The Attack on Pearl Harbor in United States History by Nathan Anthony

Author:Nathan Anthony [, ]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780766054516
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Published: 2014-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

THE AFTERMATH

Immediately after the attack on Oahu, anger and determination were mixed with confusion and fear. Rumors quickly spread that the Japanese would invade Hawaii. The loyalty of the territory’s 160,000 Japanese residents came immediately into question.

At the Punahou elementary school, there were American and Japanese students. One American, Martha Branneman, remembered one Japanese teacher—Mr. Wattanbe—as “wonderful.” The children—Japanese as well as the non-Japanese—continued to play together after the attack, she recalled in an atmosphere of “genuine caring for each other.”1

General Short, however, warned Hawaii’s governor, Joseph B. Poindexter, that uprisings by Japanese residents were likely. The general persuaded Poindexter to proclaim martial law over all Hawaii, putting the army in control of all aspects of civilian life. Schools were closed and the sale of liquor was banned for months.

The day after the attack “Japanese paratroopers” in dungarees were reported to have landed on Oahu. At the Kaneohe Air Station, sailors were ordered to change from dungarees into whites dyed (with coffee) a deep brown. Then came a corrected report: The invaders wore khakis, change to whites. Next came another report: The invaders wore white. A new order followed: All hands, back to dungarees!2

That evening, John Garcia, a young Hawaiian worker at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, drove a truckload of marines a few miles into the valley where the Japanese paratroopers were said to have landed. A total blackout, ordered by authorities, was in effect. Suddenly the lights went on at a house in the valley and the marines started shooting at it. The lights quickly went out. There were no paratroopers.

On the mainland, the feeling in some areas, especially on the West Coast, was not far from panic. Three air-raid alerts were sounded in San Francisco on the night after the attack. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia of New York warned of the possibility of an attack on the East Coast.

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