The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 71 years ago today, killing 2,400 Americans and provoking the United States to enter World War II. In late 1941, tensions had been building as negotiations for peace between the United States and Japan fizzled. In late September, the Japanese consul was ordered to calculate the number of battleships in and around Pearl Harbor, but the order was intercepted by U.S. troops. The message had to be sent to Washington for deciphering, which took weeks. When finally decoded in mid-October, the message was dismissed as unimportant.
On Dec. 6, 1941, A.C. Hillman arrived at Pearl Harbor as a young Marine excited about an assignment in Hawaii. The next morning, he was aboard the battleship USS California, reading comics when a strange order for "general quarters" came on the otherwise leisurely Sunday morning. He looked out a gun port and saw two planes over the USS Pennsylvania dropping aerial torpedoes aimed at the ship. The bombing began about 7:55 a.m.
"The good Lord was with me," Hillman, now 92, said from his Lucedale home Thursday. "If he wasn't, I wouldn't have made it."
When a bomb exploded below the California's deck, it set off an anti-aircraft ammunition magazine that killed about 50 men. By the end of the fighting at Pearl Harbor, 98 of the ship's crewmen were lost and 61 were wounded. Hillman was at a gun position high above deck during much of the attack. For five minutes he had ammo, but the heavily battered California had lost power, so more shells couldn't be sent up. Hillman sat helplessly watching Japanese planes pass. He could see inside the cockpits of some of
them from the high perch. It was an awful feeling, he said.
Many other ships were hit as Hillman watched. He saw the USS Arizona blow up in an attack that killed 1,177 crewmen. He also saw the USS Oklahoma turn over after being hit by torpedoes -- about 400 crewmen were killed.
The California began to sink into the mud and only the superstructure remained above the water line. Hillman said the order to abandon ship came and he had to swim to Ford Island, which is in the middle of Pearl Harbor. Fuel and oil on the surface had caught fire, leaving large areas of burning sea, which forced Hillman and the others to swim underwater for much of the distance. Hillman tried to climb aboard a boat headed to the island, but a sailor told him he couldn't. The attack was over not long after Hillman had made it to the island.
The Mississippi Department of Archives & History compiled a list that shows at least 30 Mississippians died in the bombing, half of them aboard the USS Arizona. Several names in the department's records are of those of South Mississippians. Burnis L. Bonds of Wiggin, Cecil R. Ruddock of Pass Christian and Jessie H. Murphy, listed as being from both Hancock County and Picayune, are among Mississippi's Pearl Harbor dead. State officials were seeking more names, as there may be others. After the bombing, hundreds of remains weren't identified.
In addition to human casualties, the Japanese inflicted heavy damage to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Two of eight battleships at Pearl Harbor -- the Oklahoma and the Arizona -- were total losses. Five others, including the California, faced extensive repairs. Two of three destroyers were heavily damaged but rebuilt. The third was repaired. Several other ships and 169 aircraft were destroyed, and 159 planes were damaged.
After word of the bombing reached the mainland, a quiet Sunday was shattered and many stunned Americans decided to join the war effort. The next day, President Franklin Roosevelt, in a speech to Congress asking for a declaration of war, spoke his famous remark that Dec. 7, 1941, was "a date which will live in infamy." He rebuked Japan's well-planned attack and tried to assure the grieving nation it could win the war.
"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory," Roosevelt said. "I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again."
The president received the declaration of war. Not long after, Italy and Germany, allies of Japan, declared war on the United States. By the war's end, some 400,000 Americans and nearly 50 million people worldwide had been killed, according to some estimates.
Hillman served from the pre-war days in 1940 until six months after the end of the war, participating in several major campaigns. He was shot in the chest on Iwo Jima when he landed with the first wave as a member of the 5th Marine Division. He recovered and continued to fight. After the war, Hillman, a native of Greene County, eventually moved to Lucedale, in George County, and met his wife. In March, A.C. and Annie V. Hillman will celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary.
"We've got a good marriage," Hillman said. "It was made in heaven."
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