"A
Day of Infamy"
On December 7, 1941, two waves of Japanese Imperial Navy aircraft strafed and bombed NAS, Kaneohe Bay, the first wave striking eight minutes before enemy planes reached Pearl Harbor. Of the 36 PBY Catalina
("flying boat") sea planes based at Kaneohe, 27 of the 33 on the ground, in hangars or moored in the bay. were destroyed or rendered inoperable. The three planes out on patrol at the time of the attack escaped, and returned to base later in the day, pocked with bullet holes from air-to-air encounters. One of these three planes had assisted earlier that morning in the sinking of a Japanese submarine, just outside the entrance of Pearl Harbor.
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PBY patrol bomber burning at Naval Air Station Kaneohe,
during the Japanese attack.
Official U.S. Navy photo.
Higher resolution photo.
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Hangar # 2 burning at Naval Air Station, Kaneohe Bay, during or soon after the Japanese attack.
Official U.S. Navy photo.
Higher resolution
photo.
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Eighteen U.S. Sailors and two civilian contractors died defending NAS, Kaneohe Bay during the 7 December 1941 attacks; 69 others were wounded. NAS defenders shot down three enemy planes, two over Kailua Bay, and one that crashed aboard the air station near Kansas (then Baker) Tower.
U.S. Navy Ordnanceman John W.
Finn, wounded several times during the attacks, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions at NAS, Kaneohe on that fateful day.
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Above: A painting depicting John Finn defending Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on Dec. 7, 1941, entitled
"The Warriors of Kaneohe," by artist Jim Laurier (used
with the artist's permission). Higher
Resolution.
Right:
June 29, 1999. Sideboys render honors to retired Lt. John Finn at
a ceremony dedicating the John W. Finn Building at Marine Corps
Base Hawaii. The building is the headquarters of Commander, Patrol
and Reconnaissance Wing Two. U.S. Navy photo by JO3 Brenda Diggs.
Higher resolution photo. |
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The American dead included: Walter S. Brown, VP-12; John D. Buckley, VP-11; Stanley D. Dosisk, NAS, Kaneohe Bay; Clarence M. Formoe, VP-11; Rodney S. Foss, VP-11; Leo Fox, Jr., VP-12; Daniel T. Griffin, VP-12; George W. Ingram, VP-12; Charles Lawrence, VP-12; Milburn A. Manning, VP-11; Laxton G. Newman, VP-14; Carl W. Otterstetter, VP-12; Robert K. Porterfield, VP-12; James H. Robinson, VP-11; Joseph G. Smartt, VP-11; Robert W. Uhlmann, VP-12; Raphael A. Watson, VP-12; Luther D. Weaver, VP-11; and
Kamiko Hookano and Isaac Lee, civilian contractors.
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Dec 8, 1941 - A Marine rifle squad fires a volley over the
bodies of fifteen officers and men killed at Naval Air Station
Kaneohe Bay during the Pearl Harbor raid. Official U.S. Navy
photo. Higher resolution photo.
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Following Hawaiian tradition, Sailors honor men killed during
the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Naval Air Station
Kaneohe. This ceremony took place sometime during the following months, possibly on Memorial Day, 31 May 1942.
Official U.S. Navy photo. Higher
resolution photo.
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