USS California's Four Medals of Honor
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- In the chaos of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor many heroes arose. Fifteen members of the United States Navy were awarded Medals of Honor for actions that day, four came from the flagship of the Battle Force of the US Pacific Fleet, USS California.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #pearlharbor
My father served on USS California and was a damage control switchboard operator on 07 December 41. He stayed with the ship during recovery and modernization. He left the ship just prior to the Okinawa Invasion for shorthand school. He retired from the Navy in 1961 a Chief Yoman.
And we thank him for his service.
Hey Robert! Incredible story. I am trying to compile accounts of the kamikaze attack from January 6. Could you email me more information? I’d love to record your dad’s experiences!
Thanks to The Greatest Generation for their Service and all Veterans 🇺🇸
I held my first re-enlistment on USS Arizona Memorial in 1986. Remember Pearl Harbor!!!
I was a 16 inch gunner on the battleship Missouri when we pulled into Pearl in '86 for 'round the world cruise. Manning the rails in dress whites and rendering the salute sent chills down everyone's back that day.
@@samuelschick8813 My brother was on Missouri during the first Gulf War
@@RetiredSailor60, I was turret 3 center gun. Was transferred off in 1988 for limited duty.
Bravo to you. It was such an honor to “man the rails” every time we passed by the Arizona while pulling into Pearl.
@@montanahiker48, I'm no fan of the government. But there has still been no evidence 9/11 was an inside job government or other wise.
I've got tears in my eyes and a heart full of pride for all those sailors! Many thanks, THG, for today's remembrance.
My great Uncle Danial Milner USMC, was a Marine on-Board U.S.S. California. He survived Pearl Harbor and all Major battles in the Pacific. He was unable to attend the 50th Anniversary due to a stroke he had the year before. He passed away 2 years later. Uncle Dee you are gone but not forgotten. Semper FI!
Thomas Reeves was from my hometown in Thomaston CT. They have a baseball field named after him and have his medal of honor displayed at the town hall. Unfortunately the vast majority of people have no clue who he is and what he did. I'm going to try and change that and try to raise money for a proper memorial. Thanks for sharing his legacy
Honoring my mom’s cousin Robert Asher Herriott Jr., still at his station on the USS Arizona. Thank you for keeping these heroes stories alive.
One of my boyhood friend's uncles died in Pearl Harbor. Every once in awhile the cigar box holding the coins and odds and ends retrieved from his locker would come out and we as boys would look at them.
With respect to them all.
The stories of the navy divers and salvage teams who raised the ships again is also remarkable. (For future reference)
Thank you History Guy&Crew, on this very special day, let us never forget and always honor all the souls involved on that terrible day...be vigilant and aware!!!🙏⚓❣️
Nicely done. Very much appreciate not only the stories of these four men at Pearl Harbor but also their life histories. The latter adds poignancy to the narrative: commitment to duty and shipmates above self, but also the tragedy of young lives cut short. Your tribute at the end is very powerful. You crafted this program in such a way that employed the sacrifices of these four to illuminate similar stories repeated over and over during the six year conflict. Again, well done and thank you.
Thank you for telling us about the brave men on the USS California. I won't forget the servicemen and civilians who died at Pearl on 12/07/1941.
Excellent video as always. One point to bring up, albeit minor. The book “Battleship Sailor” was first published by the Naval Institute Press in 1982, not 2013. I bought the book not long after it was published and throughly enjoyed the memoir at a time when the Iowa class Battleships were re-entering the fleet. Still have my 40 year old copy.
Thank you. I remember finding a copy in the library in the late 80's, so I was sure that it was older than stated in the video.
A touching and poignant eulogy to honor their service and memory. Thank you.
My father served as a B-25 bomber pilot during WWII. I am so proud of him.
Very much appreciate your tribute today. My wife had an uncle that was at Pearl Harbor and survived. Hail the victorious dead!
Outstanding Tribute to our fallen Worriers on a somber day.
Thank you for this moving presentation! These men were real heroes. We need to remember these men and those times as our world grows more dangerous and turbulent. We will need to be like them, resolute and steadfast.
On this date that lives in infamy, I am overcome with gratefulness for the greatest generation who fought to stop the axis powers. I am also grateful for you and your passion THG.
Great story from that infamous day December 7th, 1941....keep it up sir..
Excellent video. I always appreciate the small stories that can get lost in big events.
Thank you History Guy!👍👍
As always a superb story, this time with special poignancy. Thank you for bringing this to us and telling us not only of the deeds of these men on that fateful day, but of their lives.
The Battleship New Jersey channel also posted a video about the California today, I highly recommend it.
My grandfather, Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Will Colbert was aboard the CALIFORNIA''S sister ship U.S.S. TENNESSEE during the attack on Pearl Harbor. KUDOS to the World's Greatest Generation!
ua-cam.com/video/Z_pN06ATUig/v-deo.html
We must never forget the bravery and the sacrifice of those brave souls of the date December 7th 1941.
Perfect day to share this video. With all that is happening in the world and around the country it is fitting and appropriate to remember December 7th, a date that will live in infamy...
It was just supposed to be another Sunday in Pearl! But this action and so many more over the almost four years of war ahead. Showed the kind of men that mand up "the Greatest Generation". That were not a lot of them then. And there are fewer now! God Bless America!
A timely and welcome memorial.
Japan was a lot smaller than the USA, but never underestimate the small guy or he'll walk right up and punch you in the nose.
" It's not about the size of the dog in the fight, it's about the size of the fight in the dog".
Thank you for the lesson.
Lest we forget.
For those interested in an in depth documentary series.
Time Ghost WW2 channel put out a 10 part series about Pearl Harbor 2 years ago.
Close to 5 hours of material.
Well worth the watch.
Drachinifel's three-part series on the resurrection of Pearl Harbor is also well worth the watch. It is an amazing story of ingenuity and sadness.
My mother was there, her first husband was on a mine swipe in the harbor during the attack.
Thank you. Semper Fi.
I've been a subscriber to your channel since shortly after you started it. You very quickly honed your video and presentation skills, and I have enjoyed every video I've watched (even the one about screws :-)). I can't imagine the amount of time you put into researching and producing each episode. Yours is one of my favorite channels.
Thank you for keeping these stories alive.
I Thank You and THEM!!!
No Royal Australian Navy person was awarded our highest medal for bravery, The Victoria Cross, during the Second World War. Not because there was no acts of bravery, there most likely were many, it is just that in the navy, mostly all men go down with their ships and there is no one to report the bravery. One sailor, Edward Sheean VC. did receive a posthumous VC in 2020 for bravery in action during World War 2.
Still a shame no one mentioned today was Pearl Harbor day.
Thank you
Thank you for sharing this!
Great video.
Thank You!
Damn, you do good content. You should be the History Channel.
RIP real heroes.
USS Pharris (FF-1094) was featured in Tom Clancy's book Red Storm Rising.
A fitting and poignant tribute on this infamous day.
Ted Mason's book "Battleship Sailor" was one of the best books I have ever read on WWII. Mason describes life in the pre-WWII Navy aboard the USS California which the crew affectionately referred to a the "ole' Prune Barge". Mason was a Radioman 3rd class working under the legendary Chief Thomas Reeves.
Mason pays high tribute to Reeves as a man and a leader. Life for enlisted personnel in the years before Pearl Harbor was incredibly difficult. He describes the extreme discipline exercised almost randomly. He talks about shore liberty with friends the day before the attack. Some did not make it through the next day. Reeves was one of those. Mason, a young man from California, looked upon Chief Reeves as almost a father figure, as did many others.
I have been to Pearl Harbor many times and always enjoy the experience and the history that's there. I've also been to the Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific where thousands of veterans are interred. I was able to find Thomas Reeves grave located almost in the center of the cemetery and pay my respects.
I can't recommend Mason's book "Battleship Sailor" highly enough.
Well done
Superb!
I am a sucker for MoH stories. To learn what men are capable of, under the most extreme circumstances, inspires my emotions. (I don't have many) There is a lot of dust in this room right now.
my cousinGeorge and uncle my dad side Both where at Pearl Harbor my uncle is entombed in the Arixona. Cousin was the ship next to her. He would finish the war on the South Dakota. He gone now. I wonder they knew eacch other. George told he had just on deck to help with a gun problem. he heard a bomb falling just happened to look at the Arizona she blew. U.S.S. Vestal was ship name my cousin was on . Hev never talked recusing Sailors from the Arizona. His wife told he only talk about that wiih her once.
❤️
50th, 7 December 2022
Hatches open for "inspection" by officers that don't know what they're inspecting, really.!!!
0:52 What is the thing that looks like a clock, but isn't since it only has 10 digits?
That is called a range clock. It was used to help groups of ships coordinate targets.
@@TheHistoryGuyChannel When in a line of battle to be sure.
@@matta5498 yes- there was a clock on the front and back on the main mast. One hand represented range, the other barrel angle. Ships on a battle line could then all shoot at the same target.
Improvements in radio made then largely irrelevant by the start of the war.
❤️ PLEASE DO ORIGINS OF AMERICAN EAGLE/ SHIELD SYMBOLISM.
California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arizona. Just a few ships at Pearl Harbor, each with many sailors who have stories. Many ship were "resurrected" from the ashes of Pearl Harbor and went to fight to the end of WWII. And a few, like Arizona, still remain as a reminder to this day in 1941. A reminder of the men who fought and lived and died.
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The California was the ship my Dad was assigned to as a US Marine in late 1944, was on board when it was hit by a kamikaze in 1945. He was awarded a purple heart and the Navy Cross because he pulled three sailors and a butterbar out of the ensuing fire, got his burns treated then went back to his battle station despite second degree burns on his forearms.
Sounds like your pops was a proper badass. Semper Fi.
Never heard butterbar before, so I looked it up. Wikipedia says "Butter bar or butterbar may refer to: Second lieutenant, a junior commissioned officer rank in the US Army, Air Force and Marines. Ensign (rank), a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the US Navy and Coast Guard."
Hey Jack! Incredible story. I am trying to compile accounts of the kamikaze attack from January 6. Could you email me more information? I’d love to record your dad’s experiences!
My friend Irvin Schmidt was a Radioman/3 on California. His battle station was Damage Control below decks. He was in one of the compartments that open fuel tanks and was overcome by the fumes and dragged out on to the deck and left to recover. By the time he came around the ship had been abandoned and only Irv and 5 others were left on the ship. Having no way to communicate Irv organized a work party and and got 3" ammunition for his secondary battle station, the 3" gun on the forward mast. The men carried the 4 cases of shells to the gun and got off 13 rounds at Japanese planes before there were no more targets. Later they were taken off the ship and spent the rest of the day fishing men and bodies out of the water. He later served on the Chicago before he joined the Submarine Service. Irv joined the Navy in 1940 at age 25, he passed away a few years ago at the age of 98.
Fair winds and following seas to your friend
Hey History Guy 👋 🤓 Thank you once again for your Top Tier narration and content. I say Thank you for your service and sacrifice for your country to the 98 remaining Pearl Harbor service men /women. The More I look around it's only obvious that you were the Greatest Generation! 20 years ago I personally knew 28 Pearl Harbor survivors now its just 2!😢😢
I went to Pearl Harbor 21 years ago & it's a memory I'll never forget.
Let no American ever forget!!!🙏⚓❣️
I’ll never forget my great grandmother’s first husband. Had he not died in the battle of the Solomon’s, I wouldn’t exist.
I’d like to see Pearl Harbor some day though. Going to Kuma in the Solomon’s would be pretty cool too. Get to actually see the airfield he died trying to take.
Mr. Luciano, my own minor remembrance was my trip to Pearl, when the Challenger blew up on January, 1986
@@peoplehavetherights
Wow! Reagan was president then. That’s awesome.
"A day that will live in infamy." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to Congress on December 8th, 1941.
One of the common themes with these kinds of heroes (although I suspect the men themselve would never consider themselves heroes, these sorts rarely do), isn't just remarkable bravery and dedication to duty, it is the loyalty to one's comrades, putting their safety above their own.
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
(Laurence Binyon 1869 - 1943)
My great uncle, Garold Garling, was aboard USS St Louis during the attack and throughout the South Pacific. He went to work for and retired from the VA after the war, helping vets find a place in the civilian world - though he fought his own battle with that as well, usually resorting to a bottle of liquor to cope.
He passed away in 1986, was buried in the National cemetery in Marion, IN. His tattered and moth eaten chiefs uniform was interred with him; he had saved it all those years for just this purpose.
His honor guard were the two cemetery workers that dug the grave. Taps was played on a tape player that froze up because it was so cold. There was no chaplain to say anything, no representative from the Navy or VA. He deserved better, even if he was a bit salty!
I still have his burial flag, folded by the cemetery workers. When my time comes, I want it draped over me.
My stepfather was on the USS California on December 7th. When the alarms went off he ran up to the main deck. Seeing a bomb falling he jumped overboard and swam to Ford Island. He spent the next three days with the ships roster at a desk. He marked "accounted for" or "dead" as word came to him of his shipmates fates. Tough duty for a teenager. He went on to flight school and became an instructor. He retired as a Lieutenant Commander.
It is important that we remember those who died for us. This past summer, a resident of the town I live in was laid to rest in Arlington. Roman Sadlowski was killed aboard the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor. It took 80 years to identify his remains. Every time I go to City Hall I see his name along with the others from Pittsfield who gave their last measure in service to our country.
Thank you for remembering all of those who did the same.
May we never forget. Thank you for this and keeping their memory alive.
Thanks History Guy for remembering Pearl Harbor.
My second ship was USS Mount Vernon (LSD 39), homeported at 32nd Street Naval Station in San Diego. We made several trips to Hawaii to train with the Marines in Kaneohe Bay, but we always stopped at Supply Center to offload POVs and other cargo first. Supply Center sits just opposite what was Battleship Row and right across from the Arizona Memorial. I used to sit out on the wing wall of my ship in the quiet to take in the view and think of December 7th, what it must have been like that morning. Very sombering, especially looking into the water and thinking of the thousand sailors entombed just yards away.
This was 1992-1995, before the USS Missouri was moored at Ford Island, thought we were temporarily moored for a couple days at what would become her home. (Making sure to catch the last liberty boat across the channel so we weren't UA was a bit more of a challenge than just walking up the brow from the base!)
It's one thing to look at aerial photos or maps of a major battle, but to visit the place in person and get a real perspective of the landscape really brings it alive. I highly recommend visiting Pearl Harbor. I am grateful for The History Guy for doing the next best thing.
Jim Hubbard I can relate I was never in Pearl harbor but I was stationed in Berlin Germany during and after the wall knowing about the battle of Berlin and seeing the scares I can imagine it.
Yesterday one of our PBS stations had a program, new, where the National Park Service sent remote cameras into the hull of the battleship Arizona. No divers were allowed to go inside. The NPS wanted to see how after laying in saltwater for 70+ years how the Arizona was faring. The special remote camera was able to get to the third deck below. They found a complete officer’s uniform still on its hanger after all those decades. Less oxygen meant less deterioration.
Thanks for remembering the California. My grandfather was one of many to help build her. If it wasn't for Mare Island I wouldn't be here today! My Grandpa was an Okie that migrated west too get a job there.
This is how UA-cam is done!
Consistently the best material delivered in a concise manner.
A few things I can add.
‘California’ was dubbed “The Prune Barge” by her crew.
Her ships band was reassigned during her refit to the code and cypher school the USN ran to intercept and break Japanese codes. When California was ready to rejoin the action in 1944, most of these band members stayed with code breaking.
My uncle was stationed on the Oklahoma. Thank you for keeping their heroism in the limelight.
Excellent video for today History Guy. 👍
It's December 7th and let us all remember the heros we lost that day.
The last surviving Medal of Honor recipient of WWII passed away on June 29, 2022. Hershel "Woody " Williams.
Thank you for another respectfully made video! Keep up the great work.
One of the first things which drew me to your channel is this; every year on Dec 7th, you offer us a new story of valor from that day of infamy.
Thank you.
Greatest Generation …
It's been 36 years now, but I had the pleasure and privilege to have served at Pearl Harbor and more specifically on Ford Island and have seen the memorials both for the Arizona and the lessor splendid, but equally honorable Utah. God bless the men and women who gave their all that day.
We honor all who gave their lives and those who served during Ww2 , like my dad. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for remembering what these great men did. The Press did not.
A great book I highly recommend is:
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
by James D. Hornfischer
Of all the ships hit and sunk at Pearl Harbor, 7 DEC 41 two are still there, laying where they were sunk. One is well known, the Battleship Arizona.
The other is not so well known but I think she and the men still entombed in her deserve to be remembered, the "Target Ship" Utah. Built as a Florida class battleship, Utah was disarmed in compliance with the London Naval Treaty, but instead of being scrapped as others were she was converted into an Anti-Aircraft training ship, training scores of young sailors and testing new types of anti-aircraft guns and munitions.
She was moored at Ford Island in a berth normally assigned to an aircraft carrier when the Japanese strike came in. The Japanese knew of her and knew she wasn't a real threat but at least two pilots ignored instructions and attacker her anyway, hitting her with at least one and possibly two torpedoes. She quickly capsized and sank, taking about 57 men with her.
Late in the war an attempt was made to right refloat her in order to clear the berth but the attempt failed, no further attempts were made. A small memorial was set up on Ford Island next to her hulk.
Commemorating Pearl Harbor Day 2022, thanks for the history! As a retired sailor myself, those are powerful tales to watch.
My neighbor of many years was one of those on liberty and in a yard tender with other sailors attempting to return to the California by 0800 that morning. They were still a few hundred yards off the California when the attack started and the tender was swamped by the ensuing turmoil. He and a few others were picked up by a small harbor tug. Sr. Chief Rose went on to serve a total of 27 years before retiring. He spoke of the attack and his part only once in the 25 years I knew him, but his example of service was the reason both my son's went into the military.
Ensign Herbert C. Jones is buried in Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California. His grave is near the north end of the Cemetery on the harbor side. It is to your right as you travel north in the first row east of the road.
Your Medal of Honor videos are always inspirational. Thank you for your dedication and efforts. I write this at December 7, 2022, 12:55 PM EST.
My mother in law would have turn 100 today, but she passed in mid-October. The military started training her to be a nurse, but she didn’t complete her schooling in time for World War 2. My father managed to squeak in, although he was much younger.
As always, well done; the 'icing' was not merely mentioning the California's crewmen that died, but in posting their names.
These men were of a time "When men were steel and ships we're wood". Fair winds a following seas shipmates.
All Medal of Honor Sailors should be the only ones ships are named after.
The USS Liberty attack is history that deserves to be remembered.
As a US sailor who has spent nearly a decade stationed at Pearl Harbor, thank you for this video. It sincerely touches me and everyone else there with the tragedy and bravery of the actions of the Sailors of this day, and encourages all of us to try to live up to their memory.
The USS ARKANSAS deserves to be remembered. She was the oldest ship still active in the US Navy at least part of the war. She was at Normandy and participated in the Pacific war.
Thank you for sharing this episode. My Father SSgt Paul Ransom USMC was part of the Marine contingent aboard the USS California from March 1942 through till the end of WW2. I was fortunate to be home ported at Pearl Harbor during the '70s aboard the USS Deliver ARS-23 .
Thank you for remembering the Pearl Harbor attack. Many people don't even remember what happened on December 7th, 1941. My father was on Oahu, at a place not many people even heard of. Fort Armstrong was originally a coastal artillery battery, but when my father was there, he was with the 3605 Ordnance HAM Co. 17 battalion. He told me it was like they showed in many movies, they blew "to arms" and said "air raid Pearl Harbor, this is no drill". To show you how unprepared they were for war, he was given a BAR with one clip of ammunition. When he was given this, he said, "What the hell am I supposed to do with only one clip of ammunition?" The sergeant told him, "Fire it semiautomatic, oh, and don't forget to bring back the brass."
Most people today weren't alive when Pearl Harbor happened, and if they do remember, they are very old.
Her fleet nickname was Prune Barge. BATTLESHIP SAILOR is a fine book.
Thanks for sharing this story. I came to know a sailor, many years later, who served on the USS California and went on to serve as president of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association.
I always enjoy hearing the stories of our American heroes of WWII. I came from a large family that provided 10 veterans of WWII; 3 uncles were in the Army as the war broke out; 2 uncles, both U.S. Navy, would die in V.A. Hospitals of the wounds they received in the war in the following decades; the others would simply smoke themselves to death-dying a far too young and never having seen a parade in their honor.
The memory of them all gathered around grandma's old burn barrel, smoking and sharing their experiences with each other will always be a cherished memory...as is their scolding of us kids to 'go play somewhere else'.