Account of Joseph P McDonald Pearl Harbor Attack
December 7,1941
My father, Joseph P McDonald
was in the army stationed at the Information Center Ft.Shafter Hawaii. His story or variations of it has
been told in many books and movies including " The Day of Infamy" by
Walter Lord, the movie Tora,Tora,Tora and the movie Pearl Harbor.
Pvt. Joseph McDonald started
his shift at 5pm December 6,1941.The Information Center was connected with the
5 radar sites from various locations on Oahu. The people at the center had been
on alert for a few weeks. The rumor was that the alert was called because the
Japanese Navy could not be located. The alert was cancelled just before
December 7. Joseph McDonald manned the switchboard at 6pm. Most of the time he
was alone.
At 4 am December 7th the
plotters entered the information center. The radars were to operate between 4am
and 7am. General Short thought that was the most likely time that an attack
could take place. The center had a large table with a map of Hawaii. The plotters
would move arrows on the table to designate planes picked up by the radar sites
.The radar sites had a direct line to the plotters.
At 7am
the plotters exited the Information Center and headed for breakfast. Joseph
McDonald’s orders were scheduled until 6am. Today was Sunday and Joseph stayed
on duty beyond his time until his replacement ate breakfast at 7am. Joseph
thought that he was in the center alone.
Shortly after 7 am the
switchboard buzzed. He inserted the plug into the phone and answered. It was
the northern radar station Opana. An excited voice that he could hardly hear
asked if the plotters were still around. McDonald said no.
The voice from Opana said,
"There are a large number of planes coming in from the north 3 points
east."
Joseph replied, "I am
not sure what to do there is nobody here."
At that point the connection
was broken. (Pvt. George Elliott made this call) McDonald looked at the clock
to time the message and saw a Lieutenant from the Air Corps sitting at the
plotting table. He walked in and said, " I just received a call from 6QN
Opana reporting a large number of planes coming in from the north 3 points
east."
The Lieutenant said that
there was nothing to get excited about.
McDonald returned to the
switchboard and called the man back on the Opana radar unit. McDonald relayed
the Lieutenant's lack of concern. The voice at Opana was coming in stronger
now. He recognized the voice as his friend Joseph Lockard. Pvt. Lockard was
excited and stated that a large number of planes were heading fast towards
Oahu.
"Hey Mac there is a
heck of a big flight of planes coming in and the whole scope is covered."
McDonald told Joseph Lockard
to hold on. McDonald, infected by his friend’s excitement, again returned to
the plotting table.
McDonald said, "Sir,
this is the first call that I have ever received like this. This sounds
serious! Do you think that we ought to do something about it? Shall I call back
the plotters?"
The Lieutenant said that it
was probably a flight from the states. Pvt. Lockard asked to talk directly with
the Lieutenant. The Lieutenant took the phone and my father could hear
"Well don't worry about it".
After the Lieutenant got off
the phone, Joseph McDonald asked if he should recall the plotters or call
Wheeler Field.
The Lieutenant replied,
"Don't worry about it".
McDonald was sure that it
was serious. He knew that the Lieutenant was inexperienced in the information
center's operations as it was only his second day there. McDonald was pretty
sure that it was serious. A number of times he grabbed the line for Wheeler
Field. McDonald then thought that he could be court marshaled for going around
the Lieutenant. Who would listen to a private anyway?
At about 7:45 McDonald's
replacement arrived. My father was exhausted after working over 14 hours yet
the communication from Opana kept gnawing on his mind. He thought that he would
call Wheeler from the orderly tent.
He passed by the orderly
tent and saw the Sergeant using the phone. He returned to his tent to tell his
tent mate Pvt. Richard Schimmel "Shim the Japs are coming".
McDonald sat on his bunk and
recounted the call from the Opana radar. A few moments later, they could hear
the drone of planes. Their tent was on a hill overlooking Pearl Harbor.
Finally, they could see the planes coming over. There were a lot of them and
they seemed to play follow the leader. They were flying in single file.
Finally, the lead plane dived and the others followed. They could hear the loud
roar of explosions and black smoke. A radio was playing in a nearby tent. The
music stopped and a frantic voice said," all cars keep clear of Pearl
Harbor! Pearl Harbor is under attack by the Japanese.
McDonald and Schimmel ran to
get a better view on top of the mess hall. They could see planes diving on
Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field. The explosions kept getting worse. Everybody was
stunned. Some guys were running out of their tents with their pants half down
and some no pants on at all. Everybody seemed to be running in different
directions. Confusion ruled as the torpedo planes flew overhead. The planes
were so low that some threw stones at them. All of the ammunition was locked
up. The rocks became their only weapon. Anti aircraft guns from the 64th C.A.
across the street tried to knock down the oncoming planes. They came so close
that it knocked Schimmel and McDonald down to floor of the mess hall roof. They
ran to their tent and got their guns and gas masks and headed to the
information center. They worked through the day answering the calls from the
various military bases.
Later in an investigation of
the Pearl Harbor Attack, Associate Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts
reportedly said to my father that the message that my father received was far
greater than than the "Message to Garcia". This reference was to a
message from the President to the Commanding General in Cuba during the Spanish
American War. It was critical to win that war.
Later, as written by Col.
USAF (Ret) W.H. Tetley Commanding Officer of the 580th Signal Corps:
“Joseph McDonald preformed
in an outstanding manner on 7 December 1941 when he manned the AWS switchboard
in order to keep the Air Corps duty-officer appraised of the position of the
approaching Japanese bomber force. Had that duty-officer been able to get his
Fighter Wing airborne, it could have deprived the Japanese of the important
element of surprise which was so much in their favor”.
Tetley also believed that
lives would have been saved during the Pearl Harbor Attack had the radar
warning been heeded, also the damage from the attack would have been much less.
This was reported February 1, 1987 in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. That was my
father's longest day.
My father continued in the
central Pacific hopping on a number of islands as the military headed for Japan.
He did not talk a lot about Pearl Harbor publicly. He always questioned how
many lives might have been saved if the radar warning was heeded.