First bombings
Thad L. Lilly
Schofield Barracks
A few minutes before 8 a.m., “I walked into the mess hall and got hotcakes for breakfast. As I set down to eat, I heard an explosion that I thought was a boiler that had blown up. Suddenly another explosion, then another and another.”
Lilly said, “I ran outside into the quadrangle and saw planes flying overhead. As my eyes scanned the skies, I could see bombers diving on Wheeler Field Air Force Base. Billows of smoke and fire were springing up as bombs were visible falling from planes. I heard someone say, ‘They are pulling better maneuvers this year than last year.’”
“As one plane turned, I saw the insignia (the rising sun) on it. About this time, someone yelled we were being attacked by the Japanese.”
Lilly continued, “The fighter planes were strafing us with machine gun bullets. I ran back in the barracks to get my equipment. There I heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor was under attack, as was Hickam Field. By this time the 21st Infantry Regiment was firing machine guns, M1 rifles and BAR (Browning Automatic Rifles) at the planes.”
“A few days after the attack, I heard the 21st infantry was credited with shooting down six planes — two Japanese and four American planes.”
Taking out our planes
Guy Messacar
Wheeler Field
“I was on guard duty at our hangar, 46th fighter squadron. I was to go off duty at 8 a.m. At about 7:55 Japanese fighter planes started attacking our field, using the sun and clouds for cover. We never knew they were there.”
Messacar continued, “Another fellow and I were standing together and saw the first plane dive, strafe, drop his bomb and pull up. It hit right beside the engineering building.” Soon thereafter “a large number of fighters were bombing and strafing our hangars, planes, barracks and men.”
“Our hangar was hit and burning. Our planes were strafed — all in nice rows in front of the hangar. All were lost, except three or four. They were damaged but not too bad.” Parts were taken from destroyed aircraft to patch up the merely damaged planes. “We got those planes airborne. A hell of a job done.”
Messacar said, “All duty that we were on at the time of the attack was extended. So, I was on guard duty down at the hangar again that night. The hangar was burned out but still smoking. … The officer of the guard was concerned about sabotage that night and said if our post was approached and they wouldn’t identify themselves, we were to shoot and take no chances at all.”
Three days later, he said, “the few planes we had were sent down to Ewa, the Marine base at Pearl. They had lost most of their planes, too. Whatever may be said of the Japanese, one thing for sure: They knew how to fight.”
Messacar added that on Dec. 7, “emotions were the real story on that day. Fear, anger, frustration, hopelessness and hope. And the loss of some good friends.”
Realization unfolds
Gino Gasparelli
Wheeler Field
“The base had been on alert status all week long, until Saturday morning, Dec. 6. The alert was called off after morning inspection, but all of the 48 or so fighter planes were left lined up wingtip to wingtip on the ramp in front of the four large plane hangars. All personnel not on weekend duty could go on weekend pass.”
At about 7:55 a.m., while in the barracks, Gasparelli heard “planes that did not sound anything like our own P-40 or P-36 fighter planes. They also sounded like they were flying very low.”
After running out of the building, he spotted a “large black-painted plane coming toward my barracks. The plane was flying no higher than treetop level, and I could see the machine-gunner in the rear seat. The plane was just about over the barracks when he released a bomb. For a moment I was stunned … and realized we were under an attack.”
