Pearl Harbor Child

A Glowing Testimonial

Larry Nicholson — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:55:30 +0000

This was sent to us from one of the teachers of a classroom we visited.

“I teach the elementary gifted program for the Granite City, Illinois public school district. My students recently completed a unit of study on Hawaii, concluding with the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The students read both Pearl Harbor Child and Pearl Harbor Warriors. I used Mrs. Nicholson’s teacher’s resource guides to help me present the study material. The wide assortment of activities and suggestions yielded a wealth of assistance to me. The students especially enjoyed doing the Reader’s Theater, depicting various sailors’ accounts of the attack.

Because I did this study with 4th and 5th graders, it was very important to me to present the material in such a way that the children would not be terrorized by the events of Pearl Harbor. Mrs. Nicholson approached the topic in a very sensitive manner, yet thoroughly covered all aspects of this part of our history.

The children gained a vast amount of knowledge from the reading and various activities. They were humbled by Mrs. Nicholson’s accounts of relocation of families, rationing, curfews, blackouts and wearing of gas masks. They could identify with recycling efforts. The numerous photos were such a help in making the various events come alive for my students. These nine and yen-year-olds have I.Q.’s of 120 or higher. Many of them took it upon themselves to do extensive, individual studies on various aspects of the Pearl Harbor event. Parents became involved in family discussions, following the grid in the teacher’s resource guide. They related their memories of the recent 9-11 terrorist attacks and the aftermath and compared them to the things they learned about the Pearl Harbor attack and its aftermath.

When we began the study, the students exhibited feelings of animosity toward the Japanese military and the American government for interring Japanese Americans. But, after finishing the study, a better understanding of how we can learn from history, and how forgiveness and friendship can bring about inner peace and afford a better way of life for their generation and future generations. I really appreciate the time and effort Mrs. Nicholson and her collaborators gave to the creation of her books and resource guides. I would highly recommend them to all teachers interested in teaching Pearl harbor history.”

The often overlooked (other) Pearl Harbor Memorial, the USS Utah

Larry Nicholson — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:17:54 +0000

Standing at the USS Utah Memorial in 2001, I met Pharmacist’s Mate Lee B. Soucy, and discovered a special link with him . . . on that incredible Sunday morning exactly 60 years before, we were only a few hundred yards from each other. The Japanese planes that flew at treetop level over my house nearby were the same planes that dropped deadly torpedoes on his ship and sank it.

Here are some of Lee’s comments from that long ago morning:

I had just had breakfast and was looking out a porthole in sick bay when someone said, “What are all those planes doing up there on a Sunday?” Someone else said, “It must be those crazy Marines. They’d be the only ones out maneuvering on a Sunday.” When I looked up in the sky, I saw five or six planes starting their descent toward the hangars at Ford Island, I still did not realize that this was not a drill.

Even after I saw a huge fireball and cloud of black smoke rise from the hangars, and heard explosions, it did not occur to me that these were enemy planes. It was too incredible—simply beyond imagination! Suddenly, I felt the Utah lurch.

Immediately, the bugler sounded “general quarters” (prepare for battle). I grabbed my first-aid bag and ran for my battle station. As I was running down the passageway, another torpedo slammed into us. I vividly remember the violent jolt that knocked me off balance, Getting up a bit dazed, I immediately darted down the ladder below the armored deck. In the tenseness of the moment, I left behind my first-aid kit.

By then, the ship was already listing (tilting). After a minute to two below deck, I heard another bugle call, then the bosun’s whistle, followed by the chant, “Abandon ship . . . abandon ship.”

Scampering up the ladder, I raced toward the open side of the deck. An officer stood by a stack of Mae Wests (life preservers) tossing them to the crew as they ran by. When I reached the open deck, the ship was tilting sharply to one side. I thought about the huge amount of ammunition that was on board and that it would surely blow up soon. Eager to get away from the ship quickly, I discarded my life jacket not wanting anything to slow me down.

As I was tensely poised for a running dive off the partially exposed hull, the ship lunged and again threw me off balance. I ended up on my bottom sliding across the barnacle-encrusted hull of the ship into the water feet first.

After I bobbed up to the surface, I spotted a motor launch fishing men out of the water with a boat hook. I swam toward the launch. After a few strokes, a hail of bullets hit the water a few feet ahead of me. As the strafer banked, I noted the big red circles on the wing tips. Until then, I did not know who had attacked us. I quickly decided that a boat full of men would be a more likely strafing target than a lone swimmer, so I changed course and swam hard for Ford Island.

Reaching the beach exhausted, I was joined by a shipmate, Pharmacist’s Mate Gordon Sumner, who had his first-aid kit wrapped around his shoulders. We rested for a moment, then were picked up by officers in a jeep, who saw our medical armbands. They took us to an emergency treatment station filled with oil-covered casualties from the flaming and sinking ships in the harbor. We quickly used up the small amount of medical supplies in Sumner’s bag.

A line officer came by to inquire how we were getting along. We told him we had run out of everything and were in urgent need of bandages and some kind of solvent or alcohol to cleanse wounds. He ordered someone to strip the beds and make rolls of bandages with the sheets. Then he turned to me and said, “Alcohol? Alcohol? Will whiskey do?”

Despite the confusion, pain, and suffering, there was some gutsy humor. At one point an exhausted swimmer, covered with a gooey film of black oil, saw me cleaning another sailor with a washcloth in one hand and a bottle of booze in the other. He hollered, “Hey Doc, could I have a shot of that medicine?”

Not long ago, Lee brought his family to visit the USS Utah Memorial. While standing on the memorial platform, he gazed across the small span of water at the rusting, shrinking, distorted hulk of his ship. He remembered she had been changed from a battleship into a target ship. Her anti-aircraft guns were covered with steel housing. Sadly, the Utah had gone down without firing a shot. He recalled the armored deck, with layers of heavy timbers for additional protection.

In a practice attack, (see box) the entire crew would go below deck. Then Army or Navy planes would practice dropping bombs (without explosives) or shooting at the Utah. Being shot at was part of their job! Afterward, the crew would come back up on deck, eager to get fresh air.

Today, a thin film of oil surrounds both the sunken USS Utah and USS Arizona. Sometimes it is hard to see, depending on the sunlight, but it is always there, bubbling to the surface. The oil, no longer the lifeblood of once powerful ships, may some day create a serious environmental hazard. No one has yet solved the mystery of how to remove the remaining oil without polluting the harbor. Since both ships are priceless military graveyards where hundreds of honored men are buried, the challenge is even more difficult.

As Lee stood on the platform and looked at his old ship, where his shipmates had their lives cut short, he wondered if it is possible that a well-known saying will come to pass—that the oil will stop flowing when the last survivor has passed on.

Then his thoughts were interrupted when he heard, “Pop, what are those plants growing out of the ship?”

Lee had also wondered about that luxuriant patch of greenery. Not wanting his grandchildren to realize he didn’t know everything, he put his mind in fast forward and blurted out,

“That’s a bouquet from God’s Little Garden to decorate the tomb, the remains of my old ship. Look at the oil sloshing against their leaves. Who but God could make plants flourish in a rusty bed of steel? See, those plants look happy and healthy. Surely God made his face to shine upon them. May they grow in peace forever.”

Lee continued, “Yes, there is new life on the shrinking Utah. And our remaining crew wants to secure a measure of honor for our shipmates who went down with the ship. As more people visit the USS Utah Memorial, and they look at the remains of our old ship resting on the bottom of the harbor, they will probably think to themselves, ‘What an ugly sight.’

“So be it. May that ugly sight serve as a reminder that war IS ugly. May they keep in mind also that the generation which came to believe it was invincible got caught unprepared, and as a consequence suffered great losses.”

Lee likes to end his story with a slogan from WWII that still applies: “Remember Pearl Harbor—keep America alert!”I had just had breakfast and was looking out a porthole in sick bay when someone said, “What are all those planes doing up there on a Sunday?” Someone else said, “It must be those crazy Marines. They’d be the only ones out maneuvering on a Sunday.” When I looked up in the sky, I saw five or six planes starting their descent toward the hangars at Ford Island, I still did not realize that this was not a drill.Even after I saw a huge fireball and cloud of black smoke rise from the hangars, and heard explosions, it did not occur to me that these were enemy planes. It was too incredible—simply beyond imagination! Suddenly, I felt the Utah lurch.

“Immediately, the bugler sounded “general quarters” (prepare for battle). I grabbed my first-aid bag and ran for my battle station. As I was running down the passageway, another torpedo slammed into us. I vividly remember the violent jolt that knocked me off balance, Getting up a bit dazed, I immediately darted down the ladder below the armored deck. In the tenseness of the moment, I left behind my first-aid kit.

“By then, the ship was already listing (tilting). After a minute to two below deck, I heard another bugle call, then the bosun’s whistle, followed by the chant, “Abandon ship . . . abandon ship.”

“Scampering up the ladder, I raced toward the open side of the deck. An officer stood by a stack of Mae Wests (life preservers) tossing them to the crew as they ran by. When I reached the open deck, the ship was tilting sharply to one side. I thought about the huge amount of ammunition that was on board and that it would surely blow up soon. Eager to get away from the ship quickly, I discarded my life jacket not wanting anything to slow me down.

“As I was tensely poised for a running dive off the partially exposed hull, the ship lunged and again threw me off balance. I ended up on my bottom sliding across the barnacle-encrusted hull of the ship into the water feet first.

“After I bobbed up to the surface, I spotted a motor launch fishing men out of the water with a boat hook. I swam toward the launch. After a few strokes, a hail of bullets hit the water a few feet ahead of me. As the strafer banked, I noted the big red circles on the wing tips. Until then, I did not know who had attacked us. I quickly decided that a boat full of men would be a more likely strafing target than a lone swimmer, so I changed course and swam hard for Ford Island.

“Reaching the beach exhausted, I was joined by a shipmate, Pharmacist’s Mate Gordon Sumner, who had his first-aid kit wrapped around his shoulders. We rested for a moment, then were picked up by officers in a jeep, who saw our medical armbands. They took us to an emergency treatment station filled with oil-covered casualties from the flaming and sinking ships in the harbor. We quickly used up the small amount of medical supplies in Sumner’s bag.

“A line officer came by to inquire how we were getting along. We told him we had run out of everything and were in urgent need of bandages and some kind of solvent or alcohol to cleanse wounds. He ordered someone to strip the beds and make rolls of bandages with the sheets.”

In a practice attack, the entire crew would go below deck. Then Army or Navy planes would practice dropping bombs (without explosives) or shooting at the Utah. Being shot at was part of their job! Afterward, the crew would come back up on deck, eager to get fresh air.

Then he said, “Our remaining crew wants to secure a measure of honor for our shipmates who went down with the ship. As more people visit the USS Utah Memorial, and they look at the remains of our old ship resting on the bottom of the harbor, they will probably think to themselves, ‘What an ugly sight.’

Lee likes to end his story with a slogan from WWII that still applies: “Remember Pearl Harbor—keep America alert!”

Sgt. Richard Fiske’s story in his own words

Larry Nicholson — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 02:12:22 +0000

Richard Fiske in uniform, age 19

“I was a Marine bugler, assigned to the battleship USS West Virginia, and on that Sunday morning, had just finished playing my bugle for the raising of the colors. It was just an ordinary day. I had the rest of the day off, and was looking forward to a date with my girlfriend in Honolulu.

But in the next few seconds, the world changed, and America was under attack. I was on the bridge of the West Virginia, which is high above the main deck, about 16 stories above the water. I had a ringside view as the Japanese torpedo planes suddenly attacked the side of my ship. They came in very low, only about 25 feet above the water, because the channel isn’t very deep, and the torpedoes were specially designed for shallow water.

After they released their torpedoes, the pilots would quickly climb and zoom past their target, looking back to see if they had been successful. The Japanese pilots had their cockpits open in case they needed to bail out, and I had a very close look at one of the pilots as his plane flew past, barely missing the bridge where I was standing in total shock and disbelief. Can you imagine how it felt to see that pilot roar by, and then to feel your ship rocked by torpedoes smashing into its side?

One torpedo was aimed wrong. It went too deep, and buried itself in the bottom over by the USS Oklahoma. It was found many years later, in May of 1991. It was still “alive,” but was detonated and you can see the remains on display at the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center.”

(Editor’s note: you can read Richard’s full account in our Pearl Harbor Child book, along with true stories from other survivors)

M.Sgt. Richard Fiske’s amazing story

Larry Nicholson — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:54:41 +0000

The first time we saw Sgt. Fiske was in 1993, long after WWII had ended. He was wearing his Pearl Harbor Survivors cap and the green-and-white shirt worn by volunteers at the USS Arizona Memorial. He was surrounded by a group of tourists, who were listening closely as he talked. He had a large, heavy notebook, and turned its pages, holding it up so everyone could see.

In his notebook was a document showing the attack plan in Japanese. This official diagram shows there were 40 torpedo planes, 49 high-altitude bombers, 51 dive bombers and 43 fighters in the first wave. The torpedoes were 18 feet long, and Richard’s ship, the USS West Virginia, took nine of them.

Richard was the ship’s bugler, and at 7:55 a.m. on December 7, 1941, he was standing on the ship’s bridge with his bugle, some 16 stories above the deck, ready to sound reveille (wakeup call). But in the next few seconds, the world changed, and America was under attack by naval and air forces of Japan.

His ship was badly damaged. Richard joined his shipmates as they tried to respond, but the ship’s pumping station had been damaged and there was no water pressure to fight the fires. When the order came to “abandon ship,” he dove into the burning water and managed to swim to nearby Ford Island.

Many of his shipmates were injured or killed during the attack, and the next day, Richard had the difficult task of playing “taps” for the burial of his Captain.

One of the chapters in our Pearl Harbor Child book tells Richard’s story, but the response was so strong, we decided that his story deserved a book of its own. Thus, our “Pearl Harbor Warriors” book was written and published, which tells the details of his experiences, how he later met Japanese veterans, how his hatred was softened, and how he became friends with many of them.

One pilot in particular, Lt. Zenji Abe, eventually asked Richard to help him apologize for the attack. He gave Richard money to pay for two red roses, which Richard took to the Arizona Memorial once a month. He placed the roses below the wall of names, and then played taps in a touching tribute to those who died there. Richard continued this tribute for 12 years, until his death.

We are so thankful that we were able to tell this truly incredible story in our “Pearl Harbor Warriors” book and DVD.

Getting to meet fascinating people

Larry Nicholson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:21:30 +0000

One of the best benefits of being in the publishing world is the people you get to meet. For example, after the first edition of our Pearl Harbor Child book was published in 1993, we began to receive inquiries from people we had never heard of, but who shared my wife Dorinda’s experience as a civilian eyewitness and/or military participant during the attack on December 7, 1941.

Several people contacted us, and basically said they had our book and enjoyed reading it, but wanted to let others know that they shared that experience . . . they also were there, each as an eyewitness from different vantage points. Each had gone through the attack . . . but no one knew their stories because they had never told them . . . and they wanted to know if we might be interested in adding their stories to our book.

This happened several times, and as we investigated further, found that several of them were not only true stories, but were important and meaningful, and needed to be told. So, when the book sold out, we decided to expand it, and add several other eyewitness accounts. I was at first concerned that this might somehow take something away from Dorinda’s story and make it less important, but I was wrong . . . adding the other stories simply made the new edition a more thorough and richer telling of the event that literally changed the world.

So, we added several untold stories, our book grew in size and importance, and we made some wonderful new friends as well. A couple of years went by, and the story of Sgt. Richard Fiske was so strong, we decided it deserved a book of its own . . . and that’s how our second book, the award-winning “Pearl Harbor Warriors” came to be written.

What is "The Pearl Harbor Child" Really Like?

Larry Nicholson — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:39:36 +0000

I have to stop and think sometimes when I’m reminded that my wife is one of the very few living civilian eyewitnesses to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, who was actually INSIDE the harbor when the Japanese attack occurred.

Yes, there were thousands of people living on the island of Oahu on that fateful day, and some of them lived near the harbor. But Pearl Harbor is and was then a huge military installation, and only a handful were civilians who actually lived inside the harbor, and most of them are no longer with us. So, she happened to be at a special place on a special Sunday morning in history and thus has a unique and important story to share.

Dorinda was 6 years old, living with her parents in a small home on the Pearl City Peninsula, which extends out into the middle of the harbor, only a few hundred yards from Battleship Row. The USS Utah was the closest ship to her home, and it was also one of the first ships attacked in the initial wave of destruction.

As she describes in her Pearl Harbor Child book, Dorinda stood in her front yard with her father, and watched the low-flying torpedo bombers fly over her house at treetop level on their way to drop their bombs on our sleeping ships in the harbor.

This is truly a unique and important story, and we have traveled widely across America and even abroad as she tells her story to all kinds of audiences. I have heard her story many, many times. I have also helped her tell it by providing photos, videos and sound that help her audiences understand what happened to this little girl who happened to be living in Pearl Harbor when the world changed.

And that is what this website is all about . . . and what my wife is all about . . . continuing her ongoing efforts to tell her story as effectively as possible, to as many people as possible, so that America will always “Remember Pearl Harbor.”