Evening star., 1946-01-15

aside the verdict of the NavS
court of inquiry" on the basis oi
a secret investigation conducted by
Admiral H. K Hewitt.
Although he said the Navy court
permitted him to attend sessions
with counsel and cross examine wit
nesses. Admiral Kimmel testified
that its findings were not made
public until year later, in August
l945, and that in the meantime
the Secretary of the Navy had de-
MED his request to see the courts
verdict.
I'm May of 1945, long after the
Navy court of inquiry had filed it,
report, the Secretary of the Navy
detailed Admiral Hewitt to make
further secret investigation into
Perl Harbor." Admiral Kimmel con-
tinued, II learned from the public
press that this investigation ha6
begun. On May 8, 1945, wrote
the Secretary requesting permission
to be present at the hearings before
Admiral Hewitt, to introduce evil
dence, to confront and cross
examine witnesses. He said his re-
quest was denied later.
Admiral Kimmel said he renewed
his request 10 days later but got
no reply He told the committee
he also was not permitted to hear
or examine other witnesses before
the Roberts Commission. He was
told at that time that he was
not on trial. he said. Admiral Kim
mel charged that testimony of high
ranking Army and Navy officers
before this commission was not
recorded and that some of the state
ments made there may have given
that commission the impression
that the intercepted japanese
diplomatic messages were either
forwarded to him by Washington
or were available in Pearl Harbor
Il do intend to suggest that anv
of these responsible officers delib-
erately misled the Roberts Commits
sion as to my receipt of the magic
messages, Admiral Kimmel went
on. 1T was tragic, however, that
the commission did not ask me
about this matter. No question was
addressed to me on the subject of
my knowledge of the intercepted
Japanese dispatches. I had no op-
portunity to correct any misin-
formation which the Roberts Com
mission may have received as to
my receipt of this information. l
had no way of knowing what evil
dence had been given the commits
sion other than my own testimony"
Summing up his discussion of the
previous secret Investigations, Ad-
miral Kimmel told the committee:
With these facts the American
people will know how to evaluate
the various Investigations into Pearl
Harbor. If this investigation sue
ceeds in preserving for the future
the pertinent facts about Pearl Har-
Dor shall be content History, with
the perspective of the long tomor-
row, will enter the final directive
IN my case. I am confident of that
verdict"
Admiral Kimmel who has been
criticized for not sending out the
planes he had in Hawaii on recon-
naissance after the war warning of
November 81. told the committee
that he had no way of knowing
the war would start on December 7
and declared:
Had I directed their use for
intensive distant searches from
Oahu 1 faced the peril of having
those planes grounded when the
fleet needed them and when the
war plan was executed"
He said 1t is beyond controversy
that he did not have a sufficient
number of planes to conduct each
day distant search of the entire
area around Oahu.
Conclusion Challenged.
Admiral Kimmel also challenged
a conclusion reached by the Secre.
tary of the Navy that there were
sufficient feet patrol planes anc