Evening star., 1944-05-23
Letters to The Star
Officer Opposes Courtmartial of
Pearl Harbor Commanders

oASSA oPpOSSS NOuA uAluI uuA "a
Pearl Harbor Commanders
To the Editor Of the The Star:
Having lately heard and read much
about demands for the trial Of Gen.
Short and Admiral Kimmel, feel i'm
PEELED to come to their defense in my
small and probably ineffectual way.
I have served in the Army from pri-
vate to captain for the past ~ years and
during that service have been on duty
in the Philippines and Panama Canal
Departments and have stopped in
China, Japan and Hawaii.
Until the time of the dastardly sneak
attack by the Japs on Pearl Harbor,
never had seen or heard of either Of
these officers. My. interest in them is
only the natural interest of an average
American to see fair play. I don't like
to see anybody made goat" just be-
cause some people think goats" are
necessary when something happens to
60 wrong.
To begin with, very few of us seri-
ously believed the Japs would attack
so far from their home bases, and many
of us doubted if they would atteck us
at all. Those few who did sense that
an attack was imminent naturally ex-
pected it to commence in the Orient.
While 1t evidently is true that warn
ings had been given to these COM
manders in Hawaii, they doubtlessly felt
that attack was anything but likely and
therefore failed to take extraordinary
precautions. 1t is natural failing Of
the human race to disregard warnings
as can well be understood by the num-
ber Of auto drivers who come to un-
timely ends through disregarding warn
ings not to drive too fast: They feel
that ut just can't happen to U.s." but
unfortunately 1t does. I understand
also that one Of the listening posts
heard planes approaching. Now the
last thing the listeners would expect
would be the approach Of large num-
Der of enemy planes on calm Sunday
morning. Even If they instantly had
recognized the fact that this was an
attacking force (Which was extremely
unlikely and given the alarm, it would
have taken quite some time to get the
defenders at their posts and planes in
the sky. 1t wasn't long after they were
detected by the listening post that the
attackers arrived in full force. No doubt
many men either lived at or were visit
ing in Honolulu over night and still
were asleep. Also one must remember
that an attack could come from any
direction within radius of $50 degrees
and that dozens Of our planes could
have been in the air and failed to detect
the presence Of the enemy in sufficient
time to get the defense organized. The
time of the attack was greatly in favor
Of surprise.
It is quite clear that Gen. Short and
Admiral Kimmel did not believe attack
was imminent, likely or, for that matter,
possible; this in view of the distances
involved, the strength Of Pearl Harbor
and, most important of all, the fact
that at the moment of the sneak at
tack the Jap emissaries were engaged
in so-called peace talks" in Washing
ton. Naturally enough, they were lulled
into false security and felt that ordi-
nary precautions were sufficient.
There may be some who talk of "par-
ties" and censure these officers for TAX
"A few drinks while of duty. But there
! Is no reason in the world why these
Officers should not frequent their fav-
orite clubs or amusement places after
duty hours and If they cared for few
beers or cocktails, that would be their
business and not that Of anybody else.
do not know or care whether these Of
ficers did happen to attend party"
on the night Of December 6, 1941, but
If they did. it was their inalienable right
to do so If they desired.
Just because Gen. Short and Admiral
Kimmel happened to be so unfortunate
as to be in command at the time of
this surprising and unexpected attack,
1t is, in the minds of some of our
"holier than thou" citizens, just cause
to demand courtmartial proceedings
against them. These people should
pause a moment and figure out what
they would have done in the same posi-
ton as these officers, prior to the at
tack, to prevent such surprise attack,
If possible.
1t is my studied opinion that if oues-
toned, 95 per cent of our generals and
admirals would tell any one the same
thing could have happened to them
(and these in my opinion would in
clude our present great leaders, Gen.
Macarthur and Admiral Nimitz). The
other 5 per cent, who honestly believe
1t couldn't have happened to them, are
either extremely egotistic or gifted far
beyond the powers OF Dunninger. 1t
is extremely narrow minded, If not
downright silly, to place the blame for
the terrible morning at Pearl Harbor
upon the shoulders of these two of
flcers. The Japs alone are responsible
for this sad happening. Their cunning
and clever planning, plus the element of
complete surprise and timing, probably
aided in no small degree by their spies
on the Islands. plus a duplicity of which
only they could be capable, is the real
cause for our lack of adequate de-
fensive action on the fateful morning
of December 7, 1941.
1t has been my experience in the serv-
ice that generals definitely do care for
the personal welfare of their men and
] have no doubt but that our admirals