United States Naval Base
Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii
0625 Hours 16 October 1942
In his own mind Brigadier General Fleming W. Pickering, USMCR, tended to see himself primarily as a reasonably competent ship's master and business-man-in civilian life he had been the Chairman of the Board of the Pacific and Far East Shipping Corporation-dragged by force of circumstances into situa-tions very little connected with his experience in either commanding a ship or running a Fortune 500 Corporation.
Shortly after the start of the war-like many other top-level corporate ex-ecutives-he was offered a position at the newly formed Office of Strategic Services. When he arrived in Washington, he found the position offered was not only second-level but would leave him immediately subordinate to a man for whom he had virtually no respect. He furthermore believed this action was less an evaluation of his potential value to the OSS than a gratuitously insulting payback from Colonel William Donovan, head of the OSS. Donovan was a Wall Street lawyer with whom he had had several acrimonious business deal-ings.
He declined the position-in another acrimonious meeting with Dono-van-and then volunteered his services to the United States Marine Corps. De-spite the Distinguished Service Cross he had earned in the trenches in France in World War I, the Marines had no place for him, either. About to return to his San Francisco office, he had a chance meeting with Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox in the hotel suite of their mutual close friend Senator Richardson K. Fowler. Over more than a couple of drinks, he suggested to Knox that after the unmitigated disaster at Pearl Harbor, the decent thing for him to do was resign.
That unabashed candor, and Pickering's reputation in the upper echelons of the American business community, were enough to make Knox realize that Pickering was just the man he needed to be his eyes and ears in the Pacific. If he himself did not intimidate Pickering, Knox concluded, and if Wild Bill Donovan didn't either, no admiral in the Pacific was likely to daunt him; nor, for that matter, was General Douglas MacArthur.
Knox's character assessment had proved valid. On his initial trip to the Pacific-Knox had arranged for him to be commissioned as a Navy Captain- Pickering prepared clear-eyed reports detailing how bad the situation really was. These often differed significantly from the reports Knox had been getting from the admirals at CINCPAC (Commander-In-Chief, Pacific) headquar-ters-which confirmed Knox's fears that he was being told only what the ad-mirals wished him to hear. In addition, Pickering somehow established a strong personal relationship with General Douglas MacArthur. This, in Knox's view, was extraordinary, for MacArthur was not only a notorious loner, but he was surrounded by a group of senior officers-"The Bataan Gang"-who had served with him in the Philippines and regarded it as their duty to keep their Supreme Commander isolated from outsiders.
Knox's pleasure with his selection of Pickering turned out to be short- lived, however. Without any authorization, Pickering sailed with the invasion fleet to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Shortly after the invasion, there was a message from him expressing, in precise detail, his dissatisfaction with the Navy's role in the invasion. He then further manifested his displeasure by going ashore. Once there, he placed himself at the service of Major General Alexander Archer Vandegrift, the commander of the First Marine Division, and somewhat melodramatically volunteered to perform any duties he might be assigned, if only those of a rifleman.
Inasmuch as the Navy assault fleet had sailed away, leaving the Marines alone on their beachhead-the source of Pickering's contempt-Vandegrift was not able to order the first Navy captain he had ever seen in Marine Corps utilities and carrying a Springfield rifle back aboard a ship with his polite thanks. Shortly afterward, the 1st Marine Division G-2 was killed in combat. By that time, Pickering had so impressed Vandegrift with his intelligence and competence that Vandegrift, short of senior officers, appointed him Acting G-2, until a trained replacement could be sent to the island.
After a month Pickering reluctantly left Guadalcanal, and then only on the direct orders of Secretary Knox, who had ordered the captain of a Navy de-stroyer making an emergency supply run to Guadalcanal not to leave unless he had Pickering safely aboard. En route to Espiritu Santo, from where Pickering was to be flown to the United States, the destroyer was attacked by a Japanese bomber and her captain killed. Although seriously wounded himself, Pickering assumed command of the destroyer, not because he was the senior Naval offi-cer aboard, but because he believed himself to be the best-qualified mariner aboard-with some justification: he had been licensed as a Master Mariner, Any Tonnage, Any Ocean, at twenty-six.
Pickering's exploits, meanwhile, came to the attention of President Roose-velt, not only through Secretary Knox but also through the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific, who wanted him decorated for his behavior aboard the destroyer, and through Senator Richardson K. Fowler (R., Cal.), Pickering's lifelong friend and the man the President described privately as the "leader of my none-too-loyal opposition."
Roosevelt saw in Pickering the same qualities Knox did. Moreover, he felt a certain personal kinship with him, despite their political differences: Both had sons serving in combat in the Marine Corps. Thus, he overrode the strong, if politely expressed, objections of the Marine Corps establishment and com-missioned Pickering a brigadier general, USMC Reserve.
Shortly after that, he was named Chief, USMC Office of Management Analysis. This was done-at Secretary Knox's "suggestion"-primarily be-cause it gave Management Analysis a general officer, essential in the waging of bureaucratic wars in Washington. It also gave him a billet on USMC man-ning charts. At the same time, it was presumed that Pickering would permit Colonel F. L. Rickabee, a career intelligence officer and the previous Chief, to run things as they had been run. This was an error in judgment. Having been placed in charge, Pickering assumed command.
To everyone's surprise, Rickabee was not outraged. In fact, he seemed de-lighted with Pickering's leadership. This proved true even after Pickering ig-nored all advice and ordered, from his hospital bed, the evacuation of two Marines operating a Coastwatcher Station on the Japanese-held island of Buka and were in imminent danger of death either from Japanese action or starva-tion. The operation was successfully completed before formal objections to it could work their way through the military hierarchy.
"I have something to say," Brigadier General Pickering said softly. Pickering was in his early forties, tall, distinguished looking, and he wore a superbly tai-lored uniform, the breast of which displayed an impressive array of colored ribbons attesting to his valor both in World War I and the current conflict.
Four Marines turned to look at him: Major Homer C. "Jake" Dillon, USMCR, a stocky, crew-cutted man in his middle thirties; First Lieutenant Kenneth R. McCoy, USMCR, a well-built, lithe, even-featured young man in his early twenties; Sergeant George F. Hart, USMC, a twenty-four-year-old with the build of a circus strong man; and Corporal Robert F. Easterbrook, who weighed 132 pounds, was nineteen years old, and looked younger.
"I want to say thank you," General Pickering said, "to you three"-he indicated the Major, the Lieutenant, and the sergeant-"for the Buka Opera-tion. You carried it off without a hitch. It couldn't have been done without you. You're a credit to The Corps."
"Yeah, we know, Flem," Major Dillon replied. "You really didn't have to get out of bed at this time of the morning to tell us."