Item Description
Original Items: Only One Available. There are no words for this massive collection of Pearl Harbor related photographs and documents. There are a vast number of official copies as well as originals featured in this binder. Each page has a sheet protector containing either photos, documents and both. There are even negatives and projector sheets containing blueprints of the U.S.S. Arizona! Truly a breathtaking collection.
About 7:45 a.m., through the crackle and buzz of interference, gunnery and anti-aircraft officer Benny Mott was jolted by pilots’ voices rising with alarm over the radio transmitter aboard the USS Enterprise. They were shouting to one another.
“Hey, did you see that army plane shooting at me?”
“That’s no army plane! That’s a Japanese plane! Look at the red circles on his wings!”
“That bastard! I’m going to shoot back!”
They charged back-and-forth as Squadron Six and the equally surprised Japanese pilots tangled in view of Pearl Harbor.
Relieved of his watch, Benny raced past the duty bugler and the officer of the deck, then past the quartermaster and the helmsman. He was heading for the secret radar console between the flag bridge and the ship’s bridge. Benny found Jack Baumeister, Enterprise radar officer, hidden behind a long black curtain. Heart at a gallop, Benny told Jack what he’d heard on the pilot’s frequency. “Can we get anything on radar?”
Perspiring, Jack leaned forward in his chair and peered at a cluster of echoing blips of unknown origin making their way across the screen of the ship’s new radar machine. “It’s strange,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of bogies, but I shouldn’t be getting any. We’re a hundred and forty-four miles away, so they have to be flying really high for me to even get them on radar—I mean at least twenty thousand feet.”
“Have you reported this?” Benny asked, incredulous. Jack replied that he had, but his tone betrayed a lack of confidence in the new radar technology. By then, however, numerous planes had sent messages back to Enterprise confirming the worst. Benny and Jack stood together staring at the screen, the top half seeming to crawl with ants. Within seconds, the ship’s sirens screamed. The radioman had received an official coded message: “Enemy air raid on Pearl Harbor X This no drill.”
Over the next two hours, the enemy force, commanded by Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, leveled the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
The first page of this binder is a report written (typed) by Commander E.G. Hoylman of the U.S. Navy to his commanding officer. The report is as follows:
From: Commander E.G. Hoylman, (DC) U.S. Navy
To: Commanding Officer
Subject: Report on Air Raid, December 7, 1941
On the morning of December 7, 1941, I was awakened by gunfire and explosions. Calling my wife, we hastily dressed and decided to drive at once to Pearl Harbor, in order that I might return to my ship. Just as we stepped outside our apartment an aerial bomb exploded nearby, killing on man and injuring another.
Arriving at the Navy Yard gate we were stopped and advised that Mrs. Hoylman would not be permitted to enter the Yard. I immediately got out of the car, and being unable to secure transportation at the moment, I started walking and running toward the club landing. When nearly there two officers in a car overtook me and gave me a lift to Ten Ten dock. They said that would be the best place to get a boat. After some delay, I was able to get a ride out in a motor launch. Arriving on board the ship, which was listing to port and burning amid-ships, I rendered first aid and sent the injured and burned men to the dressing station on Ford Island, or Eiea or the Naval Hospital as the cases warranted. After several hours of this work I was sent to the improvised hospital on Ford Island to help transfer the men to the Naval Hospital. Upon their transfer I returned to the ship, where I was able to give further aid to some of the injured men.
Later I made several trips ashore to procure food and coffee for the men remaining on board.
The rest of the night was spent in the dispensary on Ford Island, where I was able to render some slight assistance in taking care of the injured men being retained there. Dr. Jewell, our senior medical officer, was suffering from shock, and burns about his head and face and right arm, and was running a moderately high temperature. Twice during the night it was necessary for me to administer opiates.
Since the Air Station Dispensary was sorely taxed for supplies our first aid boxes, which had been placed in accessible places about the ship, were invaluable. They were at once taken ashore and the supplies they contained were used by all doctors and corpsmen giving assistance.
E.G. HOYLMAN
Commander Hoylman was the Damage Control Officer aboard the U.S.S. California during the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor.
California was moored in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked the port, bringing the United States into World War II. The ship was moderately damaged by a pair of torpedoes and a bomb, but a fire disabled the ship's electrical system, preventing the pumps from being used to keep the ship afloat. California slowly filled with water over the following three days and eventually sank. Her crew suffered heavy casualties in the attack and four men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the attack. She was raised in April 1942, repaired and heavily rebuilt, and returned to service in January 1944.
The ship thereafter supported the amphibious operations conducted during the Pacific War, including the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign (though she was damaged in a collision with Tennessee and thus missed the Battle of Peleliu) and the Philippines campaign, during which she took part in the Battle of Surigao Strait. She was hit by a kamikaze during the invasion of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945, after repairs, joined the fleet supporting troops fighting on Okinawa during the Battle of Okinawa. Her crew took part in the occupation of Japan after the end of the war, and after returning to the United States via the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, was laid up in Philadelphia in 1946. She remained in the fleet's inventory until 1959, when she was broken up for scrap.
This is truly an incredible grouping just filled to the brim with amazing history. This collection comes ready for further research and display!
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