Harry Clements
Harry Clements enlisted in the Navy in Indianapolis in the year 1941 with his brother and they were shipped out 3 months later into the Pacific Ocean. They were stationed on a very old ocean liner that had almost no new technology. Clements worked his way up to the top using his typing skills to become in charge of all tickets for the base, to buy items like ice cream or hair cuts. Working his way up all the way to Seaman second class in less than a year. He missed his ship out because he was mugged. He then spent time in the hospital afterward. He was then stationed on the USS Honolulu in Pearl Harbor. He had been in pearl harbor for about 3 months before the bombing of the Japanese. Clements was no longer a seamen 2nd class he had been demoted down to a Seaman 3rd class because there were so many new inlisters he was nothing special and just stationed to a gun like the others who had been in the navy for merely a week.
Interview
Tell me about your Pearl Harbor experience, lets start at the night before on December 6th, 1941-Carrie
Harry- Okay, that night I was assigned to paint a small enclosure. After I was done painting the captain sent me off the ship to take a walk because he though I had been drinking on board, I admit I was a little out of it but I had not been drinking, just inhaling too much paint fumes.
The next morning I woke up around 5 maybe to get breakfast. On our schedule the Sunday was a holiday. After breakfast I went to my bed and laid down to rest, just as the bugle sounded. Not knowing what was happening I rushed to my gun, gun number five, able to fire every eleven seconds. We were docked so there were giant tarps over all the ships. The crew was rushing to remove them to have ample space to maneuver guns. The ship was being fired up but it would take a while to get undocked. They say it happened in two main flights over, but I remember it in three parts.
First the Japanese bombed the middle and outer docks. We were right on port so we had a tiny bit more time to get situated, although not nearly enough. I remember that they flew straight over us hitting a dock about 3 feet from the ship. It didn’t explode though it went under water and then exploding saving our ship and only causing minor damage.
I was now at my gun firing like crazy, unfortunately 75% of our ammunition were duds.
The second phase as I remember it was the Japanese bombing the island. This gave us time to finally get undocked and out into the middle.
By then the Arizona had been demolished. The Japanese started gunning us and dropping bombs on us again. There were men from the Arizona swearing and yelling at us to throw them some guns to shoot the planes down manually. We, on the Honolulu, Started swearing back at them to go away and get their own guns. Everyone was crazy as wild fire. Our ship must have shot down 52 planes, oh I don’t know I just remember those three phases of it all. After that people were being shipped to the hospitals that were so full.