Pearl Harbor/Ford island find

[coastie]

Here comes one of the "Chief's" sea stories:

 

I was tending bar once in Pocatella...OOPs wrong story, I'll start over.

 

Back in Jan 87 I was attending a Service school on Ford Island at Pear Harbor. During a lunch break I was walking around the seaplane ramp just off of battleship row. I spotted on the tamarc a crusty green thing. It was a rather deteriorated 5" shell casing. The sides had collasped and the only thing that was intact was the base. I couldn't make out any details on the base. I was rather nervous about picking it up and taking it so I thought about it for about 5 seconds and put the base in my briefcase. I got back to the ship and went down to engineering and got some acid. I soaked the casing and got all the barnacles and other critters off the brass. It appears that after sitting in the harbor for 40 odd years that a lot of the zinc had leached out of the metal and now has a mottled copper/brass look to it. I haven't looked at it too much but it looks like corrosion is setting in again. Any ideas on how to stop it?

 

The date on the shell is 1939.

 

I've speculated how and why this casing ended up on the "beach". Ford island at the time had a divers school located there and perhaps a diver had brought it up and was going to take it. I think at about the time I was there a survey had been done on the USS Arizona but can't imagine one of those guys doing that, so I suspect it one of the UDT guys brought it up. I would like to think that it had been fired during December 7th but there really isn't anyway to check nor can I assume that it came off of one of the battleships, could have been anyone of many ships that carries a 5" gun. Also could have been dumped over board anywhere in the harbor at any time. But it's unique enough for me to at least say it came from the bottom of Pearl Harbor.

[Bob Hudson]

Brass corrosion can be stopped by protecting it from the air and moisture. Do a Google search for Brass Lacquer and you'll find several products.

[Laury Allison]

Cool....very neat find and keepsake.

 

I was at Hickam AFB from November 1986 to February 1990....didn't ever find anything like this there, but our building had bullet holes all through it. I worked in the HQ Pacific Air Forces building, which had been a barracks during the attack. There were several men killed in that building on December 7th. I can remember going into the office a couple of time on the weekend to catch up on some stuff and hearing a lot of strange sounds! There were doors slamming shut and they never moved....I was the only one in that wing of the building at the time. I didn't waste a lot of time getting out of there. I've heard tales of some of the secretaries coming in early in the morning and hearing similar noises, they would say good morning to the guys and they would settle down.

 

The Pearl Harbor and Hickam areas are filled with a lot of history (and I'm sure a few spirits). There is no telling what treasures are still hidden there after all of these years.

 

Laury

 

[Brig]

CLP always works. Being a servicemember, I'm sure you're quite familiar with it. For those who aren't it is the primary authorized cleaning solve used on weaponry. A thin coat protects against rust and corrosion on metal parts

[gwb123]

Cool....very neat find and keepsake.

 

I was at Hickam AFB from November 1986 to February 1990....didn't ever find anything like this there, but our building had bullet holes all through it. I worked in the HQ Pacific Air Forces building, which had been a barracks during the attack. There were several men killed in that building on December 7th. I can remember going into the office a couple of time on the weekend to catch up on some stuff and hearing a lot of strange sounds! There were doors slamming shut and they never moved....I was the only one in that wing of the building at the time. I didn't waste a lot of time getting out of there. I've heard tales of some of the secretaries coming in early in the morning and hearing similar noises, they would say good morning to the guys and they would settle down.

 

The Pearl Harbor and Hickam areas are filled with a lot of history (and I'm sure a few spirits). There is no telling what treasures are still hidden there after all of these years.

 

Laury

 

 

I've been in that building, several times from 1984 to 1989. It has a very odd feeling about it. It is one thing to see the bullet holes and pockmarks that are on the outside walls. However, I was deep inside the building going up a metal staircase. I looked down and noticed an elongated hole from a machine gun bullet that had gone through it off center. For it to have gotten in that far and still have some punch to it, that was quite a sober moment.

 

I'm sure you know this, but in the front lobby they used to display the torn flag that was flying on the flag pole in front of the building on Dec. 7th. It is the same one that you see in the famous photo with the barracks burning behind it. In the same display case they also had the log from the Duty Officer, who duly reported making all his nightly checks, and then in rather large letters wrote the hour and minute of the attack. I suppose he really didn't know what else to do.

 

May they all rest in peace.