Pearl Harbor

(In this assignment, I was given the sentence "As I was walking along the beach...". I had to continue it.)

As I was walking along the beach, I looked out over the water and saw a ship on the horizon. At the great distance it was, it seemed to be a minute speck. I figured that it was warship heading out to sea from Pearl Harbor across the bay . This was a common sight . Being a kid of fifteen in December of 1941, you get used to this kind of stuff. My father was stationed at Pearl Harbor as a fighter squadron commander so I was used to the military having a presence in my everyday life. However, this early in the mo rning, most of the ships were moored at the dock. I wondered if a German U-boat or Japanese planes had been attacking the merchant ships that leave in the early morning hours. There was only a slight threat of this. However, because the merchant ships were carrying badly n eeded supplies to U.S. Forces on the island of Mindanao, they were guarded ferociously. I looked towards the ship again and saw that it had turned and was steaming back towards Pearl at what appeared to be top speed. I put the old binoculars Grandpa had given me to my eyes and saw that it was indeed an U.S. destroyer. I also noticed that the anti-aircraft guns were fully manned and many of the ships crew was frantically running across the deck to their battle stations . My eyes shifted to the skies and glimpsed planes only a second before I heard the first explosions ac ross the bay at Pearl. I saw large and small ships alike scrambling to get to sea in the midst of massive fireballs as ammunition dumps went off. Many of the battleships on Battleship Row were already flaming with men desperately leaping off the sides. I looked to sea again and saw that the lone ship had already capsized, was on fire, and was beginning to sink. The stinking Germans, I thought. It has to be them. I was astonished at the speed the apparent attack had come and surprised at the damage it had already caused. I turned and ran towards my family\rquote s beachfront cottage. The binoculars were thumping against my chest and I was breathing heavily as I ran up to the house just in time to see my father jump in the jeep and start to speed off. Ignoring my mother\rquote s plaintive pleas to come to the house and get into the bomb shelter with her, I sprinted and jumped in the back of the jeep unbeknownst to my father. As we neared the base, I could hear the air raid klaxons wailing and smell th e smoke that was creating a thick pall in the air. When we raced by the docks, I saw most of the flaming ships resting on the bottom of the shallow harbor either on their sides or bottoms with smoke billowing out of gaping holes in their decks. Many of the adjacent buildings were leveled and also spewing smoke. We turned right, away from the harbor, and drove toward my father\rquote s airfield. As we passed through the twisted gate, we could immediately see that strafing attacks from enemy fighters had destroyed all of his squadron\rquote s airplanes. I looked to the sky for the first time and saw a plane release its bombs overhead and fly off. The plane had red circles on the bottom of the wings. JAPANESE!!! It was unbelievable that they would attack a United States terri tory. My father braked to a stop and I dove behind the jeep to escape the concussion of the bombs hitting the squadron headquarters. As I stood up, I saw that my father had been hit with shrapnel and was bleeding profusely from his stomach. Dead airmen w ere lying everywhere as the last of the Japanese bombers sped over the horizon. I went to my unconscious father to help him. As I ripped off my shirt to stop the flow of blood, I looked around at the horror and carnage everywhere. I could not believe t he audacity of the Japanese to do this. Later, I would realize that I had been witness to the attack that would result in the loss of many Japanese and Allied lives in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.