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Alice Adams - Witness to Pearl Harbor Dec 7th 1941.


Alice Adams was the child of an Army Air Corps crewman stationed at Hickam Field that morning. There are very few stories of civilians experiences on that day. Alice's will be a rare perspective on the days leading up to, during, and after the attack.

Work In progress..6/01/2006

Alice: We lived there on Dec 7th. We were in full view of it all, right in the middle. I was 10 years old, and now, nearly 75, have not forgotten a minute of that day. My Dad, James Adams,was a noncommissioned bombardier in an A-20, and his crew was one of the ones that fired at the attacking Japanese planes. Later his was one of the few planes to get off the ground that morning.

I was born in 1931 at Fort Totten, Queens, NY, and my sister as well in 1932. Our dad was a SSgt at the time, and we were stationed on Long Island at Mitchel Field. He was an airplane mechanic for many years, a parachute packer, aerial photographer, and early bombardier and maintenance technician. I can remember going to Sunday school in this tall building used for parachute rigging. We lived in new brick quarters, and went to Washington School in Hempstead by GI bus or sometimes a handy 6-by truck (6x6). US military kids were a separate group, and I didn't have any civilian friends -- in a way a sort of secluded life. Our house was right across from the movie theater, 10 cents, and near the new gym and swimming pool. and yes, I remember trips to the new hospital for getting my legs full of long stickers from the bushes, slamming my finger in a door, etc. My earliest memories are hearing airplane engines starting up in the morning, reveille, mess call, retreat, call to quarters and taps every day and night. My Mom's parents lived in Hempstead and we visited them often.


Dad went to bombardier maintenance training school at Lowry Field, Denver, CO in 1938. In July 1939 we were transferred to Hawaii, travelling on a military transport, the Hunter Liggett. I remember most of this trip, including going through the Panama Canal, and San Francisco. My Dad a great swimmer, and enjoyed the cold salt-water pool every day. This was an exciting and interesting adventure for us girls! Panama was very hot, even at night. We were fascinated by the canal locks on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and the large Gatun Lake in the middle. From there we didn't go directly to Hawaii -- we went up the West Coast and stopped for a day at San Francisco; it was fun to see this city with its famous waterfront and beautiful park. When we arrived in Honolulu, we were greeted by my aunt, my Dad's sister, who was living there, and she piled heaps of beautiful scented leis around our necks. The day we arrived in Honolulu, we stayed that night at the YMCA family hotel, and there was an earthquake, which I remember very well. My poor Mom was terrified and wanted to get right back on the ship and return to the mainland and to New York. Yet during the Pearl Harbor attack and afterward, she never showed one iota of her fears; her protective instincts got us safely through that and the subsequent war years. The trip took 3 weeks. In Honolulu we lived at 1130 Lunalilo Street, which is (was) on the side of Punchbowl.









I went to third grade at Lincoln School. The next summer we were transferred to Wheeler Field and lived in quarters on the post -- I went to the military school there; later that year we went back to Hickam, and I finished the 4th grade in Kapalama School (and my sister of course). My Dad was a MSgt by that time; I don't remember my Mom working, but she may have been involved in NCO club activities. We moved into brand new single family quarters there, and I started the 5th grade at the new school on the post. I enjoyed school and really liked my teacher, Mrs. D, who taught both 5th and 6th grades. when I finished my 5th grade work, I asked her if I could do the 6th grade work too. (I was such a bright smart-aleck kid).

Life for my sister and me was idyllic, we loved Oahu, our friends, trips to the beach, the Pali, the King movie theater downtown on Waikiki, the Kau Kau Korner ice cream shop. KAU KAU KORNER has become a chain. My sister and I had a happy life, through Thanksgiving and into December, going to school, playing with our friends, etc. We rode our bikes in the parking lot behind our quarters, and managed to crash head on into each other -- I saw stars while I was lying on the ground. We were aware of sirens going off now and then, something new, and wondered why all the unusual noise. I knew where my Dad worked, but my sister and I were not allowed to just hang around there (for good reason). He flew in the B-18 bomber. The A-20 came into service, sometime before Dec 7:" ...."by then, my Dad had been promoted to MSgt."




Our Sunday custom was to get up to get the newspaper so we could read the funnies, eat cereal for breakfast, then our Mom would load us into our Chevrolet and drive to Honolulu for church and Sunday School. On Dec 7, we waited and waited for the newspaper, going to the front door every 5 minutes, and playing quietly so as not to wake our parents. Planes flew low overhead, but we were used to that, so didn't pay much attention, until the explosions started. Our bedroom window looked right out on Pearl Harbor, and the sky was filled with huge thick black clouds of smoke -- nothing like you see in the movies. We called "Daddy! Come and look!" And when he did, a plane flew so close over us we could clearly see the red circles on the wings, and he said calmly, "Those are Jap planes."
[Torpedoes tracks in the water as Hickam fields burns in the background. ]








The first wave of Japanese carrier-based airplanes (almost 200) hit Hickam Field and the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor at 0755 local (1325 Eastern Standard Time) Attacks follow quickly against Wheeler and Bellows Fields. During the second attack, Nakajima B5N "Kates" from the aircraft carrier Zuikaku dropped 250kg bombs on the hangars, barracks, and runway. A second wave of Japanese airplanes strikes other naval and military facilities. The Hawaiian Air Force loses 163 men, with about 390 others wounded or missing; has 64 of its 231 assigned aircraft destroyed. Only 79 of the remaining aircraft are deemed usable, and much of the Air Force's ground facilities are destroyed.



Alice: Dad then went and got dressed, telling us he would be back as soon as he could, then got on his bicycle, and rode to his duty post on the flight line, through all the shooting and bombing. In later years, he told us his plane crew was able to fire from inside the plane at the Japanese planes overhead . They then were able to get this plane off the ground.


A December 11 a report from the Hawaiian Air Force reads 6 B-18's fly a sea-search mission from the Hawaiian Islands. Similar missions by B-17's, B-18's, and A-20's are flown each day for the remainder of the year; several submarines are sighted and some are attacked but without positive evidence of hits. The patrol searches were being made to the SOUTH; the wrong direction as the Japanese fleet was to the NORTH.


Alice's father was part of the 58th Bombardment Squadron (Light), Hawaiian Air Force, ( later to be called the 7th Air force ) and 72d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group (Heavy), transfer from Hickam Field to Bellows Field, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii with B-18 Bolos and A-20 Havocs's respectively. Hickam was adjacent to Pearl Harbors docks and oil storage depot. More men died at Hickam AB than at any other non naval site attacked. SSGT James Adams was a non comissioned bombardier with the 58th Bomb Squadron at Hickam Airfield Field. Noncommissioned flight crew members were later given 1st Lt. commissions.




The 58th Bomb Squadron in front of a B-18 ( note the Skull insignia) November 1939 above

James is in the first row (see arrow) of first photo


Below a photo of an A20 of the 58th BS. courtesy of the Wright Patterson AFB Museum. Quite possibly this is Alices fathers aircraft as there were 12 in the squadron. The Douglas A-20A "Havoc" The A-20 was designed as a high altitude light attack bomber, fitted with turbosupercharged radial engines which allow the aircraft to efficiently operate at high altitude. The A-20A, initially ordered at the same time as the A-20, was a low to medium altitude version.
SPECIFICATIONS
Span: 61 ft. 4 in.
Length: 47 ft. 7 in.
Height: 17 ft. 7 in.
Weight: 20,711 lbs. gross takeoff weight
Armament: 4 forward firing .30-cal. machine guns in fuselage blisters, two .30-cal. machine guns in a flexible dorsal position, one .30-cal. machine gun in a ventral position and two rearward firing .30-cal. machine guns in the engine nacelles plus provisions for 1,600 lbs of bombs.
Engines: Two Wright R-2600-3 or -11 "Cyclone" radials of 1,600 hp. ea.
Crew: Four - Pilot, navigator, bombardier, gunner
PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 347 mph.
Cruising speed: 295 mph
Range: 1000 miles maximum ferry range
Service Ceiling: 28,175 ft.

The initial order for 123 A-20A's was signed in June 1939 and a follow-on order for 20 more A-20A's was added later. The -A model was first delivered to the 3rd Bomb Group (Light) in the spring of 1941. The A-20A was also used in single squadron strength (12 aircraft) in Panama and Hawaii.


Alice: We were scared half to death! Our mom had us sit on the floor under our big government- issue steel dining table, and tried to get us to eat our cereal, but my stomach was frozen. The power was off, the water off. Looking out the window I saw a soldier shooting his rifle up at the low flying planes. We got dressed, and I was shivering and freezing. When glass started breaking Mom moved us away from the window and into a large storage closet in the hallway. The house shuddered from the bomb explosion that wrecked the theater, just a short distance away,and destroyed at least two homes. Our friends lived there, did they get killed? We never found out for sure if they were okay. I was afraid we were going to die, and became very lethargic, and my mind got sort of numb. ( Later I learned that this is a natural response, when a person's mind really accepts that death is imminent. I've never forgotten this fear, and for years afterwards was very afraid of loud or unexpected noises.


An officer came to the door and told Mom to pack some bags, not to drink the water as it might be poisoned, and to get in the car and drive us up into the foothills, and if the shooting started again, we were to get out of the car and just dive into the trees. As we left the house, I could see the American flag still flying through the black clouds. Roof tiles littered the walkway. The flight line and barracks were in flames, and we had no idea where our Dad was.


Hickam is in the upper left near the oil tank farm.




Instead of the foothills, Mom drove to Honolulu to the home of some Navy friends, who had two daughters the same ages as my sister and me. We stayed all day and that night. Our Dad and his friend and some other adults sat in the blacked-out hot living room and discussed plans on what to do next. We stayed there another day and night, then were allowed to return to our quarters at Hickam. I was grown and married with my own children before I realized what a brave woman my Mom had been through all this. After our fear died down, my sister and I thought this was a great adventure. Our Dad came and went, on constant alert, and flew frequent patrols. The air raid siren went off at least twice a day, and we had to hurry to the newly dug dark clammy bomb shelter. We played in our back yard with our friends. No school -- it was closed indefinitely. [An interesting document from the period. The school closed Dec 7 1941 no further information. ]

We knew we would have to go back to the States. Where to? My Mom made plans with her sister in Baltimore to live temporarily with them. We were on a few hours' notice, and on Dec 24th received word we would leave the next day. All there was in the refrigerator was a bowl of red jello.
I don't remember how we got to the docks the next morning, but we hugged our Dad goodbye, and next thing I knew we were standing on the deck of a ship (the Lurline), waving to him -- no band played Aloha Oi, we had no leis to throw overboard. A bright sunny warm sad Christmas Day , Dec 25 1941. I cried and cried.

The Lurline was a Matson luxury liner converted to a troop ship, and we had a cabin with two rows of canvas bunks, three tiers high.

We were accompanied by a destroyer escort. There may have been another ship but I'm not sure. The ocean was rough and we all were slightly seasick. The dining room served good food, but I couldn't eat, and the kind waiter was so worried about me , "you don't eat any more than a little bird!" There were many children on this trip, and we played on the deck where there was a ping-pong table, and a ball flew off into the sea -- we were afraid a Japanese submarine would spot it and sink us. We all were being constantly warned not to let anything fall overboard.


[ There was good reason to be concerned as the log of R. O. Hudgins, Chief Electrician’s Mate, USN Serving aboard, USS St. Louis CL-49 5-21-41 *** 6-20-46 1941 will attest. The St. Louis was one of Alices convoy escorts]






Dec. 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attacked by Japanese planes. ST. LOUIS got underway from navy yard under fire by Japanese. We were first capital ship to clear the harbor. small two man sub. Fired two torpedoes at us, both striking the reef to starboard Hawaiian waters lousy with enemy submarines.

Dec. 10 Moored at Pearl Harbor
Dec. 12 Underway with USS Phoenix. Submarines again attack, with all torpedoes. Missing Destroyer escorts got two subs in channel.
Dec. 14 Underway from Pearl sight two periscopes. Stayed in San Francisco Bay a few hours then underway with convoy of ships. Three Matson liners: SS LURLINE SS MATSONIA and SS MONTEREY, and two destroyers USS SMITH (DD378) and USS PRESTON (DD-379) sighted more submarines.
Dec. 21 Moored in Pearl Harbor, HI
Dec. 26 Underway with same convoy returning Hawaiian evacuees to the states.
Dec. 31 Anchored in San Francisco, Bay had great liberty in San Francisco for new year's eve.

The Japanese Navy was sinking vessels just off the US coast with over 15 Subs deployed from San Diego to Seattle. The I -15 and I-17 were stationed off San Francisco, Alice's target port.

Below is just some of the activity off the US coast. Submarines also surrounded Hawaii. Getting back to the mainland was not a sure thing.


The 1B class of Japanese submarine similar to the I-15 & 17
14 December 1941: After the unsuccessful pursuit of the carrier, the I-15 and the other submarines, joined by the I-10 and the I-26, are ordered to sail to the West Coast of the United States and attack American shipping. The I-15 is assigned to patrol west of the Farallon Islands N of San Francisco.

The Imperial General Headquarters orders the IJN to shell the U.S. West Coast. Vice Admiral Shimizu issues a detailed order on the targets. The I-15, -9, -10, -17, -19, -21, -23, -25 and the I-26 are each to fire 30 shells on the night of 25 December.

17 December 1941: The I-15 surfaces around midnight near the Farallones to recharge her batteries. Her crew is given a chance to see the lights of San Francisco.
20Dec41. Unarmed U.S. tankship Emidio is shelled, torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-17 about 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, California.
20Dec41. Unarmed U.S. tanker Agwiworld is shelled by Japanese submarine I-23 off Santa Cruz, California.
21Dec41. Coast Guard cutter Shawnee rescues 31 survivors of U.S. tanker Emidio, sunk the previous day by I-17 off Cape Mendocino, California.
22Dec41. Japanese submarine I-19 shell unarmed U.S. tanker H.M. Storey southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, but fails to hit.
23Dec41. Palmyra Island is shelled by Japanese submarines I-71 and I-72.
23Dec41. Unarmed U.S. tanker Montebello is torpedoed and sunk by Japanese submarine I-21 four miles south of Piedras Blancas light, California. I-21 machine-guns the lifeboats, but miraculously inflicts no casualties.
23Dec41. I-21 later shells unarmed U.S. tanker Idaho near the same location.
23Dec41. Japanese submarine I-17 shells unarmed U.S. tanker Larry Doheny southwest of Cape Mendocino, California, but the American ship escapes.
24Dec41. Unarmed U.S. freighter Absaroka is shelled by Japanese submarine I-17 26 miles off San Pedro, California; although abandoned, she is later reboarded and towed to San Pedro.
24Dec41. Unarmed U.S. steamship Dorothy Philips is shelled by Japanese submarine I-23 off Monterey, California.
27Dec41. Destroyer Allen (DD-66) rescues first of two groups of survivors from U.S. freighter Manini sunk by Japanese submarine I-175 on 17 December off Hawaii.
27Dec41. Coast Guard cutter Tiger rescues 14 survivors of U.S. freighter Prusa, sunk by Japanese submarine I-172 on 19 December. A second group of 11 survivors reaches safety after a 2,700-mile voyage, rescued by a Fijian government vessel and taken to Boruin, Gilberts.
27Dec41. Unarmed U.S. tanker Connecticut is shelled by Japanese submarine I-25 about 10 miles west of the mouth of the Columbia River. 28Dec41. Destroyer Patterson (DD-392) rescues second of two groups of survivors from U.S. freighter Manini sunk by Japanese submarine I-175
30Dec41. Japanese submarine I-1 shells Hilo, Hawaii.


The Japanese subs commanders would have preferred to torpedo the cruiser St Louis as merchant vessels were considered beneath them. A vessel the size of the Lurline as a converted troop ship would have been an irrestible target. The losses would have been catastrophic. There were not enough life boats for the overloaded ships. Japanese torpedoes were much more powerful than American ones. Both the I-15 & I-17 would be sunk within two years near the Guadalcanal operations area. The SS Lurline returned to civilian service after the war and served into the 1960's & 70's as a cruise ship until scrapped in 1987.]



Alice: As far as I was able to keep track of our few friends, everyone had escaped injury during the bombing. We arrived in San Francisco on New Years Day 1942, cold and sunny, wearing just our light tropical clothes. I'll never forget the Red Cross ladies who came on board bearing huge dark green knitted sweaters and caps and mittens for us all! We were so grateful to them. Later we walked up and down the streets, and that evening boarded a ferry to go across Oakland Bay, and from there to the train station. We got on the train and were assigned, all three of us, to an upper berth. The very wonderful man in the lower berth offered to change places with us. What an angel! Not far from the restroom either, which was a good thing because my poor sister was sick nearly the whole trip. When we woke the next morning, the train was stopped, and there was snow on the ground. Snow! it was beautiful and we had really missed it in Hawaii. I don't remember all of this trip, but we finally arrived in Chicago, took a cab to another station and got on the train to Baltimore. We got there at night, it was freezing cold, and my aunt and uncle and 2 cousins and some of their friends were there to meet us! We were ready to start on a new life. I worried about Dad and prayed for him day and night.

Life in Baltimore was much different than our military life. My aunt and uncle and cousins welcomed us, and we all lived in a large old plantation-style house with several acres of fields and orchards, and we had great fun playing there. We walked to school through the woods, which seemed like a long way then. I was started in the 5th grade "on probation", and my sister in the 4th, so the teachers could find out if we were actually smart enough to be in those grades. We both had no trouble with our studies. We were introduced to our classmates as "war refugees" and had an unexpected sort of fame, until they all got used to us. We were used to making new friends wherever we lived. At home, the family had ration coupons to buy limited amounts of scarce goods, such as meat, sugar, butter, clothes and leather shoes and gas for my uncle's car -- he had an "A" sticker.

He was an engineer for the Martin Aircraft Company, and his work was top secret, we only knew it involved airplanes.
[ Martin was building the B-26 at its Baltimore facilities. Considered highly advanced and dangerous to fly it later had one of the best survivability records of the war, but the initial design killed many pilots in training until the bugs were worked out. ]

There was not a total blackout, as we were not that close to the coast. We heard all kinds of rumors about German submarines (later proved this was true, some ships were sunk). We got the news from my uncle's huge worldwide radio, from the newspaper, and from "Movietone News" reels at the theater. When American planes bombed Toyko, Japan, we all cheered. I was always afraid my Dad's plane would be shot down and he would become a prisoner, and we knew how badly they were treated. I never knew exactly how much he flew on dangerous missions.

Wartime Life:

We wore canvas shoes with rope soles, and when we were entitled to get a new leather pair, we stood on the "x-ray" machine and could see the bones of our feet (a fluoroscope). Nobody knew this kind of radiation was not good for you ! My Mom did not work, but she and her sister and their friends did some volunteer work, I think for the USO but can't say that for sure. Two rooms of the house were rented to young men who were in the Army, and sometimes military men came for a social visit, as well as men who worked with my uncle at the Martin Co. I read everything I could about flying, and pilots were my heroes. My Mom's brother was a pilot for the CAP, flying coastal search missions, and I wanted to fly too. We (Mom, Janet and I, plus my aunt and cousins and sometimes our school friends), went to movies, picnics, museums, Washington DC, ice skating, downtown on the trolley car, Sunday School, library, dentist and sometimes doctor. I got good grades at school. Except for Dad not being there, life was really fun. During the war years in Baltimore, we had a flag with a blue star for Dad in the window, and two more as well for the two young men in the Army, who rented rooms in the house.


The 58th Bomb Group was sent to New Guinea in the South Pacific theater of the war, and flew many missions there against Japanese airfields and other occupied sites. My Dad never talked much in detail about his combat service as a bombardier, but described skip-bombing tactics. (My sister Linda's family has a taped interview with him by their daughter, my niece Karen.) He did say that he was the only one of his crew members to survive. At some point we believed he also flew in B-17s. He was there until sometime in 1943, and came safely home. What a happy moment when he walked into the Baltimore house ! He served in the U.S. for a few months, and then was sent to England and assigned to a site near Blackpool where aircraft engines were rebuilt and repaired. He returned home for good in late 1945 or early 1946. Before 1949: "My Dad had never graduated from high school. In 1948 he passed a GED exam with the highest grade achieved up to that time at Mitchel AFB. We were so proud of him, and he inspired me in my own high school and later studies". I was 14 years old when the war finally ended.

In 1949 I graduated from Hempstead High School; my sister in 1950. In June 1950 I married an AF Sgt, and November 1950 Janet was married. I worked for US Civil Service in different locations, but mostly remained at home while my boys grew up. I have three sons, the oldest also retired from the USAF as a MSgt. Dad, Mom and Linda were transferred to Greenville AFB in SC, and from there his unit was sent to Wiesbaden, Germany. Our little family went in all directions.


The Pearl Harbor attack influenced me greatly as I grew up, and throughout my life. I always felt that I needed to be determined and independent, prepared to stick up for myself and my family and interests, and not be reliant on anyone else to get things done for me. I'm in good health, and I keep busy with friends and church activities and some volunteer work, and of course my grandchildren. I still love to travel, even by myself, and I think I've had a great life as a GI brat: daughter, wife and mom. Wouldn't trade it with anyone!





LINKS: Some other WWII Pearl Harbor related stories.


E-Mail the web master @ worldwar2mem@yahoo.com


Copyright © Alice Adams 2006. All rights reserved.

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Links: WWII MEMORIES HOME PAGE FOR MORE PROFILES A profile on members of each of the AAF units and Naval units in WWII

Gingers Diary Link to a diary kept by a 17 year old living on the base at the same time as Alice.


Shirley Marsh evacueee on the USS Lurline

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