The Upcountry History Museum and The Greenville News commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with excerpts from the Museum’s World War II Oral History Project.
On December 7, 1941, I was the gunner’s mate, a petty officer. I was shore patrol [military police]. So, I had duty that day over in Honolulu for shore patrol. So, I came up on the pier up on the quarter deck. I was in my dress whites…About 8:00 on a Sunday morning… I was on the quarter deck, and the officer of the deck looked up… there was a red ball above us, flying right in. It was exploding, and the war was happening. He said, “This is no fooling. This is an attack. The Japanese are attacking.” And they flew right over us, and hit the battleships. We were on one side of the harbor, the battleships were all on the other side of the harbor. They flew right over us to get to the battleships and, they hit the battleships first…The [Japanese pilot] was smiling and laughing because he knew he had caught us by surprise. We didn’t have the slightest idea what was happening…it was confusion that day. It wasn’t fun whatsoever
-William A. Boggs, Navy
On December 7, 1941, I was 9 years old and living on Ford Island, a small island in the middle of Pearl Harbor, alongside which was the ill-fated battleship row. My brother Tom and I were reading the funny paper…when we heard loud explosions. We went outside the house…and saw planes circling above, with big red balls on their wings and fuselages. My brother and I were told by my mother to proceed to a concrete structure designated as an air raid shelter for dependents…my mother and sister came later. A Japanese rear seat gunner machine gunned my mother and sister as they were crossing an open area en route to the shelter- fortunately missing both….My brother, sister, and I left the island in mid-afternoon by motor launch, and we could see lots of smoke and damaged ships… My mother stayed on Ford Island for a couple of days to help get our quarters turned into an additional hospital for the many burned and injured soldiers from the ships.
- Jim Shoemaker, his father was Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Station on Ford Island
Gas was fifteen cents a gallon and… it didn’t cost too much to take a ride in a car, and… me and my wife…. my father-in-law and mother-in-law were in the car and were up around Tryon, NC, and he had the radio on… and it came over the radio that… Pearl Harbor had been bombed. I’m going to be honest with you. I had never heard of Pearl Harbor. I didn’t know what Pearl Harbor was, but as they began to tell what was going on, I could tell it was pretty bad.
- Oscar Masters, Army
Rachel…was my wife for 63 years. We were dating. We didn’t know what to do because the war was on and who could plan anything? And we didn’t know where we were going to be a year from now, whether we’d be living or not. And it was a Sunday afternoon. We didn’t even have the radio on and we got back and somebody said Pearl Harbor has been bombed. We said that night what are we going to do? And pretty soon we decided we were going to be married and take whatever of life is left. And we did.
- Charles Nanney, Army Air Corps
Well, as a young child, one of the things we did on Sunday afternoons was to take rides. Southerners took rides on Sunday afternoon, and listened to the radio. So, I can remember we were out taking our Sunday afternoon ride, and suddenly, the music we were listening to was interrupted. And the announcement was made that Pearl Harbor had been bombed that morning. I remember my mother saying, “Oh, no. It’s all over.” It was as if this impending sense of doom had finally arrived. And what had been a very pleasant Sunday, suddenly turned into a conversation of all the family members who were of an age who were likely to go.
- A.V. Huff; Professor Emeritus, Furman University
I was working with Converse Opera Group on the scenery for the next opera production. We were on the stage at Converse College with the radio on. And all of the sudden came this interruption and it was talking about Pearl Harbor being bombed. Well, nobody knew where the hell Pearl Harbor was or what it was. It didn’t mean anything to us accept we knew from the tension in the voice of the announcer and the importance of the announcement that it was bad news. And of course it was bad news. But I had never heard of Pearl Harbor. But when I knew what it was all about, I knew I had to enlist and serve my country the moment I was 18.
- Ben Deluca, Marine Corps
I remember nursing at the hospital and when we heard the news we were devastated. And we couldn’t understand why our country allowed such a thing. What happened so that the Japanese were allowed to bomb us? And we were just crushed.
- Carmela Hudson, Army Nurse
Of course, afterwards, we all went in to the auditorium at the high school and we listened to President Roosevelt ask Congress for a Declaration of War; that’s the famous “Day of Infamy” speech. And that first year of the war, 1941- 42, was a very depressing time for Americans.…Pearl Harbor was certainly a Day of Infamy and it…still is today.
– Dr. Clarence “Hots” Easley, Navy
I know exactly where I was… it was a late Sunday afternoon…I was at Dacus Drugstore at Judson Crossing. I picked it up on the radio… everybody knew we were going to war because you couldn’t let the Japanese attack us like they did and let them get away with it.
- Herb Crews, Army Air Corps
I was at the Judson Crossing, which is a neighborhood drug store… and, the afternoon on December the 7th we heard over the radio the Pearl Harbor Incident. And, uh, so, [I] went home to tell my mother and dad about it. They hadn’t heard it. And I realized that it was a whole national effort, and that’s what frustrates me now. People don’t know how to sacrifice. But, uh, we had to sacrifice. I still have books, ration stamps, and stuff like that. You had to have a stamp to buy rubber tires and gasoline and sugar and coffee and almost anything that was in short supply. We saved fat, grease drippings. We saved the aluminum foil, I guess, around cigarettes, and chewing gum, and stuff like that. Everybody had a victory garden that they raised their vegetables with, and so it was the whole, the whole United States was preoccupied with either producing or serving. And so it was a common thread that I haven’t seen since then.
- Herb Crews, Army Air Corps
And while we were listening [to the radio] they said we interrupt this broadcast to tell you that Pearl Harbor has been bombed by the Japanese. Well in that instant I knew where my future was. I mean there was no doubt about it. I knew I’d be in the Air Force.
- Bob Lawrence, Army Air Corps
I knew it was terribly serious. I knew that all three of us boys in that car were going to be affected, but there was no way to foresee it. We were just country boys, and what I knew about war was what I read in the books, but uh, we knew that our lives had changed.
- Chester A. Reece, Marines
I remember it was…well, I didn’t understand the full, the full impact of it ‘cause, you know, being up from the farm, we had limited access to the, all the worldly things that was going on. But… we knew that it was a bad thing; didn’t know what war was at that point, but I knew we would be involved in it. And I think the… history would show that a lot of the young folks enlisted right, right quick. And… they just understood that’s what they had to do, go fight for the country. We understood there was an attack on our…on the United States and… we’d have to defend it.
- Dick Karpik, Army Air Corps
And we heard it over the radio that they had attacked Pearl Harbor. And… we decided right then that we’d probably be involved, my buddy and I, coming back, and we would be involved… it was not too long after that that I enlisted.
- Dick Karpik, Army Air Corps
But on December 7th…my Sunday job was to go to Camp Croft, pick up three or four soldiers and bring them to the USO Center at the Synagogue. And I had done that and when we got there, of course, we heard the news. And they said, “What do we do?” I said, “I guess I better take you back.” And I did and, uh, from then out, of course, it was a scary time.
- Irving Abrams
I just was willing to do what was necessary. And I just felt like it was part of my duty. My father had been in World War I… and he had been quite a strong soldier in that war. All I wanted to do was just be a part of a group that stuck together and we did what we had to do.
- Earl Hudson, Army
Well, I was greatly shocked like everybody. I knew that meant we would be right in the thick of it.
- Mary Simms Oliphant Furman
And this announcement came over the radio. And I ran out and caught my brother and his wife before they got away and said you better come in here there’s something really happening. And they did, they came back in and that was the first that I knew about Pearl Harbor.
- Gene Burns, Army
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