Zero fighters appeared strafing four standby ready planes on the bay and setting them on fire, and flying up and down the rows of parked PBY-5s setting most of them on fire. Manpower loss on the base was lessened by the fact that all but one of the crew on each plane on the bay was at chow.
Chaos reigned during the fighter attack, as efforts to try and save some of the planes which hadn't been damaged, with three planes prepared to enter the water as the 9 bombers flew over and followed by another section of zeros, about forty five minutes later.
Attempts were made to set up a defense and fire machine guns, rifles, pistols and even potatoes if you had one handy. The station armory was locked and the door had to be broken open to retrieve any arms at all.
A few machine guns were salvaged from the burning PBYs and set up in hastily dug pits or on a pipe driven into the earth. Lt. John Finn, ordnance chief of VP-14, could not fathom anyone attacking his base, and he provided many of us with his courage under fire. He used one of his training gun mounts, set it up out in the open on the apron adjacent to his shop, mounted a salvaged .50 caliber machine, and with Peterson feeding him ammunition, he fired at every Japanese plane that came close. Although wounded numerous times, he continued firing until ordered by an officer to report to the sick bay for his wounds. He didn't stay long and was back on the seaplane ramp in short order with his gunnery crew.
Lieutenant Finn received the Medal of Honor from Admiral Chester Nimitz for his actions. Peterson received the Navy Cross.
At about8: 45 a.m., 9 horizontal bombers appeared from the carrier Shokaku, and dropped 18 bombs on the hangar and sea- plane ramp areas. Three, 500 -pound bombs hit the south east corner of hangar one destroying most of VP-12's records and office equipment. The largest number of casualties occurred at this location.
I was an ambulatory patient in the dispensary, which is now building 216, and was walking down an aisle when I heard machine gun fire from towards the entrance to Kaneohe Bay. Looking out the window, I saw a plane bearing a large red circle on the fuselage and it seemed to be firing at our lone SOC and J2F on the airstrip. Then, the rest of the fighters appeared and laid waste to our base. Shortly thereafter the wounded began arriving at sick bay. I was put to work moving wounded and bodies to the morgue.
A short medical staff of five doctors and about 25 corpsmen did an excellent job, considering that only the duty section was on board at the time of the attack. During the second strafing attack, I noticed 6 patients standing out in the open wearing white gowns watching the attack. As I went out the rear ward door, I saw a zero zooming in on the sick bay from the sea. I ran out. I herded the patients toward the sick bay. As I closed the door behind us, I heard the machine gun bullets hit the concrete overhead and the full length of the yard.
After the bombers left, the second, three-section flight of Zero fighters from the carrier Soryu led by Lt. Fusata Iida attacked the base, and completed their destruction of Kaneohe. By this time, several machine gun pits had been erected, and a more concentrated fire was directed at the Japanese. Lieutenant Junior Grade Iyoza Fujia, leader of the second section, said that Lt. Iida's plane had been hit at the fuel tanks and he could not return to the carrier.
He said that Lt. Iida motioned that he was going to crash his plane into a target. He came close, but missed the Bachelor Officer Quarters by a couple hundred yards. The other two pilots in his section also failed to return to their ship, Petty Officer 1st Class Shun-Ichi Atsumi and Petty Officer 2nd Class Saburo Ishi.
Casualties for the 2,000 plus personnel on the base were not severe. Eighteen service personnel and one civilian employee were killed. The men were buried with full military honors.
One sad point to remark on is the fact that only three medals were given out amongst all Kaneohe personnel: 1 Medal of Honor, 1 Navy Cross and 1 DFC. Harold M. Martin was asked about the oversight when he returned to Kaneohe some years later, and remarked that all his men acted in the highest traditions of the Navy, and therefore, were heroes in his eyes.