Pearl Harbor attack question

[JohnB]

A few years ago, FlyPast published an article about a part of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack that I'd never heard of.

It seems a Japanese pilot crash landed on one of the outer islands and was aided by a Japanese farm worker.
IIRC, they were both killed after a gun battle with locals.

As I said, I'd never heard of that incident before, even while researching a college paper on the attack.
Am I the only one?
At the risk of sounding like a nutcase, was this hushed up? I have also read that there was no evidence of local pro-Japanese activity among island residents.
But this incident would certainly refute that.

[Pat Carry]

Yes, that did happen. www.historynet.com/the-niihau-incident.htm

Last edited by Pat Carry on Wed Dec 07, 2011 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Jerry O'Neill]

All true and not really covered up, just kind of forgotten for years. It happened on the island of Niihau and one of the native islanders was give an award for helping to end the week long "siege" of the island by the Japanese pilot and a local Japanese beekeeper. The remains of the Zero are on display at the museum on Ford Island.
The first time I remember reading about it was in Jr. High while reading Walter Lord's "Day of Infamy", which was written in the 1950's.
Jerry

Last edited by Jerry O'Neill on Wed Dec 07, 2011 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Dan K]

A few years ago, FlyPast published an article about a part of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack that I'd never heard of.

It seems a Japanese pilot crash landed on one of the outer islands and was aided by a Japanese farm worker.
IIRC, they were both killed after a gun battle with locals.

As I said, I'd never heard of that incident before, even while researching a college paper on the attack.
Am I the only one?
At the risk of sounding like a nutcase, was this hushed up? I have also read that there was no evidence of local pro-Japanese activity among island residents.
But this incident would certainly refute that.

US Navy reports of the incident online:

http://internmentarchives.com/showdoc.p ... pagenum=68

[TAdan]

Here is a link to an Air & Space article about the "incident."

http://www.airspacemag.com/military-aviation/Zero.html

[the330thbg]

Wow.., that is very cool.

I never heard of this before!

[Jerry O'Neill]

I did a lot of research on it and I actually wrote a screenplay about the incident several years ago. My agent passed it up a couple of internal layers at the agency before they nixed it.
Jerry

[The Inspector]

Jerry,
Why? no passionate star crossed love interest?

[cooper9411]

There are a lot of parts of the attack that are not as "important" as the Ford Island assault. What about the parts of steel that was cut off of the Arizona laying in the overgrowth on the island.

[Nathan]

There are a lot of parts of the attack that are not as "important" as the Ford Island assault. What about the parts of steel that was cut off of the Arizona laying in the overgrowth on the island.

I thought that too. I always thought the Arizona bird cage mast was still around. It's not. Some parts of the Arizona ARE sitting off in the scrap yard. Some reports of other Dec 7th wreckage there as well but it's never really been confirmed. There is reported to be some PBY wrecks somewhere near Kaneohe. But dont expect the state of Hawaii to ever let anyone recover anything.

[cooper9411]

It's not the state of Hawaii, it would be Dept. of Interior Fish & Wildlife, Parks Division. There is a park ranger, historian in residence named Daniel Martinez and he has done a couple of shows about Pearl Harbor and he has shown the upper portions of the Arizona that were cut off laying (it didnt' look like a scrap yard) in a field overrun by grass. Maybe at one time it was a scrap yard, I don't know. I just can't understand why they would just let the parts of the Arizona lay there and rot away.

[Pat Carry]

There are a lot of parts of the attack that are not as "important" as the Ford Island assault. What about the parts of steel that was cut off of the Arizona laying in the overgrowth on the island.

There is alot of misinformation out there about this steel from the USS Arizona. First, the pile of steel that exists today is not located on Ford Island. It is located off the beaten path in a remote area of the base. Secondly, this steel is not the metal such as the tri-pod masts cut off after the Arizona was declared a total loss. That steel removed in 1942 was taken to the mainland to be used in the war effort. The steel piled there today, was cut off the Arizona in 1959 to make room for the construction of the memorial we are so familiar with. Its my understanding Pearl Harbor survivors can request to have a piece of this steel to keep as a momento. What will happen to the remainder of this metal is anyone's guess. One of the gun turrets remains on the ship today. The other 3 turrets were removed in 1942 to be used on the mountains around Hawaii as coastal defense. Interestingly these coastal defense guns did not go into operation until sometime in 1945 well beyond the time of a possible invasion of Hawaii.

Last edited by Pat Carry on Thu Dec 08, 2011 10:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

[TROJANII]

Wonder where the guns are now?

[Jerry O'Neill]

Jerry,
Why? no passionate star crossed love interest?

That and no teenage protagonists or cute pets was probably about the size of it!

[cooper9411]

I stand corrected and thank you for the correction.