80 Years Later, Memories Endure

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Episode #710 of Hometown Heroes, airing December 4-6, 2021, prepares for Tuesday’s 80th anniversary of Imperial Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor with the memories of seven men who experienced that historic day on Oahu first hand. If you’re looking to follow along with events marking the 80th anniversary, follow the Best Defense Foundation as it transports 63 World War II veterans – including nine who have shared their stories on Hometown Heroes – to that hallowed ground.

The observation tower where “Wally” Walling was when the attack began on December 7, 1941.

“It’s a beautiful day, and all at once, overhead, we’ve got planes,” you’ll hear in the recollections of Delton “Wally” Walling. “Must be a big maneuver today. Those orange balls up there are not ringing the bell yet. It’s not ringing the bell even when we see those black objects dropping out of those planes.”

Soon, explosions throughout his panoramic view from an observation tower that still stands at Pearl Harbor told the young Michigan native that America was at war.

Delton “Wally” Walling passed away in 2020 at age 98. He made it his mission to keep the story of Pearl Harbor alive.

“I have joined the greatest Navy of all times, and here it is being blown up in my face in a few minutes,” Walling told Hometown Heroes in 2016. “I’m devastated, because if they can do that in ten minutes, what else is coming?” Click here to access the two-part original interview with Walling on episodes #438 and #439. Walling passed away in 2020 at age 98, but he was a frequent visitor to Pearl Harbor in his later years and made it his mission to keep the history of that “Day of Infamy alive.”

“I really didn’t know something was wrong at all,” you’ll hear Eugene Leonard remember. “Until we got in the rig and that plane came after us, then I knew something was wrong.”

Eugene Leonard’s Pearl Harbor Survivor’s cap.

Leonard, a native of Kansas, was at Ewa Marine Corps Air Station on December 7, 1941, and first noticed the swarm of Japanese planes when they were roughly ten miles away. While most of the enemy aircraft turned toward Pearl Harbor, some made a beeline in his direction. Leonard and fellow Marine guard were in a flatbed pickup, with virtually nothing to protect them from the enemy plane on a strafing run. Witnessing what machine gun fire did to the planes on the ground there – destroying them all – the young Marines decided to leave the truck and take cover. With no access to ammunition, they had no way of fighting back, but they knew a good place where they might be able to wait out the attack. Their makeshift mess hall at Ewa Field included sunken pits that had been used to service inflatable airships during the World War I era.

Gene Leonard working on an aircraft engine during World War II.

While the ship that had carried Leonard to Hawaii, the USS Arizona, was sinking in the harbor, Gene was hunkered down in that depression in the concrete, a cacophony of bullets and bombs filling the air. His first sergeant was killed about 75 feet from where he was, shot while trying to extinguish the flames on a burning plane. When the firing stopped, Leonard headed toward the tower to find his rifle and scrounge for ammunition.

“We armed ourselves just as fast as we could,” Leonard told Hometown Heroes in 2015. “Because we figured they was coming in for a landing, which they did not do.”

The scene on the flight line included “piles of planes a-burning,” Gene and his fellow Marines were thankful the ground invasion they were bracing for never materialized. Leonard passed away in 2018 at the age of 100. You can access his complete original interview on episode #389 of Hometown Heroes from 2015.

Hickam Field burning on December 7, 1941

This episode features two perspectives on the devastation at Hickam Field that day, one from a man on the ground when the attack began, and another from someone who was trying to land on the airstrip there just as the surprise attack was underway. Robert Thacker was piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress that had departed northern California the night before and descended through the clouds just in time to see the familiar profile of Diamondhead.

“What’s that great big column of black smoke that just went up?” he remembered asking his radio operator upon approach to Hickam. “He said they’re burning off the cane fields. Well that was the Arizona going up.”

Robert Thacker during World War II.

You’ll hear Thacker’s memories of landing his four-engine bomber despite opposing fire, friendly and not-so-friendly, and the decision he made in the heat of the moment that saved his life. He continued to fly throughout the war, going on to a trailblazing career in aviation that included world records. Click here to listen to Thacker’s memories, as captured in episode #661 of Hometown Heroes in the wake of his passing at age 102, shortly after last year’s 79th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Ed Hall survived December 7, 1941 at Hickam Field.

“Hangars 7 and 9 had blown up and debris was flying everywhere,” is how Ed Hall remembers his first glimpse of the damage at Hickam Field. “And then I saw puffs of asphalt coming up.”

Soon the 18-year-old from South Carolina realized that it was machine gun fire tearing up the pavement, and the Japanese plane creating that scene was barreling straight toward him, no more than 30 feet off the ground. You’ll hear what Ed believes saved his life in that instance, just how close that plane came to him, and also detail a second and third occasion on that fateful day in which he believes his life was spared. You can access the complete original interview with Ed Hall on episode #440 of Hometown Heroes from 2016.

Francisco Paredes was at Schofield Barracks when Imperial Japan attacked.

Francisco Paredes was at Schofield Barracks when the attack began. He tried to shoot down a Japanese torpedo bomber and believes he may have done so. You’ll also hear his memories of the aftermath of that fateful day.

“I’d start pulling bodies, limbs, arms, legs, and heads, and it was awful,” you’ll hear recall of the days that followed. “It makes me cry, the poor people – innocent people – that caught in that turmoil like that.”

Click here to access the original full-length interview with Francisco Paredes on episode #328 of Hometown Heroes from 2014.

Battleship Row under attack on December 7, 1941.

Nowhere were the catastrophic felt more severely on that “Day of Infamy” than on Battleship Row, where 1,177 men were lost aboard the USS Arizona, and another 429 from the crew of the USS Oklahoma.

“The bomb that hit on the starboard side behind #2 turret went into a million pounds of ammunition and it blew up,” you’ll hear in the memories of USS Arizona survivor Don Stratton. “It just was a fireball that engulfed us up there where we were at, and no way to escape.”

Read Don Stratton’s story in the best-selling book All the Gallant Men.

The story of Stratton’s survival, recovery from severe burns, and reenlistment in the Navy for the rest of World War II is captured in his 2016 book, All the Gallant Men, which draws its title from the famous inscription at the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. Listen to more of Stratton’s memories as shared with Hometown Heroes here.

Richard Artley (top) and brother Daryle served together aboard the USS Oklahoma.

The final memories you’ll hear in this episode come from Richard “Swede” Artley, who served aboard the battleship USS Oklahoma, along with his brother, Daryle.

“We thought something had run into us when the first torpedo hit,” he told us in 2011. “The Navy says they’re absolutely positive that eight torpedoes hit the Oklahoma, and very likely ten.”

He was one of eight men in the steering room, aft, eventually trapped there as the mighty battleship rolled 151 degrees to port, its capsized bow protruding from the water. All lights went dark after about ten minutes, and Artley was also dealing with the pain of a leg that had been shattered by a dumbbell that crashed into him as the ship rolled over. He would spend 34 hours trapped inside the ship until rescue workers cut open the hull and reached them. Their compartment had been filling with water, and estimates suggested that they might only have had 15 minutes left before the room would have filled with water. By the time Artley emerged from the Oklahoma, it was after 6 pm on Monday evening, and one of the first things he learned was that his brother Daryle, a promising baseball prospect, had not survived the attack.

80 years after that fateful day, the price paid by Daryle Artley and more than 2,400 others is an enduring reminder of that Pearl Harbor Survivors Association motto: “Remember Pearl Harbor, keep America alert.”
—Paul Loeffler