Evening star., 1942-02-08
Early Decision Due
On Trial Of Short
And KimmeI
Retirement Requests
Studied by OffieioIs;
Acceptance Expected

Requests 1TOm MAJ. Cen. WdltcI
c. Short and Rear Admiral Husband
E. Kimmel yesterday for retirement
to civil life raised the probability Of
an immediate decision on whether
they should stand trial as result
of the Pearl Harbor disaster.
The two commanders in Hawaii
were charged by the Roberts Com
mission with "dereliction of duty"
IN not taking adequate precautions
against a surprise Japanese attack.
It was believed a decision on the
question of trials would be left to
President Roosevelt.
Secretary of War Stimson and
Secretary of the Navy Knox said
merely that the applications for re-
tirement had been taken under ad-
visement and gave no hint whether
they would be accepted.
Acceptance Likely.
Informed circles considered 1t
likely that both applications would
be accepted as a solution OF dis
ciplinary problems.
Permitting retirement would not
preclude subsequent court-martial
trials, but in some quarters it was
felt that if the Army or Navy
planned to take action it would be
initiated while the two were still
on active duty.
In retirement both officers would
retain the privilege of demanding
trial to clear their records.
Rear Admiral Kimmel, at the
time of Pearl Harbor, full admiral
In charge of the United States Fleet
as well as the Pacific Fleet, and Maj.
Gen. Short, then lieutenant general,
In charge of the Hawaiian Depart
ment of the Army, were relieved OF
their commands on December IT,
soon after the preliminary report
filed on Pearl Harbor by Secretary
Of the Navy Knox.
If retired, Admiral Kimmel will
receive $4,000 a year pension, or IS
per cent of the salary he received
as a rear admiral in the upper half
of the grade. The same salary scale
for retirement would apply to Maj.
Gen. Short.
Requests End Silence.
The requests for retirement ended
silence that had been observed by
both officers since their relief OF
duty. Both returned to the main
land, but each maintained silence
that for a time caused certain OFF,
cials to believe they might be wait
ing a propitious time to tell their
sides Of the story of Pearl Harbor.
The commission headed by Su-
preme Court Justice Owen Roberts
filed a report criticizing the two
commanding officers for refusing to
take seriously warnings from Wash
ington of the imminence of an at
tack, and also disclosed an almost
complete lack of cooperation be-
tween the Naval and Army forces
on the Island. The report said 1T
was a dereliction of duty on the
part Of each of them not to consult
and confer with the other respecting
the meaning and intent of the warn
ings and the appropriate measures
of defense required by the immin-
ence of hostilities."
In the conclusions of the Roberts
report were these words:
THE japanese attack was a COM
plete surprise to the commanders,
and they failed to make suitahle dis
positions to meet such an attack.
Each failed properly to evaluate the
seriousness of the situation. These
errors of judgment were the effec-
tive causes for the success of the
attack"
Following the publication OF the
Roberts report, there were many
calls from Capitol Hill for court
martial trials for the two command
ing officers.
Nimitz Succeeded KimmeI.
When Admiral Kimmel was re-
moved, he was succeeded as COM
mander of the Pacific Fleet by Rear
Admiral Chester w. Nimitz. Com
mand OF the United States Fleet
went to Admiral Ernest S. King, who
was given new and expanded duties.
some of which were formerly under
direction of the Chief of Naval
Operations. Secretary Knox made it
plain that Admiral King was to
direct actual fleet operations in the
war.
Gen. Short was succeeded bv 1t
Gen. Delos C. Emmons of the air
combat forces in Hawaii. Another
Army officer, Maj. Gen. Frederick l..
Martin. was removed at the time
and was succeeded by Brig. Gen. C.
l.. Tinker. Gen. Martin has since
been reassigned as commander of
an air combat command on the
West Coast.
The two officers who sought re-
tirement yesterday had long and
brilliant careers that brought them
to high command.
i Admiral Kimmel, who is so, was
made commander of the Pacific
Fleet, with additional duties as
commander in chief of the United
States Fleet, on February /, 1941,
Just year and seven days before
he asked to be retired. He served
IN part of the World War as execu-
five officer of the battleship U. S. S.
Arkansas, which was operating with
the British Grand Fleet. He was a
longtime friend of President Roose-
relt, and served as his aide when
the Chief Executive, then Assistant
Secretary of the Navy, visited the
West Coast in 1915. He was native
Of Henderson, KY, and maintained
Q home there.
Gen. Short was born in Fillmore,
ILL.,, 81 years ago. He had military
career of four decades which started