70 Years Ago

It began at or around 0755, Hawaii Time on December 7, 1941.

The following call to General Quarters sounded aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma: "Real planes, real bombs; this is no f**king drill!".

Aboard the submarine USS Tautog: "the war is on, no fooling!"

Aboard the USS West Virginia: "Away the fire and rescue party!"

Aboard the old minelayer USS Ogalala: "all ships in harbor sortie!"

Aboard the supply ship USS Castor: "the Japs are bombing us, the Japs are bombing us!"

Aboard the battleship USS Nevada: "All hands, General Quarters! Air Raid! This is no drill!"

Aboard the heavy cruiser USS New Orleans: "Padre, there's planes out there and they look like Japs!"

Aboard the battleship USS California: "Jesus Christ...Jesus Christ!"

Aboard the battleship USS Maryland: "The Japs are here..."

At the Ford Island Administration Building: "Just gotta try to remember this date.."

Aboard the destroyer USS Monaghan: "Hell, I didn't even know they were sore at us!"

The message that shook the world at 0800, Hawaii Time, from the CINCPAC Administration Building: "AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NO DRILL".

From Hickam and Wheeler US Army Air fields: "It's the real thing!"

From naval personnel housing with a view of Pearl Harbor: "there's a battleship tipping over.."

At the Ft. Shafter Catholic chapel: "God bless you all, the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor. Return to your units at once.."

Aboard the battleship USS Arizona: "Fire on the quarterdeck!" moments before the forward magazine exploded, killing over 1000 of the ship's company in an instant (see photo above).

Aboard the heavy cruiser USS San Francisco, one below-decks sailor to another: "I thought I'd come up and die with you".

A Marine aboard the 1010 Dock, standing in the open and firing a rifle at attacking Japanese planes: "If my mother could see me now".

Aboard the destroyer USS Helm as a sailor requested the keys to the ammo lockers: "Damn the keys! Cut the locks!"

A signal from the USS Curtiss: "Submarine sighted to starboard" (one of the midget subs the Japanese sent in to attack ships inside the harbor).

To a flight of B-17s coming in from the mainland, air traffic control reported -- after giving routine wind direction, velocity, and the runway on which to land -- "the field is under attack by unidentified enemy planes".

Aboard the repair ship USS Vestal -- along side the destroyed USS Arizona, after she exploded: "Come back! We're not giving up this ship yet!"

Aboard the destroyer USS Monaghan, an unarmed sailor -- throwing wrenches at passing Japanese planes -- was heard yelling for a gun and ammo: "I can't keep throwing things at them!"

Aboard the destroyer USS Helm as she sortied under attack: "Take her out, I'll direct the (gun) battery".

Aboard the light cruiser USS Helena when a Marine-manned gun mount shot down a Japanese plane: "The Marine team scored a touchdown!"

Aboard the dry-docked battleship USS Pennsylvania, in response to a report that the guns were getting too hot, and should the gunner keep shooting: "Hell yes, keep her going!"

A gunner aboard the light cruiser USS Helena, yelled to the admiral on the bridge of the nearby USS Ogalala: "Pardon me, Admiral sir! Would you mind moving from the wing of the bridge so we can shoot through there?" The admiral complied.

Warning message from a scout bomber off the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, that was approaching Pearl Harbor, back to the ship: "White 16 -- Pearl Harbor under attack. Do not acknowledge".

Aboard the now sunken battleship USS West Virginia: "History is being made now, and you and I are in the middle of it, and our actions might affect the outcome".

Aboard the battleship USS Tennessee during the height of the air raid: "To hell with fuse settings -- shoot!"

Aboard the seaplane tender USS Curtiss, a mortally wounded sailor to a friend: "My foot's gone, isn't it?".

Aboard the battleship USS California, a sailor stood fast to his station below decks, knowing the ship was sinking: "This is my station -- I'll stay here and give them air as long as the guns are going". He didn't survive.

Aboard the hospital ship USS Solace, a nurse was heard to shout every time she saw a Japanese plane go down: "Woo-woo, there goes another one!"

Above the Marine airfield at Ewa, Japanese pilot Lt. Yoshio Shiga strafed the field, and turned for a run at a Marine standing by a disabled plane. "The man refused to budge...kept firing back with a pistol".

Aboard the dry-docked destroyer USS Downes, an individual sailor fired a .50 caliber machine gun at the Japanese planes as fires swept closer. Witnessed from the USS Pennsylvania: "wondered how long any man could stand that kind of heat. As the flames swept closer, the sailor seemed to have a harder and harder time keeping his head up. Finally he dropped to his knees, head down, but with one hand still hanging on the trigger of the gun. That's the way he was last seen when flames and smoke closed off the view".

Aboard the USS New Orleans: "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!"

From Honolulu Radio KGMB, announcer Webley Edwards: "This is the real McCoy!"

From US Senator Burton Wheeler of Montana, an up-to-then a supporter of isolationism from foreign wars, in response to a reporter's question about Pearl Harbor: "The only thing now is to do our best to lick hell out of them!"

From the floor of Congress, 1229pm Eastern Time, December 8, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941...a date which will live in infamy..." began his six minute speech that resulted in a formal declaration of war, and brought the United States into World War II (Germany and Italy would declare war on the United States on December 11, 1941, bringing us all the way in).

70 years ago*.

* Source for quotes: Day of Infamy, by Walter Lord