Ted LeBaron

Ted LeBaron on Ford Island

Navy Patrol Squadron 22 (VP-22)

20 years old
Born: December 25, 1920
Bombsight repair and maintenance
He joined the squadron at Pearl Harbor in 1940

PEARL HARBOR - December 7, 1941

Sunday morning was bright and clear and when I got up, I reached for my pants and as I started to put them on, noticed the time was 7:50. Where I was standing on the lanai I was facing south which was the direction of our hangar. I could not see the hangar because of other intervening buildings but I knew the direction. At that moment I heard an explosion. When I looked up I could see a cloud of black smoke in the area of our hangar. I did not see the plane because it had apparently already climbed above the overhang of the floor above and was therefore out of my field of vision.

I have since had the feeling that I happened to be looking at the explosion of the first shot fired in anger at Pearl Harbor. I did see the second plane make his drop at the same location but I was looking at the rear of the plane straight on so no way to make any identification.

At this moment there was a commotion on the lanai on the opposite side of our wing. I ran the thirty or so feet over that side to see what the yelling was about. Looking up, but not very far up, I was looking at a Jap pilot in an open cockpit torpedo plane who was waving at us!

That first torpedo plane I saw had just finished his run on the USS CALIFORNIA.

The next thing I was aware of, looking down Battleship Row at the other battleships, was that they were raising up out of the water a few feet and then settling back. Suddenly I realized that this action was being created by torpedoes. I think that the lifting of the outboard battleship was allowing another fish to get through to the inboard wagon to create this alternation of lifting and falling. It was right after this that we tried to get down to the hangar, but the order had come up that no one was to be allowed to leave the barracks.

This was a very bad time because all hell was breaking loose outside and we weren't even allowed to a position to see it. There was also some fear that the Japs might decide to bomb the barracks. This order held for only a few minutes, then we were allowed to get outside.

Up to this time which I imagine was about eight twenty or eight thirty, I remember pretty much the order of things. For the rest of the day I remember a lot of things but have not been able since to remember the order in which they happened.

Years ago I read "Day of Infamy" and the other day at the library, after I had started this, I thought of reading it then decided not to until I have finished putting down what I remember.

I have no idea how long it took me to get to the hangar. It involved going a few feet then ducking for cover either when I heard a lot of shrapnel or when a dive bomber would drop one on the NEVADA which was then directly abreast of me. The NEVADA was apparently on orders to get underway and leave the harbor, however I think the orders were changed when it was feared that it might be sunk in the harbor entrance and block the whole harbor. It was run aground at. As it moved up the harbor, the dive bombers were giving it a working over. They were not effective, to my knowledge.

Because of the death toll and the destruction at Pearl that day it is hard to imagine really exactly how safe I was even though I was right in the middle of the thing. First of all, after the first three or four bombs hit our hangar area, there were no bombs that were either aimed at or hit Ford Island. Because Ford Island was no longer a target the only risk was of being hit with shrapnel from antiaircraft fire. It has always been a source of amazement to me that more people were not victims of antiaircraft fallout that day. The most spectacular that day that I saw was when the destroyer SHAW blew up. Apparently a bomb got through to the magazines and it was blown apart.

I was directly across the channel from the dry dock when the SHAW blew and ran for cover expecting debris from that but none fell on Ford Island as far as I know. Sometime I heard the ARIZONA explosions but not in my view. When I did get to the hangar I think nearly all our planes were gutted from the burning of the gas in the wings. If any were salvageable, I don't remember.

Right as I arrived at the hangar one of the planes from the ENTERPRISE was trying to land. Because of some itchy trigger fingers, the plane was being fired on by some of our men. I remember that the guy on duty in our hangar at the time of the bombing was firing his .45 at this plane. His name was Bill Bell and he was a bridge-playing pal of mine. He was a full-blooded Indian from Enid, Oklahoma - one of the most intense people I've ever met. He should have been dead but he wasn't, but he was one screaming Indian! I was yelling at him to stop, but at this point it's probably not surprising that he would have shot at anything with wings - he was maniacal about wanting to get even right then and completely frustrated by having only a .45 pistol, since all our machine guns had been destroyed by fire during the bombing.

The other reason for this firing which I don't think did any harm to the plane or the pilot. A group of us were running around yelling at guys who were firing from PBY's parked at an adjacent hangar. This firing can be understood when you realize that for the last hour or so, there was no danger of hitting any American planes since nothing but Jap planes had been in sight that morning. There was absolutely nothing to do at the hangar except stand around and look at each other. I remember Lt. Moorer calling a muster and making a speech about being at war and we were told to stay at the hangar and wait for orders.

Sometime later I went with a couple of other guys back to the barracks to get something to eat. The mess hall was on the first floor of our barracks and it was very large, covering most of the first floor. On this trip is when I saw the ugliest sight of the day. There had been many sailors who had either been blown into the water off the battleships or had jumped into the water to swim the short distance to Ford Island. The harbor was covered with oil from the torpedo hits and some drowned just trying to swim in the stuff. Some were wounded or burned before they entered the water. The mess hall was the natural place to take these men. When we entered the mess hall every single table had a man or a body stretched out on it. The eerie thing about it was that you could have heard a pin drop. I was more conscious of oil than I was of any blood in the scene. Some of these men were black with oil. I probably got something to eat but I don't remember it now.

On returning to the hangar it had become rumor time and there were some wild ones about invasions here and there, and the Japs coming back for another raid, etc.

Everyone was up very tight and the fact that there was nothing to do made it much worse. They came looking for some ordnance men volunteers to go to the utility hangars and service the ENTERPRISE planes when and if they came in. We all jumped at it because at least it was something to do.

There was only one activity that had been going all day and continued until dark and that was to fortify Ford Island. The main thing was to take every available machine gun out of any non-flyable planes and make machine gun nests on the edge of the island.

We didn't get any word through the day on when the ENTERPRISE planes might be expected so we just waited. There were a couple of SBD dive bombers parked on the apron at the utility hangar and we spelled each other sitting in the rear cockpit to use that gun as antiaircraft if the need arose. During the evening, there were a couple of cases where there was some sporadic gunfire and in each case it would stop. We were speculating what would happen if everybody did open up at once but we were glad it didn't happen.

Another thing was the blackout I have not seen one like that, before or since. It did not require any selling that it was necessary and it was complete, with armed sentries, passwords and the whole bit.

There was a water tower next to the runway which the carrier planes used and even the red light on that was blacked out.

Late that night we got the word that six of the ENTERPRISE fighter planes would be coming in. The blackout would be maintained except that the red light on the water tower would be turned on. All the carrier pilots in the Pacific had at one time or another spent some time practicing night landings on Ford and would know where they were by using the light on the water tower as a locater. They were told to come in with their wingtip lights on but not to use their bright landing lights. They were probably told that everyone on the ground had been alerted to they would not get shot at.

I don't know what went wrong but it was very bad! The planes made their approach (I) from the southwest, which is the only approach since it was a single runway. At the last moment the lead pilot who may not have felt certain enough with only the water tower light to go by, decided not to land but to make another approach. He veered to the right and of course the others followed him. They were probably under one thousand feet at this time. Their new direction took them directly over what was left of the fleet.

Someone panicked and touched a trigger and every gun in that harbor opened up. Maybe there were some that didn't but it didn't seem that way. Just the tracers that went up that night furnished light of almost daylight intensity. We were standing by the two SBDs watching and swearing when we began to hear the sound of shrapnel hitting the runway. At this point no one said anything but we all turned and high-tailed it for cover. I found mine under a roof of concrete projecting over a loading platform at the rear of one of the hangars.

I thought that all six of those planes were dead ducks but in about ten minutes after all the guns were silent, two of the six came back and made the approach and landed. We ran out to the planes and one of them came tearing out of his cockpit yelling about what he thought of every blankety blank gunner in the U.S. fleet.

The other was frozen rigid and could not or would not move out of the cockpit for two or three minutes but was saying the same things. Surprisingly each plane had only two or three holes which did not affect its operation.

"That was about it for the day of Pearl Harbor."

Ted LeBaron lives at the USSAH, Washington D.C. He celebrated his 78th birthday on Christmas Day, 1998.
You may write Ted at: USSAH 1403, 3700 N. Capitol St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20317

Ted's written remembrances were provided by his younger brother, Allan G. LeBaron, who also served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific, later in the war.

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