5in Anti-Aircraft Artillery Round Fragment: A Solemn Reminder of Civilian Casualties at Pearl Harbor

On the morning of December 7, 1941, as Japanese planes swarmed over Oahu, Alice B. White, a 36-year-old stenographer for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (born Alice Baumgardner in Madison, South Dakota, on July 18, 1905), was at her home at 44 Dowsett Avenue in Honolulu with her husband, attorney Millard Daws White. Millard had stepped out briefly or was on the phone discussing their new house under construction when the intense anti-aircraft barrage erupted—5-inch/38 caliber guns from ships and shore batteries firing skyward at the attackers. Many shells burst prematurely or failed to detonate properly at altitude, raining jagged American-made shrapnel across civilian neighborhoods in Honolulu rather than hitting enemy aircraft. One such fragment struck near the White residence, inflicting a fatal chest wound on Alice. She died instantly or shortly after from the friendly fire incident, becoming one of the 68 Honolulu civilian casualties (most from such shrapnel, far outnumbering any direct Japanese action on the city). 

Cremated on December 9, her death was recorded in local obituaries as a victim of the first day of warfare; her co-workers later donated to the Red Cross in her memory, and Millard administered her estate in early 1942. The irony endures: in the desperate defense of Pearl Harbor, American shells claimed innocent lives like hers on the home front.

This fragment of that 5in Anti-Aircraft round was found lodged in the tree in front of 44 Dowsett Avenue and collected by a neighbor who lived at 60 Dowsett Ave. It serves as a reminder of the civilian casualties that morning and those that were caught in the line of fire inadvertently. 
 

Please check out the newspaper and maps that I worked with the University of Hawaii to get scans of!