She turned at the sound of a pounding on her kitchen door.
Melissa Wilson burst in, with her infant son in her arms and concern on her face. “Do you hear it?”
Melissa was Alexa’s neighbor. Short and pretty, she was the type of buxom princess other men always seemed to lust after. Melissa, Missy to her friends, was also very excitable.
“Hear what?” Alexa asked.
“The explosions.”
Alexa strained and realized there were rumblings off in the distance. She’d been so wrapped up in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard a thing. She grabbed her friend, and they ran outside. Located near the hills that overlooked Honolulu, her little bungalow was on higher ground than most of the area, but she still couldn’t quite see the harbor or where the sounds were coming from.
What she could see was smoke starting to rise from the area where the ships were anchored. Planes circled the smoke like bees, and she wondered if they were somehow trying to put out the fire. There were tiny puffs of black smoke in the air that looked like antiaircraft fire, but that just couldn’t be. Evidently it was a bad accident, but nothing that would involve antiaircraft fire.
Whatever it was, Alexa hoped it didn’t involve the Oklahoma. Tim had told her that a battleship was the safest place in the world to be, but she didn’t want that theory tested. She didn’t worry about Melissa’s husband, who was at sea on the carrier Lexington.
People had begun to gather on the dirt road that led to the city.
Everyone was puzzled and concerned. Whatever the accident was, it was beginning to look serious. Then another neighbor burst out of his house.
“Japs! I just heard it on the radio. Japs have attacked the battleships!”
Alexa was first incredulous, then stunned. She grabbed Melissa. “I have to get down there. Tim’s on his ship.”
Tim had taken their car, so Melissa said she’d drive and gave the baby to a neighbor to watch. Then Melissa got behind the wheel of her Chevrolet and drove toward the base. It was slow going as people filled the streets and stared at the growing conflagration. The closer they got, the more damage they saw, including homes and buildings burning fiercely. The Japs weren’t attacking just the base.
They looked in horror at a car that was up on a lawn. A line of bullets had stitched holes in its top, and at least two people were slumped over inside, dead.
At the base, a grim-faced guard stopped them. “Sorry but you can’t go in.”
“My husband’s on the Oklahoma,” Alexa pleaded.
The guard’s expression softened, but he didn’t relent. “Look, ma’am, I’d like to help, but I can’t. There’s just too much happening and you’d be in danger. Go back home and wait. I’m sure everything’ll be okay.”
Reluctantly, she saw the sense of it. Like it or not, there suddenly was a war on, and Tim had more important things to do at this moment. But dark clouds of smoke were growing overhead like a malevolent and terrifying thundercloud. Something awful was happening in the harbor.
At Melissa’s suggestion, they drove slowly from the base and to a rise that overlooked the harbor. It was a favorite spot for those who wanted a good view of what was referred to as Battleship Row, and also served as a place where kids went to make out. Both women discounted the dangers from Japanese planes, which seemed to have flown off.
Hundreds of other people had had the same idea, and they had to park a ways off. Finally, they made it to where they could see the battleships. The great clouds of smoke, however, made viewing difficult.
“Oh my God,” Melissa said- “I never dreamed it could be so awful.”
Alexa didn’t answer. She was busy trying to figure out where the Oklahoma was. Normally, she had no problem spotting Tim’s ship, but everything seemed strangely out of kilter. Something was terribly, horribly wrong.
First, the Nevada was missing, and behind where she had been lay the Arizona. Or, she realized grimly, what had once been the Arizona. The battleship was a mass of flames and was sinking. She wondered how something made of metal could burn so brightly.
Behind the Arizona was the West Virginia, which was also on fire. The Tennessee, anchored between the West Virginia and Ford Island, seemed to be okay.
But where the devil was the Oklahoma? Could she have escaped, as the Nevada appeared to have done? Something large, metal, and cylindrical was where the Oklahoma should have been. Alexa doubled over in nausea and sudden agony as she realized that the strange and obscene shape was Tim’s ship. The massive battleship lay far on its side, with nothing of its superstructure showing. Anyone inside had to be trapped in what was now a grotesque parody of a warship.
“Tim,” she groaned.
Melissa saw and hugged her. “He’ll be all right,” she tried to reassure her friend through her own tears. “Let’s get out of here. We can’t just stay here and stare.”,
Alexa looked around and saw many others were weeping. She wasn’t the only one with a loved one in danger. “Drive around,” she said.
“Why?”
“We’ve got to find a place where they’re taking the injured and volunteer to help. Missy, I’ve got to do something. If I just go home and wait, I’ll go crazy.”
Alexa took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. Even if he was okay, it would be hours at best before Tim had a chance to call her. At least she would be able to stay active and put her first aid training to use. At least she would be able to do something. Anything.
Commander Fuchida ignored the steady drone of the Nakajima B5N2’s engine and looked down on Pearl Harbor. He would rather be piloting the three-man bomber instead of observing, but it was more important for him to be a spectator at this time. Let the others fly the plane and be on the lookout for American fighters.
It was difficult to see because of the height at which he was flying and the blankets of dark smoke that obscured much of the target area below. He considered flying lower, but that would only invite antiaircraft fire, and might even attract one of the few fighters the Americans had left.
From what he could tell, the final attack had been extremely successful. First, he had led somewhat more than the hundred planes he’d told Nagumo he wanted. It had proven impossible to stop all of the eager young pilots from joining him, and several of the more aggressive carrier captains had conspired in letting them join the attack.
Second, he’d been right in his tactics. The lead Zeros had quickly overwhelmed and obliterated the antiaircraft defenses that shielded both Hickam Field and the now burning oil storage tanks. He wasn’t certain about the extent of damage to the Pennsylvania and the adjacent cruisers, but he could see fires on the battleship. The Pennsylvania might not have been sunk, but she was damaged. More important, the dry docks appeared to be a burning shambles.
A handful of American fighters had tried to intercept the attack and been beaten off with substantial losses. As predicted, their attacks were uncoordinated and offered more proof that neither their pilots nor their tactics were up to Japanese standards. Most of the Americans had been shot down, with only a few losses to the Japanese air fleet. Fuchida now concluded the American planes were also inferior to the Japanese Zero. So much for the myth of American technology, he thought.
Predictably, Admiral Nagumo had lost his nerve and tried to cancel the attack. When Fuchida received the radio message, he’d first ignored it and then said it was too late-the attack had already begun. It had been a small lie but an effective one. The planes were only minutes away from Pearl and had doubtless been sighted.