More Ham Radio History….

December 7, 1941.
Warwick, NY located about 60 miles North of New York City was the home of Bill Sayer,
W2NYY. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon when Bill began tuning his Hallicrafter SX 28
receiver across the 10 meter band listening for a possible contact. It was about 1:45 when
he heard Don Murray, W9HDU in Colorado Springs. The two hams had a nice conversationand ended their contact with the usual 73 with “hope to work you again soon”. Each hadpromised to send a QSL card to validate their contact.
Here is Bill’s QSL card that was mailed to Don Murray W9DHU in Colorado Springs onDecember 15, 1941. Notice on the bottom of the card he says:“Don – Looks like we won’t work each other again soon so 73, Bill”.

QSL Card is from the collection of “QSL Cards from the Past” by W8JYZ

A few minutes after this Ham Radio contact was completed, Bill Sayer heard the news thatwould change his life forever.

Our Naval Base in the Hawaiian Islands was under attack by Japanese Warplanes as described below:

On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces
stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral
Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of thebattleships were not in port.
The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS
Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS Colorado were undergoing repairs
in the United States.
In spite of the latest intelligence reports about the missing aircraft carriers (his most important targets),Admiral Nagumo decided to continue the attack with his force of six carriers and 423 aircraft. At a range of
230 miles north of Oahu, he launched the first wave of a two-wave attack. Beginning at 0600 hours his firstwave consisted of 183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields
in Hickam, Kaneohe and Ewa. The second strike, launched at 0715 hours, consisted of 167 aircraft, which
again struck at the same targets. At 0753 hours the first wave consisting of 40 Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo
bombers, 51 Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bombers, 50 high altitude bombers and 43 Zeros struck airfields and Pearl
Harbor. Within the next hour, the second wave arrived and continued the attack.

When it was over, the U.S. losses were:Casualties:

USA: 218 KIA, 364 WIA.
USN: 2,008 KIA, 710 WIA.
USMC: 109 KIA, 69 WIA.
Civilians: 68 KIA, 35 WIA.
TOTAL: 2,403 KIA, 1,178 WIA.

Battleships:

USS Arizona (BB-39) - total loss when a bomb hit her magazine.
USS Oklahoma (BB-37) - Total loss when she capsized and sunk in the harbor.
USS California (BB-44) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS West Virginia (BB-48) - Sunk at her berth. Later raised and repaired.
USS Nevada - (BB-36) Beached to prevent sinking. Later repaired.
USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) - Light damage.
USS Maryland (BB-46) - Light damage.
USS Tennessee (BB-43) Light damage.
USS Utah (AG-16) - (former battleship used as a target) - Sunk.< /SPAN>

Cruisers:

USS New Orleans (CA-32) - Light Damage.
USS San Francisco (CA38) - Light Damage.
USS Detroit (CL-8) - Light Damage.
USS Raleigh (CL-7) - Heavily damaged but repaired.
USS Helena (CL-50) - Light Damage.
USS Honolulu (CL-48) - Light Damage.

Destroyers:

USS Downes (DD-375) - Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Cassin - (DD-372) Destroyed. Parts salvaged.
USS Shaw (DD-373) - Very heavy damage.
USS Helm (DD-388) - Light Damage.

Minelayer:
USS Ogala (CM-4) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.

Seaplane Tender:
USS Curtiss (AV-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.

Repair Ship:
USS Vestal (AR-4) - Severely damaged but later repaired.

Harbor Tug:
USS Sotoyomo (YT-9) - Sunk but later raised and repaired.

Aircraft:
188 Aircraft destroyed (92 USN and 92 U.S. Army Air Corps.)

I do not know who wrote the message below but these pictures are truly remarkable.
Bob Green
W8JYZ"RECEIVED THESE PHOTOS FROM AN OLD SHIPMATE ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O. INTERESTING,
AS I'VE NEVER SEEN THEM ANYWHERE ELSE. I THINK THEY'RE SPECTACULAR."LINK to the Pearl Harbor Pictures“A Date Which Will Live in Infamy” FDR

W8JYZDecember 7, 2009