Woodrow William "Woody" Harrell

" . . . shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he that today sheds his blood for me
Shall be my brother."

USS Arizona Memorial Dedication

By Barbara Swarm
Sentinel Reporter - 6 December 2003

HANFORD - In the early hours of Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, a message sent by Army radio to the Pacific island of Oahu read "Air Raid Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill."

Within 15 minutes 2,403 lives were lost; 1,178 were wounded; 18 ships, including five battleships, had sunk or were seriously damaged; 188 planes were destroyed and 162 planes were damaged.

Sixty-two years later, local Pearl Harbor Survivors Woody Harrell and Guy Hardin share firsthand accounts on that moment in time. Even though both men were stationed at Pearl Harbor at different areas of the island, their versions are only a part of what many others had gone through that day. In Kings County there are an estimated four Pearl Harbor survivors. Here are two firsthand accounts:

Woody Harrell

At the age of 17, Woody Harrell enlisted into the United States Navy in 1934.

"At that time there was no future for the younger generation," he explained of the hardships he and others encountered during the Great Depression.

Immediately following boot camp, Harrell boarded the USS Arizona where he served for four years. During that time he was selected to operate the admiral's barge. In 1939 he boarded the USS Tennessee, and after two World's Fair appearances on both coastlines he headed for Pearl Harbor.

Harrell had visited the Pacific islands once before, when his ship sailed into the harbor for gunnery practice in 1935.

This time, however, the Tennessee was tied up alongside seven other battleships on what they called Battleship Row.

Harrell's primary responsibilities were to be ready and available when the admiral needed the boat. So, it was customary for Harrell to take the admiral ashore from the Tennessee when needed.

According to Harrell, on the night before the attack, a number of captains and admirals were invited to a party given by the Japanese ambassador at the Waikiki Hotel. Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd of the USS Arizona stayed on board.

The next morning, on Dec. 7, as the men were going about their regular routine, such as getting ready for church, taking liberty and for those not on watch - sleeping in, the Japanese were on their way to strike.

Before the air raid, five midget submarines carrying two crewmen and two torpedoes each were launched from the larger "mother" subs. Their mission: Enter Pearl Harbor, stay submerged until the attack, and then cause as much damage as possible. Little did they know that they were about to awaken a sleeping giant.

During that time, Harrell was busy getting the boat ready to pick up Admiral Bagley at 9 a.m.

"We were on the land side of the ship tied up to the quays (cement blocks in rows)," he explained. "Right behind us was a repair ship and the USS Arizona," said Harrell. "Their bow was only 80 feet from the stern of the Tennessee. The West Virginia was on the channel side of us."

Shortly before 7:55 a.m., the first wave of attacks began.

"When the torpedo planes came in," Harrell recalls, "the West Virginia received five torpedoes on their port side and sunk to the bottom. It wedged the Tennessee in so they couldn't get out."

At approximately 8:06 a.m. a 1,760-pound bomb hit the USS Arizona. In less than five minutes, it sank with 1,177 men on board.

"There was a lot of noise when the ship turned over," said Harrell. "It's like these dump trucks in the morning. When the bomb hit the Arizona, the whole sky above us was an orange color. The ship started burning. The oil was escaping in the water, burning. The Tennessee had to start its engines to push the oil away from them."

Harrell witnessed the USS Oklahoma receive nine torpedoes on its port side. After the torpedoes finished, then the bombers came over down the line of the battleships.

"They didn't have time for anything," he said of the chaos that followed. "Some of the men came up and manned the guns just in their under shorts. The ammunition was all secured down below in the armory, locked up, they didn't want anybody to steal it. We were helpless."

"I could see the bombs coming down from the planes as they came over," said Harrell. "They were way up too high to fire our guns at."

According to Harrell, when the bombers went over the Tennessee, the Japanese dropped an armor-piercing bomb on the stern of the ship, it went down all the way to the bottom of the ship, broke open but didn't explode.

"It was a dud," he said. "That's what saved the Tennessee."

The Japanese continued their attacks on Hickam, Wheeler, `Ewa, and the Kane `ohe airfields, causing heavy losses of aircraft and reducing American ability to retaliate as stated in the USS Arizona Memorial brochure.

"At 9 a.m. when we thought it was over," said Harrell, "I took the admiral's boat and went around and took a look at the Arizona. Tugs were putting the fires out. From there we went over to pick the admiral up. He wouldn't ride the boat because we always flew the colors on the stern. That barge stood out like a sore thumb."

The attack on Pearl Harbor left many questions unanswered. Such as what if the United States knew ahead of time that Japan was about to attack, would it have been ready to fight back? Had the military practiced enough? Since Japanese had already engaged in other conflicts prior to Pearl Harbor, and America had not, were they ready too?

"All phases of the military had to practice," explained Harrell. "When I went in, during the latter part of the Depression, everything had to be done with the idea of saving. They would only go out once a year to practice."

"My opinion," he shared of that fateful day, "they could have attacked the United States if they were brave enough and strong enough. They could have taken over the Hawaiian Islands."

Harrell retired from the Navy after 22 years of service. Seventeen of those years were spent aboard several ships.

Like many survivors, Harrell returned to the islands a few times to remember those who perished - the real heroes.

"It's a feeling of sadness," he said of his tour at the USS Arizona memorial, "that it had to happen and all those fellows I knew on the Arizona. They were good friends."

Hanford Sentinel, Hanford, California, December 6, 2003

Stephanie is Woody's Granddaughter