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A peaceful Sunday morning, waiting for breakfast 12/07/1941


Salvage Sailor
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Salvage Sailor

Christmas In Hawaii - Duty in the idyllic islands in the peacetime US Army

 

In early December, a Schofield Barracks soldier mails a Christmas keepsake off to his sweetheart, "Monkey Face". Inside is a photo spread on life in Hawaii and duty at Schofield.

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Salvage Sailor

Looks like a pretty nice Christmas Dinner they're planning for December 25th, 1941.

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Salvage Sailor

But these soldiers never attended this dinner for on the morning of December 7th, 1941, they were the focal point of one of the greatest "what if's" of world war II.

 

These were the men of Signal Company, Aircraft Warning, Hawaii which included Opana Point Radar Station 270-B

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Salvage Sailor

The photograph was taken in the fall of 1941 when the Thanksgiving and Christmas menus were being prepared for the Company.

 

Among these men are the detail at Opana Point Radar Station 270-B on December 7th, 1941. They were supplied by the Camp at Kawailoa where their bivouac was set up with the field kitchens. At Opana Point for the 4 am to 7 am Sunday morning shift were Pvt. (Spec. 3rd cl.) Joseph L. Lockard, the Oscilloscope Operator and Pvt. George E. Elliot, Plotter. Although they sighted the Japanese air attack approaching Oahu from the North, their observations were discounted at the Information Center at Fort Shafter and the rest is history. Lockard became a 1st LT in the Signal Corps with the 934th Signal Battalion at Esler Field, LA. Elliot was a SGT at HQ Company, Camp Lee, VA. Also among this company are the relief team which came up with the 7 am truck to Opana. Pvt. Lyle B. Lawrence, Pvt. Albert W. Hodges and PFC Andrew Farmbacil. Pfc. Joseph P. McDonald is also here. He was the telephone operator in the Info Center who took their report of planes approaching Oahu. Seated at the center are SGT William Murphy, Jr., NCOIC of the Opana detachment, 2nd LT John Upson, CO of the platoon at Camp Kawailoa and 1st LT Almon L. Bell, the trainer for 270-B.

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Salvage Sailor

Thanks,

 

.....and this is why I collect Ephemera. A thoughtful keepsake menu sent off to a girlfriend becomes a snapshot of a critical moment when the world went mad.

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Salvage Sailor

Roster December 1941

 

Also in the photo is 2nd LT Ralph K. Caceres. At Kawailoa, he met Lockard and Elliot when they returned on the relief truck. They reported in person what they had seen and delivered their log book and plots to LT Upson. 2nd LT Grover C. White is also in the photograph. One can only imagine what was going through these Officers minds as they absorbed the sighting report while hearing the nearby explosions at Wheeler Airfield and Schofield Barracks while looking up the Northshore to the Windward side where plumes of smoke rose at Kaneohe Naval Air Station - the destination of the bombers they had observed.

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  • 11 months later...
  • 1 year later...
Salvage Sailor

Opana Point Radar Station - If only they were taken seriously.....

 

On the 75th observance of the Pearl Harbor Attack - Remember Pearl Harbor!

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  • 1 year later...
  • 11 months later...
Salvage Sailor
“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”

― John F. Kennedy

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Article in this morning local newspaper was about two sailors ID'd off the Oklahoma and returned to Iowa for burial this past summer. Just put the flag out.

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REMEMBERing PEARL HARBOR! I was 3& 1/2 years old and while I have no memory of that Sunday, I do have recollections of the war soon after. Lest we forget that Day of Infamy! Today in a community close to me, Keller, Texas, a sailor from the USS OKLAHOMA will be laid to rest after his remains were finally identified several months ago, 77 years to the day he went down with his ship. Finally hone. Fireman 1stCl Albert Kane, May he Rest in Peace.

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