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 Author  Topic: First Blood Pearl Harbor
Roy Forbes

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Roy Forbes  Posted on: Aug 11, 2013 - 10:10am
After reading the posts about that awesome Pearl Harbor diorama, I find there are some discrepancies about the PTs that were at Pearl on 7 December 1941 both in the water and on the deck of the oiler U.S.S. Ramapo at the time of the attack. At the start of the attack, GM1/c Joy Van Zell de Jong & TM1/c George Huffman were sitting on the deck of PT 23 / Ron 1 which was moored alongside a covered barge with 5 other PTs at the Sub Base. They jumped into the 2 50 cal turrets and open fire at an approaching torpedo bomber. After scoring several hits, they watched as it crash near Kuhua Island thus taking down possibly the first Japanese aircraft of the Pacific War. Two miles from the Sub Base, PTs 27, 29, 30, and 42 on the deck of the oiler and the 26 & 28 boat in cradles alongside were able after some effort to get their guns in operation as well. Considering that most if not all of the ammo was locked up on the larger ships at the start of the attack, it would have taken some time to get those guns in action where the PTs were locked and loaded in a rather short amount of time.

I have also discussed this moment in time with my friend Tom Freeman about doing a painting of this event. He wasn't aware of this when he did the painting "Sub Base" and was very intrigued when I explained what was going on right behind his perspective when he did that painting. We'll see where that goes when he gets back from his trip to the Coral Sea this summer.

Anyway, I would love to know more details about this moment in time on that Sunday morning so long ago.


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John Sullivan

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of John Sullivan   Send Email To John Sullivan Posted on: Aug 15, 2013 - 12:52pm
Hello Roy.A V Stockdale was at Pearl Harbor that fateful day. He lives in Arizona. He is 98 years young. Forgets a lot .We were on the 107 August 2nd when the 109 was sunkIt was his birthday. I called him a few weeks ago and reminded him of that date. Outa here John W Sullivan 3rd class G.M.



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Roy Forbes

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Roy Forbes  Posted on: Aug 17, 2013 - 7:38am
Hi John,
Man would I love to sit down and talk with you about your time at Rendova. I also live in AZ and might try to contact Mr Stockdale. I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Skipper "Bud" Liebenow and the torpedoman Welford West from the 157 boat last May. What a thrill to listen and record their stories. Where are you located John?


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David Aiken

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of David Aiken   Send Email To David Aiken Posted on: Aug 18, 2013 - 1:57pm
Aloha Roy,
On April Fool's Day, 2011, the ongoing dredging of Pearl Harbor was shut down. A skull had been dredged up in Southeast Loch. After many weeks of analysis, an announcement was made in July that year.

They cited an article "Torpedoing Pearl Harbor", MILITARY HISTORY, Dec 2001, which detailed the destruction of a Japanese B5N2 when its torpedo exploded from a direct hit on the warhead.

The early August followup newspaper article noted my effort to recognize the person whose skull it probably originated. JPAC and CILHI are STILL going thru the motions to have a DNA analysis and a human gynome lineage defined before confirming details of the report I submitted to them.

This report was published in Japan in MARU magazine, Nov 2011. The English text has been awaiting the CILHI confirmation before going to press...sigh.

The unpublished details notes every report which made claim for this plane...and cites each gunner...and oral histories also added to the whole picture. Yes, the PT Boat in question has the added weight to cause the balance to shift in its favor as victor.

Yet, there is so much more to that history which takes the plane to the mainland...!
Keep the decks clear for this broadside when CILHI makes its report.

Hope this help,


Cheers,
David Aiken,
a Director: Pearl Harbor History Associates, Inc.
http://www.pearlharbor-history.org/

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TED WALTHER

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of TED WALTHER   Send Email To TED WALTHER Posted on: Aug 18, 2013 - 3:44pm
David;
I hope the dredging is still continuing. Isn't there still a missing midget sub, the one that supposedly got into the harbor?
Also where did the Kate that the PT's shot down end up?
Take care,
TED


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David Aiken

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of David Aiken   Send Email To David Aiken Posted on: Aug 18, 2013 - 4:12pm
Aloha Ted,
The B5N was coded AII-356...and found its way to the Naval Aircraft Factory in Pennsylvania,

The "missing" 5th midget was located by University of Hawaii's Undersea Research Laboratory (HURL) off the coast of Oahu in the area where the many ship reports stated it should be.

Oh, not to dredge up a fervor...if a midget fired on BB Row, the sub leader surely needed a US medal for blocking the path of Japanese aerial torpedoes FROM hitting the BBs (which actually hit).



Cheers,
David Aiken,
a Director: Pearl Harbor History Associates, Inc.
http://www.pearlharbor-history.org/

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John Sullivan

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of John Sullivan   Send Email To John Sullivan Posted on: Aug 18, 2013 - 5:38pm
My name is John W Sullivan. I am located in Danville,Illinois I wrote the story about A.V. Stockdale. being at Pearl Harbor when the war started for Roy Forbes as an answer tohis requiestI am 90 years old.Married and 3 grown childrenai was on the 107 for aaafor about 18 months. Outa here ole JWS


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Roy Forbes

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Roy Forbes  Posted on: Aug 21, 2013 - 3:31pm
Hello John. Man do I wish you lived close. I would love to record some of your stories and adventures on video.

David, it's nice to see your response. I understand that 5th sub, after firing it's 2 Long Lance torpedoes at possibly the West Virginia and the Oklahoma, and escaping a run-in with a Navy Mine Sweeper made it to the West Loch where the crew scuttled the boat. She was later found when the Navy was cleaning up the mess after that ammunition exposition on LST 353 sinking itself along with 5 other LSTs on 21 May 1944. All that wreckage along with the 3 sections of sub #5 was taken 3 miles south of the entrance to the harbor and dumped. We plan on making a trip to Pearl on the way back from the Solomons in May of next year and would love to hook up with you for a bit. Do you know if there is access to the West Loch by boat?


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Tracy White

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Aug 21, 2013 - 10:25pm
Hey Roy, no offense meant, but your post made my head hurt!
The long lance is a name given to the Type 93 torpedo. The Midgets fired the Type 97 at Pearl Harbor. The Type 93 was 24 in diameter and was armed with a 1,080 lb warhead - the Type 97 was 17.7 in diameter and had a 772 Lbs warhead - less than 75% of the long lance.

The rest of your paragraph is a theory advanced without any sort of proof. No conclusive evidence of a Type 97 hit was found on any ship, and no documentation has surfaced that explains where and when the sub itself was found. The facts behind this boat are a total mystery at this point - please ask for proof if anyone states otherwise!

I have researched this subject at two branches of the National Archives and traded more than a couple of e-mails with Parks Stephenson. While I don't claim to know everything or have seen everything, I would consider myself competent in the subject and willing to answer any further questions anyone has.

Tracy White
Researcher@Large

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Roy Forbes

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Roy Forbes  Posted on: Aug 22, 2013 - 6:59am
Good morning Tracy. I suggest, urge and recommend that you pick up a copy of the PBS NOVA documentary done in 2010 titled Killer Subs in Pearl Harbor and update your research accordingly. It address the issues you have missed.


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