Postscript

A distinguished Navy officer, a devoted husband and father, and a man whose world view was forged in World War II; Carl Jesse Pritchard is all these things and more. Born in humble surroundings, he rose through the military ranks to a senior position; but for Carl, family was just as important as career and he often made choices that kept him closer to his family.

To start reading his story, scroll down to the next entry and start reading - I've posted his story sequentially.

Carl was involved with the many details of writing of this story, both in five taped interviews I conducted from 1986 to 2001, and in follow-up conversations which started in Sept 2003 and continued for months after.

Jim Pritchard also contributed heavily to this work; providing stories, timelines and brotherly advice.

I did significant research work on the Navy History website and noticed that Carl’s name is not mentioned anywhere. This bothers me, but I recognize that nearly all the men who are mentioned have stories of bravery in combat. Someone who wasn’t on the front-lines or in the highest ranks, but nonetheless distinguished themselves during their career, doesn’t carry the same weight when history is recorded.

In the span of Carl’s 30-year Navy career, he rose to the highest rank possible. Though he was given a severe setback early in his career, he overcame it and excelled in his new pursuit. While always a military man, Carl put high importance on his family and often made career choices that kept him closer to his family.

This project compelled me to take a comprehensive look at my father. While I had been intending to consolidate his taped recollections into a story; this project forced me to go deeper and analyze his life. When I dug to find the emotional moments that affected him, Carl revealed some stories he had never shared before, including the surprising admission that he was the only man to survive his flight training class.

Those emotional moments truly affected me and gave me a more profound appreciation for his life. I saw what a hero my father was during wartime and what a hero he remains for me today.

Finally, I welcome stories, photos, memories and contributions of all kinds, because I want to update this document periodically. My contact info is listed in the sidebar.

Thanks for sharing in a part of the Pritchard family history.

Born in a New Century

Carl’s parents, Roy Arthur Pritchard and Junie Layfayette McCourt met in Fayetteville, Tennessee in 1902. Junie’s parents lived in a large house and since money was tight, they ran a men’s boarding house. The McCourts may have had an ulterior motive in running a boarding house… they had four daughters to marry off!

Roy had just moved from his family’s Tennessee farm to the big city of Fayetteville. He found a place to stay at the McCourt’s boarding house. Roy soon took a liking to Junie, the youngest and prettiest of the girls. Roy was working 6 days a week at the local cotton mill. He started in the Gin Room, where the cotton seed was separated from the fibers; but soon advanced to equipment engineer, where his job was to keep the machines running. It was loud, dirty and difficult work.

Roy courted Junie in the slow, deliberate style typical of the South; by accompanying her to church on Sunday and having talks on the porch. Because Junie’s parents were strict Christians, he probably didn’t take her to dances. After months of courtship, they were married on October 8, 1903. As a new husband, Roy was anxious to find a better job, so he moved his bride “out west” to Little Rock, Arkansas.

Roy quickly found a job in Little Rock as streetcar conductor with the Capital Transportation Co. Roy and Junie’s first child, Carl, was born on Feb 11, 1905. Like his brothers and sisters, Carl was born in the family home at 9^th & Maple. He didn’t have a birth certificate; so years later, when Carl enlisted, Roy had to go to the courthouse and fill out a post-dated Certificate of Birth

Except for one year, Roy worked for the streetcar company for the rest of his life. Junie was a full-time mom devoted to the family and church. The children (in order) were Carl, Casey, Jeanette, Arthur, Alvie, Ruth, Roy and June. Their son June died at 18 months and son Alvie died in an auto accident at 15 years old. Since Carl and Casey were close in age, they played together and their fraternal bond continued as they got older.

One of Carl’s first memories (at 3 years old) was walking out to the outhouse in the backyard. Another childhood memory was when Junie took Carl and Casey to the steps of the State Capitol to see Haley’s Comet in 1910.

Carl attended Peabody Elementary School. Typical for the South at the time, it was a whites-only school; blacks attended a separate school. The classrooms held about 20 students and the teachers weren’t shy about punishing children for bad behavior.

The family attended regular church services at the Church of God. Interestingly, Carl didn’t get baptized in the church until 1959 when the family was living in San Diego.

When Carl was 6, before he even started school, Roy took him down to the newspaper office and got him a job selling papers on the street corner. When Carl was old enough, he moved up to a paper route. Initially Carl had to deliver his papers on foot, but saved up his money to buy a bicycle, which made delivering papers much easier.

In 1916, when Carl was 11, Roy decided to quit the streetcar company and be a tenant farmer on the Crystal Farm Dairy. Since Roy was raised on a farm, it was one of his dreams to return to farm life and be his own boss. Roy & Junie loaded all their belongings on a horse & wagon (with Carl & Casey riding up on top) and moved out to the farm, 12 miles west of Little Rock.

Working the dairy was hard work for the entire family, 7 days a week. Before school, Carl rode in the milk truck with his Dad, making milk deliveries in town. After school, he washed the milk bottles and cleaned the barn. Carl also spent many evenings in front of the fireplace, helping his Dad balance the books and doing customer billing.

Carl attended a country school with all the grades in one room. The teacher used to challenge the students to solve arithmetic problems on the blackboard. Carl usually won, even when the older students competed.

Roy had struck a deal with the dairy owner, J.T. Tunnah, to get a percentage of the dairy’s profits. Over the course of a year, Roy doubled the revenue, but the owner reneged on his agreement and refused to pay the extra money. Disappointed, Roy decided the dairy job wasn’t enough to support his family, so he quit the dairy and returned his family to town.

The streetcar company offered Roy his job back with his previous pay and seniority (which was highly unusual), so he returned to being a streetcar conductor. The family initially rented a house and, after a year, bought the house at 1612 Woodrow (which remained the family house until Roy and Junie died)

As a boy, Carl was fascinated by electrical gadgets. Roy would occasionally bring home the latest inventions, like an electric fan or a gramophone (which probably played a 10-in disk at 78rpm). Carl’s parents weren’t inclined to buy records, so he and Casey had to buy the music for the family. Carl was fond of “A Long Way to Tipperary” (1912) and he bought the record:

It's a long way to Tip-per-ar-y, It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tip-per-ar-y, To the sweet-est girl I know!
Good-bye Pic-ca-dil-ly, Fare-well Leice-ster Square!
It's a long long way to Tip-per-ar-y, But my heart's right there.

While in Junior High School, Carl got a job at Tennenbaum’s Junk Shop. Although the business was owned by Jews, they didn’t suffer the discrimination that blacks did. Jews (at least those who assimilated) were considered to be white enough for the “whites only” Jim Crow laws prevalent in the South at the time. Carl started out by helping in the office (changing the typewriter ribbon for the secretary, so she wouldn’t get her hands dirty) and soon began making pick-ups and deliveries.

The owners, Abraham and Julius Tennenbaum, liked Carl and he eventually moved up to driver, helping pick up materials. With his promotion, Abraham requested that Carl wear long pants, rather than his usual knickers, because it looked more professional. This required a major shift at home, because Carl’s mom made most of his clothes.

Hanging around with the guys on the loading dock behind the junk shop, Carl heard that there was a good position available at the American Wholesale Grocery Company. He walked over after work and immediately got the job. He started as a billing clerk and helped load the trucks. Carl made considerably more money at the new job, especially since he worked full time. Carl made $20/mo part-time at the Junk Shop and $100/mo full-time at the Grocery Supply. It’s likely Carl was urged by his father to work full-time to bring in more money for the family. So although Carl excelled in school, he only completed the 10^th grade.

In the early 1920s, the first radio broadcasts were starting around the country. The first radios cost a fortune, so at the age of 17, Carl built a crystal radio set, which was the first radio his family ever heard. He used household parts like an oatmeal box and copper wire. Carl remembers hearing the broadcasts from WLW in Cincinnati, OH. He also figured out how to make and install a doorbell in the family house. His fascination with electricity continued throughout his life.

As a young man, Carl was a bit of a rebel. Though his strict Christian parents disapproved of smoking, drinking and dancing; Carl did a bit of all three. When he attended dances, he didn’t tell his parents…even when he brought his sister Casey. This was during Prohibition (which lasted from Jan 1920 to Dec 1933), so Carl would occasionally sneak in a flask of “white mule” (or “white lightning”) into the dances. Carl emphasized that the booze was for his own enjoyment, not for getting his dates drunk!

The National Guard

When Carl was 19, he joined the National Guard and he quickly distinguished himself with his marksman abilities. He went to the Guard’s summer training camps at Fort Sill, Oklahoma four years in a row and twice qualified to attend the national rifle matches at Camp Perry, Ohio. These trips were his first travels out of the Little Rock area.

At least once, Carl’s boss at the Grocery Company, refused to give Carl time off from his job to attend the camps, so the Guard had to send a Sergeant over (with a pistol on his hip) and demand that that Carl be released for duty. The boss argued with the Sergeant and told Carl that, duty or not, if he left he was fired! Upon his return from camp, Carl had to go back to his boss and grovel to get his job back.

Carl enjoyed socializing with his National Guard buddies and became good friends with Johnson Harmon. The slightly-older Harmon exuded confidence and style. Harmon owned a Harley motorcycle and Carl decided to buy a used Harley ($65) so they could ride together. The boys took a week trip down to Baton Rouge, camping along the way.

One night, Carl and Harmon were riding their motorcycles in the hills around Little Rock, looking for prohibition booze. As they rode down a dark country road, a cow appeared in front of them. Harmon swerved, but Carl slammed right into it. Fearing that a farmer might come after them; Carl and Harmon quickly left the scene. Carl’s motorcycle didn’t appear to be damaged, except for a burned-out headlight. The next day, Carl discovered his headlight wasn’t burnt out… it was just covered with a circle of cowhide, punched out of the side of the cow!

Riding the motorcycle was a problem when Carl had a date with his girlfriend, Ester Singleton, so he would rent a car for those occasions. He had to be careful not to drive too far though, the mileage costs could really add up!

At the 1928 training camp, Carl and Harmon convinced their Guard Commander to let them take their motorcycles with them on the troop train to Fort Sill. When training camp was over in July, they jumped on their motorcycles and headed west. The trip was initially Harmon’s idea (his parents had worked the fruit harvest in Colorado) but Carl had the idea of loading the bikes on the train.

The boys rode from Oklahoma out to Colorado. They camped out, often sleeping under the bleachers at local baseball fields. When they arrived in Grand Junction, they had a couple weeks to kill until the harvest, so they did some sightseeing and a little hustling in the pool halls. Soon they found jobs picking peaches and apples. They mostly camped in barns and fruit sheds, but at one point they found a closed-for-the-season motel to sleep in. The owner was suspicious at first, but decided the boys could stay if they watched over the place. They boys liked it, because they would stay in a room until it got dirty, then they moved to the next room.

The boys made about $5-$7 a day, picking about 100 to 150 bushels of fruit a day. In the evenings, Harmon and Carl would dress up and go to dances or do a little hustling at the pool hall. They had to be careful not to win too much money playing pool, because they didn’t want to anger the locals. No one bothered them much, including the cops, because the boys looked official wearing their Guard outfits.

The boys worked 4 months and the day after the apples froze on the trees in late November, they headed back home. The boys made slow progress across the Great Plains as they rode their motorcycles thru the freezing rain and snow. They would buy gas at every gas station they passed, just so they could warm up inside.

When Carl returned home, he thought about what he wanted to do next. For 3 years in a row, Carl had groveled to get his job back at American Grocery and this time he decided he wasn’t going to beg to get his job back any more. Since Carl was unemployed and not going to school, it wasn’t long until Roy said, “If you’re going to sit around the house, come down to the streetcar company, and I’ll put you to work”. So Carl got a job running the streetcar.

Although Carl enjoyed working as a conductor, he realized that he could end up working the rest of his life in Little Rock and not see the world. Carl had read some recruiting materials and thought about enlisting in the Navy. He also knew that his Uncle Earl worked in naval aviation in California and the idea of being a Navy pilot appealed to him. Carl had a desire to discover what possibilities were out there and the Navy seemed like a good way to do that.

Those recruiting materials that Carl was reading didn’t just appear in the mail by magic! In an effort to get Carl out of the house and “make something of himself”, Roy would stop by the recruiting office and address a batch of recruiting literature to Carl! Carl wasn’t fooled, because he recognized his Dad’s handwriting on the envelope.

When Carl inquired at the recruiting office in Nov. 1928, he found out that recruits were being sent to Great Lakes training center. Carl didn’t want to do boot camp in the snow, so he told the officer to call him when recruits were being sent to California.

The call came on Feb 4, 1929 and, a few days shy of his 24^th birthday, Carl joined the Navy. This was just 8 months before “Black Thursday”, which triggered the Great Depression. During the Depression, quotas for recruits were curtailed significantly. In that sense, Carl got in under the wire.

Enlisting in the Navy

Carl rode the train with his fellow recruits out to basic training in California. When he stepped off the train in San Diego, he was overwhelmed. It was the first time he had seen the ocean, palm trees and California sun. He loved it!

After getting processed at the base, one of the first things Carl did was stow his good civilian clothes in a YMCA locker downtown. Carl didn’t want to be identified as “just a sailor”. He prided himself on dressing nice and keeping a civilian identity.

Just days into boot camp, the drill sergeant found out that Carl had 4 years of National Guard experience and he made Carl troop leader. Even though his fellow recruits teased him, Carl enjoyed the experience and found he gravitated to being a leader.

When Carl enlisted, he told the officer he was interested in flight training school. Carl had been fascinated by aviation since he was a boy; reading stories of the Wright Brothers and newspaper accounts of barnstormers and air shows. This interest was all academic though, Carl didn’t actually see an airplane until he arrived in California!

Immediately after boot camp, Carl was approved for flight training and was sent across San Diego bay to North Island. Carl didn’t complete high school, so this was his higher learning. The trainees studied aeronautics and took flying lessons. With the prospect of following his dream of flying and the close camaraderie of his class, this was one of Carl’s favorite times. After six weeks of training, Carl soloed and completed his training. He was sent to Aviation General Utility School at Great Lakes, Illinois for 3 months to train with sea planes.

After flight training, in Oct 1929, Carl was assigned to the carrier Saratoga, where he performed aircraft engine maintenance. The Saratoga was one of the first aircraft carriers. Naval aviation was so new that the Saratoga was initially built as a cruiser, but in mid-construction, was converted to a carrier. In fact, the first time a plane had landed on a moving carrier occurred just 15 years before Carl’s arrival!

Since aviation was still developing, there were some brutal accidents aboard ship. Carl witnessed a terrible mishap where an airplane that was landing on the deck broke the steel cable that was supposed to hook the aircraft and slow it down. The cable snapped with such force that it lashed out and severed the legs of a dozen men standing on the deck.

Many planes erred on takeoff or landing and plunged into the ocean. One airplane hooked the cable, but veered off the landing platform and went over the side. The plane was suspended against the side of the ship with the cockpit underwater. The pilot couldn’t open his hatch against the force of the water and was drowned.

Carl proved to be a quick study and was anxious to start flying missions, but unfortunately Navy Command issued orders that profoundly affected Carl’s career. They decided that new aviation recruits shouldn’t go directly into flight training after boot camp because they weren’t qualified to do any other job, so they changed pilot qualifications. In late Feb 1930, all pilots-in-training, including Carl, were disqualified and removed from the program.

But the disqualifications happened in an indirect way. In Carl’s case, a routine physical exam revealed that he had a “deviated nasal septum” and was he was disqualified from flying. This was a major disappointment for Carl. He was demoralized and bitterly disappointed. Adding insult to injury, he was reassigned to mess duty on the Saratoga and had to serve food to the very guys he used to work and fly with! Carl considered leaving the Navy when his term expired. But as disappointing as this was, it would have profound implications later in his career.

Carl threw himself into acquiring other training. When a Chief on the Saratoga realized Carl was available, he put Carl to organizing the office files. When he wrapped up the task in short order, the Chief told Carl that he had the makings of a yeoman. In June, 1931 Carl qualified as Gun Range Operator and was promoted to Yeoman 3^rd class. Soon after, he qualified as an Expert Rifleman. The next few years Carl divided his time between the Saratoga and the base in San Diego.

In 1932, the Saratoga stopped in the territory of Hawaii (which became a state in 1959). The men were anxious to go ashore in Honolulu, but the commanding officer had a problem. It was dangerous for the men because, just a week before, a sailor had caught his Hawaiian wife and her lover in bed together and killed them both. The natives in Honolulu were so upset that it was dangerous for any sailors to go into town. The captain decided to let his men go ashore in Maui instead. Maui was so underdeveloped, there wasn’t even a pier to dock at, so Carl and his shipmates had to swim to shore!

Carl remembers there was only the small town of Kihei and lots of sugar cane and pineapple fields. It may have been boring for most of the men, but Carl enjoyed the pristine beaches.

Making the Navy a Career

Carl’s enlistment was up in Feb. 1933 and he left the Navy to seek a civilian career. It was during the Depression and the few jobs Carl found paid the same or less than the military (and didn’t include room and board). In those days Navy policy allowed men to re-enlist without any loss of grade or seniority if they did it within 60 days of their release. On the 59^th day, Carl re-upped for a 2-year term. After 2 more years Carl was released again, but he had the same job-hunting experience; so Carl re-enlisted, this time for a mandatory 4 years. When that stint was over, he had 12 years and some rank, so he committed to a Navy career.

Carl was in the Saratoga squadron from 1930 to 1935 and was promoted to Chief Yeoman when he transferred to the battleship Pennsylvania in June 1938.

When Carl was on the Pennsylvania in the South Pacific, he had an eerie experience. He was alone on morning watch, scanning the horizon for ship or aircraft sightings. This was before radar, so watchmen were the most reliable early warning system the Navy had. It was during one of these lonely watches that Carl spotted something bright on the horizon flying toward him… FAST! It approached very quickly and flew overhead at tremendous speed. This was before long before jets were developed and the craft made little or no sound. Carl didn’t know what to make of the sighting and didn’t report it. It was probably a meteorite, but years later Carl wondered if it was a UFO.

As a young sailor, Carl did some amateur boxing, which was a popular sport aboard ship. But unlike most of his shipmates, Carl didn’t like to hang out in bars when he went ashore. Instead, Carl’s liked to go to the beach or drive around and explore. Perhaps his favorite activity was dancing.

Carl liked to dress up in civilian clothes and go to dances. When he was in Long Beach, he would go to the Cinderella Ballroom on the Pike. The Majestic Dance Hall nearby attracted a lot of the sailors, so Carl avoided that. If you wore your uniform to the Cinderella, you couldn’t even get a girl to dance with you!

It was at one of these Cinderella dances that Carl met Maxine Sayer in 1933. The 18-year-old Maxine lived in Paramount with her parents. She and Carl hit it off immediately. After several months of dating, Carl proposed to her. Maxine’s parents wanted her to graduate junior college before she got married; so the marriage was postponed for a year. While they were dating, the parents often let Carl sleep on the couch when he was visiting (very trusting parents!). They finally married in 1934 at the Sayer’s house at 1212 Jackson St in Paramount.

Because he was newly married, Carl requested shore duty. He soon got orders to report to Newport, RI. It took about a week for Carl & Maxine to drive his 1934 V8 Ford back East. While working in Newport, Carl really honed the organizational skills he would need for future promotions.

It turned out that Maxine was more interested in other men than being married. Events culminated dramatically when she wrecked Carl’s car while out with another man. By the summer of 1937, Maxine requested a divorce, which Carl didn’t contest. After the divorce, Carl worked another year in Newport. He met some new women; the most memorable was Margaret Gordon of Greenwich, CT. Carl enjoyed driving his 1936 Plymouth up to Connecticut to see her.

In 1937, Roosevelt had selected Admiral Claude C Block (from Newport) to command the US Fleet aboard the Pennsylvania in Long Beach. Block selected Lt Thomas J Ryan as his flag secretary and Ryan summoned Carl for duty in the office of the Flag of the Commander in Chief, US Fleet (and that time the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets were combined).

When Carl reported to Ryan, his first order was: “Pritchard, these files are a mess, I need you to straighten them out”. Carl quickly organized the files and made a favorable impression. Initially Carl was 3rd class rank but he soon got promoted to 1^st class. Carl was the senior enlisted man in an office about 15 guys, so a lot of duties fell to Carl.

In June 1938, Carl was transferred to the Pennsylvania. Because Carl was now assigned aboard a ship, he didn’t need a car, so he turned his Plymouth in to the Ford dealership for credit. Among the ports-of-call were San Francisco, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Long Beach. Some of Carl’s duties were working for the ship’s chaplain and assisting in the library.

Falling in Love

On one of Carl’s excursions in Long Beach, he again put on his best suit and went to the Cinderella Ballroom. Carl saw 2 attractive girls on the dance floor and approached them. Carl first asked Lorraine to dance, which they did. Carl then asked her friend Velma for the next dance, but Velma said her next dance was already taken. Carl returned for the next dance, but Lorraine and Velma had disappeared. Disappointed, Carl realized he didn’t even know the girls names.

Carl was shipped out soon after the dance. The ship’s first stop was San Francisco. Carl attended the World’s Fair on Treasure Island and attended concerts by Benny Goodman and Sammy Kaye. The next stop was Bremerton for several weeks. Three months later, the Pennsylvania returned to Long Beach. Carl again put on his civilian clothes and walked around the Pike.

As luck would have it, he passed Lorraine and Velma walking the other way. Carl thought to himself: “I’m not gonna miss a second chance” so he spun around and caught up with them. He introduced himself and although Lorraine was friendly, she didn’t remember him. Carl asked the girls to join him for a drink at the nearby Skyroom Lounge, atop the Breakers Hotel.

While they were in the Skyroom, the threesome was joined by a comrade of Carl’s, Lt Commander Young, who sat down next to Velma. After several rounds, Young suggested the four of them take his car and adjourn to another bar (possibly in Belmont Shore). At the end of the evening, Carl asked for another date and Lorraine said yes. A romance was born.

Carl realized that he now needed a car, so he went down the dealership and used his credit for a 1939 Dodge. On the first date, Carl did a little test. He wanted to know if Lorraine would go out with him if he didn’t have a car; so he parked his car about a block away so they would have to walk for a bit. Little did Carl realize that he was also being tested. Velma and Lorraine decided that if Carl didn’t show up to the house exactly on time, they were going to leave and go out by themselves.

Luckily Carl showed up to Lorraine’s apartment (at 1615 E 2^nd St, Long Beach) on time, but how did Lorraine do in the car test? As they left Lorraine’s apartment, Carl said “let’s walk downtown”, and they started walking down the street. Lorraine didn’t seem to have any objection. Since she passed the test with flying colors, Carl said “Well, let’s go ahead and drive”.

Lorraine had just completed her cosmetician training the year before and was working as a hairdresser. She had moved out to Long Beach from Minnesota because her cousins, Helen & Mickey McDonnell, invited her to live with them… and it was warmer than Minnesota! Although Lorraine knew Carl was in the military, Carl didn’t tell her cousins his occupation. Since he always dressed in civilian clothes, it was his secret… until a Navy visitor to the house recognized Carl.

Early in the relationship, Carl knew that Lorraine was the one for him. He asked her to marry him several times, but she wouldn’t say yes. One day Carl was waiting for Lorraine to return to her apartment and he was talking to her friends, the Fort sisters Carol and Florence. They teased Carl by saying that Lorraine had recently made a big decision and that he should ask her “an important question”. When Lorraine returned to the apartment, he popped the question and Lorraine finally said yes. They were so excited, they got married the next day. Lorraine’s sister Millie was the bridesmaid and her husband John was Carl’s best man.

This was a fast romance! Carl & Lorraine met for the first time at the Cinderella in July 1939. They saw one another again on the Pike in September and they were married on Nov 6, 1939 at the Long Beach courthouse.

Right after the ceremony, the newlyweds left on their honeymoon to San Francisco. Since the Bay Area was a long 2-day journey by car, they spent their wedding night at a motel at the top of the Grapevine on Highway 5. They spent 3 beautiful days in San Francisco seeing all the sights (Coit Tower, Chinatown and Fisherman’s Wharf) and stayed at the Cartwright Hotel.

Upon their return, Lorraine stayed in her apartment until Carl could find a place. He found an apartment behind a big house near downtown Long Beach. It was tiny, but private. Not long after, Carl was ordered to go to sea and separated from his new bride.

A few months after they married, Lorraine’s dad, August, died back in St Paul. Lorraine and her cousin, Mickey, drove back east. Initially Mickey did most of the driving, because Lorraine didn’t know how to drive yet, but she quickly learned.

Carl returned to Long Beach and his new bride for a few months and then, in June 1940, Carl was ordered out to Hawaii for a six-week cruise on the Pennsylvania. This was an uneasy time for America; Hitler was on the move in Europe and Japan was seizing territory in Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the Pacific. Would America go to war? No one knew, but Carl and Lorraine knew the possibility of war was in the air as Carl shipped out.

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Japanese, engaged in a war it had waged against China since 1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these materials was curtailed by the West, but the Japanese conquests continued. President Roosevelt needed to send a stronger message.

The Pacific Fleet was Roosevelt’s “big stick” to keep Japanese aggression in check. En route to Hawaii, Carl’s fleet was ordered to stay indefinitely in Pearl Harbor to act as a warning to the Japanese.

When Carl arrived in Pearl Harbor in July 1940, he was assigned to the flag office of Admiral Kimmel (Commander In Chief, US Fleet) where he reported to the Flag Secretary, Commander Crosley. As Chief Yeoman, Carl’s duties included overseeing personnel and tracking ship movements. When he first got to the office, everybody was running around trying to figure out what to do. Carl knew the Navy had definite regulations regarding paperwork during wartime, so he suggested to Crosley that they decide it was “wartime” and break out the special regulations and get going.

After he got established, Carl had Lorraine sell the car and move out to Hawaii. She shipped over on the Navy vessel, Lurleen. Carl and Lorraine rented a little apartment on Beachwalk Drive in Waikiki Beach. They were a half-block from the beach and this was when Waikiki was quiet, undeveloped and romantic. Carl describes this as one of the most wonderful times in their marriage. They loved exploring the island by car; Lorraine was especially fond of visiting Diamond Head.

Their wedded bliss was shattered in Dec 1941 by the attack at Pearl Harbor. Carl was awakened that morning by neighbors talking outside their bedroom window. Carl heard one of them say, “I don’t think it’s a drill, because the ships and oil tank are on fire”. Carl jumped out of bed and looked out the window. Across the bay, he could see the Navy base in flames. He turned on the radio and heard that the base was under attack and all military personnel were to report for duty immediately.

Carl kissed Lorraine goodbye and rushed to the base. The traffic was so bad, that police were ordering people to park their cars and ride together. As Carl and his new passengers were heading to the base, Carl’s car hood was strafed by machine-gun fire from the Japanese Zeroes flying overhead. Fortunately Carl and his passengers were unhurt. This was the first that Carl was shot at directly by the enemy. When asked if he was scared, Carl says simply “I didn’t have time to be scared”.

When he arrived at the base, Carl was devastated by the destruction. Fires were raging, ships were sinking and the dead and wounded were everywhere. No one knew if the attack was over or if more planes were coming. Carl hurried to Fleet Headquarters, which was undamaged. His very first task was coordinating the incoming damage reports and outgoing orders for the Flag Office.

In the end, 2,403 men were killed in the attack and thousands more were wounded. 21 ships were sunk or damaged and 188 airplanes were destroyed. Of the 8 battleships that were docked in Pearl Harbor, only the Pennsylvania (Carl’s ship) survived the attack. It was in dry dock at the time and although it was struck by a bomb, it was not heavily damaged. Judged seaworthy, the Pennsylvania was immediately put to sea to act as the Flag Office. Carl moved the Flag Office on board and didn’t leave the ship for many days.

Carl’s duties after the attack were fatality and casualty lists, damage reports, unit transfers and research. One of Carl’s most important assignments was compiling the War Diary. Carl and his staff took the diaries from every ship and every command & combat unit on the base and compiled them into a Master Diary. Each minute was noted with everything that happened. The entries for 7:58am and 7:59am only had a paragraph or two. The entries for 8:00am and each minute thereafter had many pages of entries from all the attacked ships and combat units.

After the attack all military personnel were confined to the base; so once men reported for duty, they weren’t allowed to leave. Since all non-military communications were restricted, Carl was unable to call Lorraine for days after the attack. Lorraine was in agony, not knowing if Carl had survived the attack. After 3 or 4 days, Carl was finally able to call Lorraine and assure her that he was fine.

Carl remembers listening to Roosevelt’s stirring “Infamy Speech” on Dec 8. The president’s words gave much-needed encouragement to Americans, particularly those in uniform. Carl greatly admired Roosevelt and considered him one of our greatest presidents.

Commander Crosley knew that Carl was concerned about Lorraine, so about 2 weeks after the attack, he said to Carl, “We don’t have an atlas, I need you to go into town and buy one”. Carl didn’t need to be told twice. He took the boat to shore and stopped at several stores before he could find an atlas. When he finally found the book, he was free to see Lorraine for the afternoon. Carl remembers this emotional reunion fondly.

Many of Carl’s old classmates from Flight Training school were on the aircraft carriers stationed in Pearl Harbor and were killed in the attack. The few who survived were killed 6 months later in the Battle of Midway. After Midway, Carl found out (since he had access to personnel records) that he was the only man from the class still alive. Carl realized that being disqualified as a pilot 11 years before, as painful as it was, was the reason he was still alive.

Four days after the raid, on December 11, the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, arrived at Pearl Harbor for a personal inspection. On his return to Washington, Knox recommended to Roosevelt that Admiral Kimmel be relieved. Kimmel was temporarily replaced by the Battle Force commander, Vice Admiral William S. Pye.