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Infamous Day: Marines at Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941

Chapter 6: Sources
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About This Book

This account presents a close, unit-level chronicle of Marine Corps activities and experiences during the Japanese air assault on Pearl Harbor, focusing on barracks, air stations, and shipboard detachments. It describes base dispositions and duties, the sudden arrival of enemy formations, strafing and bombing of Ewa Mooring Mast Field and other installations, immediate defensive responses from Marines and support personnel, antiaircraft and machine-gun action, damage to aircraft and facilities, and the human reactions of servicemen and civilians caught in the attack. Interwoven are operational details about Marine roles ashore and afloat, improvisations under fire, and the chaotic sequence of actions that unfolded during the opening strikes.

Sources

The authors consulted primary materials in the Marine Corps Historical Center Reference Section (November/December 1941 muster rolls) and Personal Papers Section (Claude A. Larkins, Roger M. Emmons, and Wayne Jordan collections), as well as in the Naval Historical Center Operational Archives Branch (action reports and/or microfilmed deck logs for the 15 ships with embarked Marine Detachments, and those units included in the Commandant, 14th Naval District, report), in the office of the Coast Guard Historian, and in the Gordon W. Prange Papers.

The Pearl Harbor Attack: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1946) contains useful accounts (Lieutenant Commander Fuqua, Lieutenant Colonel Whaling, and Lieutenant Colonel Larkin), as does Paul Stillwell, ed., Air Raid: Pearl Harbor! Recollections of a Day of Infamy (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1981).

General works concerning Pearl Harbor that were consulted include Gordon W. Prange, et al., December 7, 1941: The Day The Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor (New York: McGraw Hill, 1987), Walter Lord, Day of Infamy (Henry Holt & Co., 1957), and Japanese War History Office, Senshi Sosho [War History Series], Vol. 10, Hawaii Sakusen (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsa, 1970).

Articles from the Naval Institute Proceedings include: Cornelius C. Smith Jr., “... A Hell of a Christmas,” (Dec68), Thomas C. Hone, “The Destruction of the Battle Line at Pearl Harbor,” (Dec77) and Paul H. Backus, “Why Them And Not Me?” (Sep81). From Marine Corps Gazette: Clifford B. Drake, “A Day at Pearl Harbor,” (Nov65). From Shipmate: Samuel R. Shaw, “Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor,” (Dec73). From Naval History: Albert A. Grasselli, “The Ewa Marines” (Spring 1991). From Leatherneck: Philip N. Pierce, “Twenty Years Ago ...” (Dec61)