Pain and Purpose in the Pacific: True Reports of War

By Richard Carl Bright

What follows here, just a brief insight into Pain and Purpose in the Pacific. This book did not begin with the idea of a chronology of the battles of the Pacific War, although an overview is included. But instead it was intended to be a brief account of the battles on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa as I retrace the travels of one Marine from the farmland of Minnesota to Japan and back. Carl J. Johnson spent 30 months in the Pacific. Four of those months were in bitter combat on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. He is my uncle. I have been blessed to travel, & to spend time at many of the places he traveled during World War II. My travels didnt stop there.

As a Continental Airlines pilot based in Guam, now retired and having lived on Saipan, I have had the opportunity over a seven year period to visit other islands that were the scene of horrific battles of World War II. In addition to Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa, I will mention a few of them. Included are Guam where I was based during the closing years of my airline career; also Belau, which is Palau, and includes Peleliu. Included too in this book are Iwo Jima, Corregidor and the Philippines. In my travels beyond Hawaii and Pearl Harbor, which was my introduction into the Pacific, were Yap, and Truk, which is Chuuk, and Pohnpei in the Carolines. And Ive spent time in Japan.

During my time in the Pacific, I have been presented with the opportunity to speak with several of the veterans of the Pacific War. Doing so has in some cases allowed me in some small way to understand a sense of the hell they had to suffer through. Included in this report are a few of their stories, as well as stories from some of the people of the islands who in one way or another were involved in the conflict.

It is with a depth of gratitude that I acknowledge the Military Historical Tours of Alexandria, Virginia for allowing me to be a part of their tours to the islands of Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, as well as Guam, Tinian and Saipan. I appreciate this organization, dedicated to preserving the memories of the war, and to the honoring of the military personnel who were there at the time. While living on either Guam or Saipan I also was able to visit on my own most of the islands mentioned on this page. But it was the Military Historical Tours, and its President USMC Colonel Warren Wiedhahn ([e-mail]) that made it possible for me to visit Iwo Jima. They allowed me to join them once a year for 4 consecutive years. I have since returned a 5th time in March of 2010. It was through this great organization that over a 7 year period (while living on both Guam and Saipan in the Marianas Islands), I was able to meet most of the WWII veterans mentioned here; and these aging veterans of the War in the Pacific whom I have met, have touched my heart. In addition to my uncle, this book is for them too.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jan 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490721538

Richard Carl Bright

Richard Carl Bright was born in Walker Minnesota. He graduated from High school, joined the army reserves, and then the active airforce. He is a Vietnam veteran and was awarded the Airforce Commendation Medal. He graduated with Bachelor of Science Degree from Bemidji State College with a major in “Geography” and a minor in “Earth Science.” He holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating and retired as a Captain for Continental Airlines. Due to being on the move in his traveling profession, Richard studied to earn post grad degrees through distance learning and received Masters and Doctorate Degrees in “Theology” from Columbia State University of Louisiana, and Masters and Doctorate Degrees in “Religious Studies” from Hamilton University of Wyoming. Both universities had accreditation problems within the United States and shut down. Hamilton moved off shore to the Bahamas and changed its name. Richard now holds little importance to what he was initially told were fully accredited degrees. He says it doesn’t matter. Belief, faith and trust in the Lord do matter. Richard also has a diploma as a “Graduate of Biblical Studies” from the Institute of Biblical Studies of Liberty University. Richard is the author of “The Ark, A Reality?” and “Quest for Discovery.” He was also one of the contributing authors to “Explorers of Ararat.” In addition he has written “Pain and Purpose in the Pacific” which is a report of WWII in the Pacific and personal interviews with veterans of the battles. Richard is a veteran of more than 40 trips into Turkey, and one trip into each of the bordering countries of Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan, Iran. He has visited Georgia on two occasions. As of the year 2021 he has for the past 38 years been on a mission to research, search, locate, and document the location of the remains of Noah’s ark. This “THE ARK DISCOVERIES” book is part of the search for truth regarding the history of the earth, the education of today and the direction we take in our lives. It asks questions. Richard is the husband of Danielle, and the father of one daughter Courtney. About himself he says: “I’m just a retired airline pilot who seeks to fulfill what I believe to be my purpose, has written a few books, climbed a mountain a few times, believes in, and loves the Lord.”

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CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PREFACE

An Overview of the Chronology of The Pacific War.

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS, PEOPLE, AND THE OCEAN

THE SPANISH PERIOD (1521-1899)

THE GERMAN PERIOD (1899-1914)

THE JAPANESE PERIOD (1914-1944)

INTRODUCTION: WHY THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC TOOK PLACE

Things To Come

China

1 The Beginning Of: The War In The Pacific PEARL HARBOR

The Beginning: The Attack On Guam, And The Surrender

The Beginning: The Attack On The Philippines, And The Surrender

The Beginning: Of Our Response

The Beginning: For Carl Johnson

2 Operation Forager Saipan, THE LANDING

ADDENDUM TO CHAPTER 2 FROM THE VETERANS ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE

3 Saipan, Banzai & Death

4 Saipan, Suicides And Saving Lives

5 Guam

LIBERATION

W-DAY (Guam’s D-Day)

ASAN

AGAT

ADDENDUM TO CHAPTER 5

6 Tinian

TINIAN ADDENDUM RUNWAY ABLE

Brigadire General Paul Tibbets Jr.

I ASKED A FEW OF THE VETERANS HOW THEY FELT ABOUT BEING BACK ON THE ISLAND

7 Operation Stalemate After The Marianas Were In AmericanControl, The Next Land Battles: Peleliu, ANGUAR, NGARDOLOLOK, NGESEBUS, THE PALAU ISLANDS

ADDENDUM TO PELELIU

This Is From The Memory Of One Marine Who Was There.

8 Operation King-two The PHILIPPINES

Battle Of Leyte:

Luzon, Manila

Mindanao

THE GREAT SEA BATTLES

Battle For Leyte Gulf

Ambush By Submarines In The Palawan Passage

Battle Of The Sibuyan Sea

Battle Of Surigao Strait

Battle Off Samar

Battle Off Cape Engano

Battle Of Ormoc Bay

BATAAN & CORREGIDOR

A Veteran Remembers

9 Operation Detachment Iwo JIMA

The American Command Structure

The Japanese Commander

The Island

The Battle

10 Iwo Jima Veterans Remember

A Pilot Recalls The Bombing

Green Beach

Red Beach

Yellow Beach

Blue Beach

Navajo Code Talkers

More Veterans Remember

Aftermath To These Two Chapters On Iwo Jima

11 The B-29s

12 Operation Iceberg Okinawa

The Operation

The Plan And Preparation

The Landing

Battles On Land

Battles Air And Sea

And More Battles On Land

13 Veterans Of Okinawa

14 The Final Destruction

Conclusion

Epilogue

After Thoughts

Addendum: 2010

Addendum 2013

Addendum 2015

REFERENCES: DESCRIPTION

FOR CARL AND CLARA JOHNSON

He is a Marine who went to war, and she is the woman who waited for him to return.

Also for the Americans who served their country in the battles of the war in the Pacific. There are many photographs in this book. Photographs of veterans who returned to the battlefields approximately 60 years after their wartime experience. If I could have included photos of everyone I met, I would have, but to do so was not practical. Included in this report are a few photos of those who have shared their stories with me. It is with their permission, and my gratitude that the photographs and stories are shared here. This is about them. This is about all of them; the combat veterans of the Pacific War.

Cpl%20Carl%20Johnson%20at%20the%20end%20of%20the%20war.jpg

Cpl Carl Johnson at the end of the war.

Clara%20Young%20Johnson.jpg

Clara Young Johnson.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To Barbara Williams and Mary Jane and Richard (Rick) Matthews.

They are the daughters and a son-in-law of Carl and Clara Johnson, and have cared for them in their twilight years. For necessary page reproduction by Barbara, and for the reading and editing of this text by Rick, Mary Jane, and Carl’s sister, Louise Bright, Thank you.

To Romeo Cal and his computer expertise with the illustrations, and to My Wife Danielle for her computer knowledge, thank you.

To Arthur W. Wells; he is the Platoon Sergeant that led Carl into the battles of Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. Art Wells is the author of The Quack Corps, a record of the experiences of 1st Platoon 2nd DUKW, and has corresponded with me through the writing of this book.

PREFACE

This book did not begin with the idea of a chronology of the battles of the Pacific War, although an overview is included. But instead it was intended to be a brief account of the battles on Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa as I retrace the travels of one Marine from the farmland of Minnesota to Japan and back. Carl J. Johnson spent 30 months in the Pacific. Four of those months were in bitter combat on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. He is my uncle. I have been blessed to travel, & to spend time at many of the places he traveled during World War II. My travels didn’t stop there.

As a Continental Airlines pilot based in Guam, now retired and having lived on Saipan, I have had the opportunity over a nearly seven year period to visit other islands that were the scene of horrific battles of World War II. In addition to Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa, I will mention a few of them. Included are Guam where I was based during the closing years of my airline career; also Belau, which is Palau, and includes Peleliu. Included too in this book are Iwo Jima, Corregidor and the Philippines. In my travels beyond Hawaii and Pearl Harbor, which was my introduction into the Pacific, were Yap, and Truk, which is Chuuk, and Pohnpei in the Carolines.

During my time in the Pacific, I have been presented with the opportunity to speak with several of the veterans of the Pacific War. Doing so has in some cases allowed me in some small way to understand a sense of the hell they had to suffer through. Included in this report are a few of their stories, as well as stories from some of the people of the islands who in one way or another were involved in the conflict.

It is with a depth of gratitude that I acknowledge the Military Historical Tours of Alexandria, Virginia for allowing me to be a part of their tours to the islands of Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, as well as Guam, Tinian and Saipan. I appreciate this organization, dedicated to preserving the memories of the war, and to the honoring of the military personnel who were there at the time. Most of the afore mentioned islands I also was able to visit on my own as well, but it was the Military Historical Tours, and it’s President USMC Colonel Warren Wiedhahn ([e-mail]) that made it possible for me to visit Iwo Jima. They allowed me to join them once a year for 4 consecutive years. It was through this great organization that over a 7 year period, I was able to meet most of the WWII veterans mentioned here; and these aging veterans of the War in the Pacific whom I have met, have touched my heart. In addition to my uncle, this book is for them too.

1%20places%201.jpg

THIS IS AN OVERVIEW OF THE

CHRONOLOGY OF THE PACIFIC WAR.

1941 TO 1945

The Pacific Theater of World War II involved one-third of the earth’s surface but only 1/145th of its total land mass. It involved vast distances across the earth’s largest ocean. With the technology of the time, a plan and strategy had to be developed to cover those distances with the tactics, equipment, and weapons of war. Moreover, it involved not just Japan and the United States but Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Canada, China, France, and the Soviet Union as well. Caught in the middle were the people of the Pacific Islands, upon whose homelands, and in whose waters the battles were fought. The following chronology touches on some of the more significant aspects of the Pacific War. They are all of tremendous importance, as men died there. But within the scope of this book, I will discuss only a few of them.

1941

7 December: Pearl Harbor was bombed.

8 December: Congress declares war on Japan. The Japanese bomb the islands of Wake and Guam. They also bomb Clark Field, and other Airfields in the Philippines They invaded Malaya and occupied Thailand. They then seized the international settlement at Shanghai.

10 December: Japanese troops capture Guam and begin their landings on northern Luzon in the Philippines.

23 December: Wake Island is surrendered to the Japanese.

24 December: Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commanding United States Army Forces in the Far East, begins evacuation of Manila and withdraws to Bataan.

26 December: Hong Kong is lost to the Japanese.

1942

2 January: Japanese forces occupy Manila.

7 January: The Siege of Bataan begins. MacArthur, headquartered on Corregidor, proclaims the Bataan Peninsula to be the center of American-Filipino resistance to the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. But, its jungles, swamps, and mountains make supply difficult, and the Bataan Defense Force suffers shortages of food and medicines throughout the three-month ordeal.

1 February: The U.S. Navy launches air and surface attacks against Japanese bases in the Marshall Islands.

15 February: Singapore surrenders.

27-28 February: The Battle of the Java Sea results in the most severe U.S. Naval losses since Pearl Harbor, and leads to the collapse of organized Allied military resistance in that area.

8 March: The Japanese land in New Guinea, occupying Lae and Salamaua. In doing so they are threatening Port-Moresby, the last defensive post held by the Allies to protect Australia.

11 March: MacArthur leaves the island of Corregidor for Australia.

17 March: MacArthur arrives in Australia. Here he utters the now-famous words, I came through, and I shall return.

30 March: MacArthur is designated the Allied Supreme Commander of the Southeast Pacific Areas (Australia, most of the Indies, and the Philippines). Admiral Chester Nimitz is designated Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Area.

9 April: Bataan surrenders. The starving U.S. and Filipino survivors begin a 65-mile death march to Japanese prison camps.

18 April: Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle leads sixteen B-25 bombers from carrier Hornet to bomb targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokosuka, Kobe, and Nagoya.

7 May: General Jonathan Wainwright, MacArthur’s successor in the Philippines, surrenders Corregidor and all U.S. troops under his command.

4-8 May: The Battle of the Coral Sea. This Japanese tactical victory, but strategic defeat is the first Naval battle in history in which all fighting is done by carrier-based planes and the opposing ships never saw each other.

3-6 June: The Battle of Midway. This American victory deals the Japanese their first major Naval defeat, and confirms the power of the aircraft carrier as an offensive weapon in war.

7 June: The Japanese occupy Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands.

22 July: The Papuan Campaign begins as Japanese troops land at Gona and Buna, 100 miles east of Lae and Salamaua in northern New Guinea. They begin an overland drive across the Owen Stanley Mountains to capture Port Moresby on the southern coast. In the months that follow, Australian and U.S. forces frustrate every attempt to take the port and eventually drive the Japanese back to Gona and Buna.

7 August: U.S. Marines invade Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in the first American offensive of the war. Subsequent Japanese efforts to drive the Americans off the island are consistently unsuccessful.

8-9 August: The Japanese Navy sinks four Allied cruisers in Battle of Savo Islands.

24 August: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons results in the sinking of one Japanese carrier by aircraft from the USS Enterprise and the USS Saratoga.

12-15 November: The decisive American Victory in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal prevents the Japanese from landing reinforcements and makes possible the final conquest of Guadalcanal by U.S. forces.

1943

10 January: U.S. troops begin the final offensive to clear Guadalcanal. By February 9 organized Japanese resistance on the island is ended. The American victory opens the way for other Allied gains in the Solomons.

22 January: The Papuan Campaign ends in the first decisive land defeat of the Japanese.

2-3 March: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea. U.S. and Australian aircraft decimate a 16-ship Japanese supply convoy bound for Lae and Salamaua, New Guinea. Doing so demonstrated the effectiveness of low-level bombing.

26 March: An indecisive Naval battle off the Komandorski Islands prepares the way for re-conquest of the Western Aleutians. By mid-August Japanese troops have been driven out of both Attu and Kiska.

5 August: Munda Airfield, New Georgia is captured. That provides Allied forces a base from which to bomb Japanese air and naval facilities at Rabaul.

25 August: Americans overrun New Georgia in the Solomon Islands; thus removing the Japanese threat to forces on Guadalcanal.

20 November: Admiral Nimitz’s Central Pacific offensive to re-conquer the Marshall, Gilbert, Caroline, Mariana, and the Philippine Islands begins with army landings on Makin and Marine landings on Tarawa. These were the keystones of Japanese defenses in the Gilberts.

26 December: General MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific offensive to secure the western Solomons, New Guinea, and the Philippines begins with the landings on New Britain, the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago.

1944

31 January-4 February: American forces capture Roi-Namur and Kwajalein in the Marshalls.

29 February-7 March: MacArthur surprises the Japanese by seizing the Admiralty Islands.

15 June: U.S. forces invade Saipan. Also on this day, B29s based in China make their first attack on the Japanese homeland.

17-19 June: The Battle of the Philippines Sea (called the Marianas Turkey Shoot) saw U.S. carrier-based aircraft engage and inflict crippling losses on Japanese carrier-based aircraft.

21 July: U.S. forces invade Guam.

24 July: U.S. forces invade Tinian.

15 September: U.S. forces invade Morotai and Peleliu.

20 October: U.S. forces invade Leyte.

23-25 October: The Battle of Leyte Gulf, the last and greatest Naval engagement of the war, results in near destruction of the Japanese Navy.

24 November: B-29s from bases in the Marianas bomb Tokyo.

1945

9 January-23 February: The re-conquest of the northern Philippines begins as U.S. forces invade Luzon and occupy Manila.

19 February-26 March: U.S. Marines invade and through bitter fighting conquer the island of Iwo Jima.

9-10 March: A B-29 fire bomb attack on Tokyo leaves much of the city in ashes and inaugurates a series of incendiary strikes against other Japanese cities.

19 March-21 June: The Battle for the Ryukyu Islands, in which U.S. carriers-based planes make large scale attacks on Japanese ships and airfields in the Ryukyus.

1 April-21 June: U.S. troops invade and capture Okinawa, the main island of the Ryukyus. Japanese military forces inflict heavy casualties on American troops, but the island is finally secured.

6 August: A B-29 drops an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima. A second Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki three days later.

14 August: Japan accepts Allied unconditional Terms of Surrender.

2 September: Japan signs the formal Terms of Surrender.

BEFORE WE BEGIN,

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY OF THE ISLANDS, PEOPLE, AND THE OCEAN IS IN ORDER. IT IS WHERE THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC TOOK PLACE.

Peaceful. That is what Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor under the Spanish flag named the ocean he was sailing on. He said the ocean is peaceful, or pacifico, and so he named it Pacifico The ocean became known as the Pacific. It means peaceful. The year for Magellan was 1521. Apparently to that point in time, Ferdinand Magellan had not seen a typhoon, or a military sea battle in this ocean. The march of time would prove that the Pacific wouldn’t always be peaceful. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: . . . a time of war, and a time of peace. (Eccl. 3: 1, 8).

The peaceful Pacific is the largest of the four oceans; the other three being the Atlantic, Indian, Arctic. Together they cover over 70 % of the earth’s surface. It’s not difficult for one to assume that during the formation, or creation of the planet, or at sometime in the distant geological past, and prior to the tectonic changes with and subsequent to the formation, that water may have covered all the surface of the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters… . Let the waters be gathered together… and let the dry land appear: and it was so (Gen. 1: 2, 9).

In the tropical northwestern Pacific there are a chain of 15 Islands in a gently curving arc running north south. They’re called the Marianas. These islands would play a key roll in the Pacific War. The islands themselves have a volcanic base. All the islands of the Pacific have their origin in volcanic activity. Coral reefs line the islands, and much of the island’s interiors are made-up of coral. This indicates that the islands were once under the surface of the ocean, and experienced a period of uplifting from current sea level. They parallel the 38,000-foot deep Marianas Trench, which according to one school of thought, is evidence of a time of cataclysm and movement of much of the earth’s surface. The cataclysmic time would have been a time that volcanoes formed and shot their magma above the waters of the ocean, and islands were formed. . . . . the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, . . . . (Gen.7: 11).

Don’t be concerned, this is not a book of lessons from the Bible. It is as I said it was in the Preface. I mention this because during my personal hikes over some of the terrain of the islands of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the Marianas, I’ve seen huge fossilized clamshells, and other sea creatures imbedded in limestone near coral crests at the highest elevations of the islands. Mount Tapotchau on Saipan has the highest elevation of the three mentioned islands at 471 meters, or 1554 feet above the surface of the sea. I’m told by a Japanese man named Hiroshi Kikuchi, who was on the island before and during the war, that it was a few feet taller until Naval shelling knocked off a point on the peak.

The chain of the 15 islands of the Marianas is about 500 miles long, with the 14 islands of the Northern Marianas making up about 375 miles of those 500. They are located about 1500 miles east of the Philippines, and Uracas, the northern most island of the Marianas is about 1000 miles south of Japan, with Saipan, the largest of the Northern Marianas, being about 1350 miles south of Japan. The total land area of the Northern Marianas Islands is about 200 square miles. The latitude of Saipan is 15 degrees 6 minutes north, with a 145 degree 42 minute east longitude. The location was perfect for the purpose of a B-29 operation to bomb Japan. This point will be explained in the chapters ahead.

Three of the Northern Marianas Islands, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, are permanently inhabited, with Saipan making up close to 90% of the current population of nearly 82,500. The islands of Tinian and Rota each share about 5% of the total. Just a very few people may live on one or two of the other islands. The population has grown. Just before the war the population of these same islands (excluding the military) was close to 5,000.

The Northern Marianas are now a Commonwealth in political union with the United States. The island of Guam currently has a growing population of over 171,000. Guam is located at latitude 13 degrees 27.3 minutes north and longitude 144 degrees 44 minutes east. It is the southern most of the chain, and is separated from the Northern Marianas politically as an unincorporated Territory of the United States. It was a Territory of the United States that Japan took away from the United States, and the United States wanted it back.

This is not a travel log, but a description of weather conditions the American troops would have encountered in these islands of the Pacific. Conditions on the Pacific islands vary depending on the latitude, but the islands of the Marianas experience a rainy season from about July to November (about a foot per month), and one not as rainy (a few inches per month), and actually quite pleasant from November to about June. The temperature is fairly consistent with about 10 degrees warmer in the day then at night. It is generally between 24-30 degrees C. or 75-85 degrees F., with the year around average temperature being a comfortable 27 degrees C., or 81 Degrees F. According to climatologists, Saipan’s temperature varies less year round than any other place in the world. Considering the consistency of the temperature, many people today would consider using the word paradise in the description of the islands. Kind of a nice place to have a battle, wouldn’t you think?

With all that said, for a Marine or Soldier during the days of the war, it was no doubt a hot, sweaty, wet, stinking miserable place that was a far cry from the comfort and pleasant memories of what they had left at home. It was not paradise by any stretch of the imagination, but instead, a place within the reaches of hell.

The local people who initially populated their paradise (I think a place in the mind and eye of the beholder), are divided up into two ethnic groups. The Chamorros are the majority, and the Carolinians make up a significant minority. Today the inhabitants of the islands are a majority of ethnically mixed descendents of the above, plus of Spanish, Mexican, and the Philippines with an Asian ancestry. There are also several thousand people from the Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, and from other countries including western countries such as the United States. Consider for a moment the local Chamorros, and Carolinians of yesterday.

The latter group moved to the Marianas from Truk and Yap of the Carolinian islands to the south. They did so because the outer islands and atolls of the Carolinian islands had been destroyed by typhoons. That happened as late as the year 1815. So, even then, but with the lack of modern technology, one may wonder how they moved across a wide expanse of the open ocean from Truk and Yap to the Marianas? In fact, who are they, where did they come from, how did they get to the Carolinian Islands, and how did they move from anywhere in the first place?

Where did the Chamorros and Carolinians migrate from in the first place? Why is it important to this book? To consider the 1st question, it is believed by many scientists that these brown skinned people came from Southeast Asia, primarily Malay a few thousand years ago. The word Chamorro is from the Austronesian language family of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, which means: We Have. Some linguists suspect the Chamorro language originated in Southern China around 4000 BC.

The Carolinians probably migrated from the same area or from Polynesia, and their name is said to have originated from the action of a ship captain who claimed the islands for Charles the 1st of Spain. The Latinized name for Charles is Carlos, and from there followed Carolinian. Why there was a migration is a question that scientists ponder and try to answer, but that is not in the scope of this report. It satisfies me to refer again to Biblical Scripture: And from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth (Gen. 11: 9).

Why is this important to this book? It’s an introduction to the reader of a people which are not well known in other places of the world, and of a people who live where you may not have traveled. The reader should know that it is these innocent people who were forced to endure the terrible pain of a war on their soil, over which they had no control. This underlying theme will be brought out in the chapters ahead.

So how did these people find such small islands in this vast ocean? These people, these early sailors that settled the islands of the Pacific, had by necessity become quite skilled in methods of navigation. It was either that, or they perished on the ocean. Their methods of navigation consisted of using the sun, the stars, the Southern Cross, the waves during the trade current season and the currents such as the South Equatorial Current. These people who become the Pacific islanders, may have used outrigger canoes. The canoes used between the islands were many times constructed of breadfruit wood, and the sail was woven pandanus leaf. Rope and lines for the vessel were made from coconut fibers. The vessels were sturdy with double hulls and capable of ocean voyages. They were large enough to be capable of carrying 50 or more people, plus dogs, pigs, chickens, and foodstuffs such as coconuts, breadfruit, taro, potatoes and other crops to be planted on the islands. Think of the courage of just planning such a voyage, when they didn’t really know where they would end up? Apparently, they sailed with the faith that they would survive the voyage, and their lives would in some way prosper. Those who survived found their island home.

Exactly how long these islands have been inhabited isn’t really known. But, it is believed by scientists, and confirmed by historical facts that most of the islands now inhabited in the Pacific, were inhabited even before Magellan made his trip. Certainly at least some of the islands now named the Marianas were inhabited at the time. These early travelers are the kind of people who settled throughout the pacific, who inhabited the islands where in a time to come, they would be host to a war over which they would have no control.

THE SPANISH PERIOD (1521-1899)

It was in March of the year 1521 when Ferdinand Magellan sighted the islands. He made his landfall on Guam. He claimed the islands for Spain and first christened the archipelago Las isles de las Velas Latinas (The islands of the latine sails). The name he chose reflected the triangular shape of the sails used on native canoes. In 1668 their name was changed to Las Marianas in honor of Queen Maria Anna of Austria, widow of Philip IV of Spain. Through an act of genocide committed in the 17th century by Spanish colonists against the local inhabitants, the Chamorro race was almost wiped out. The peaceful or Pacifico had become a place of mourning; a place of pain. They would recover, but Pain in the Pacific would happen again. In 1815 a new wave of people from the atolls west and north of Truk (Chuuk) in the eastern Carolines migrated to Saipan. This was the movement of the Carolinians to the Marianas.

In 1898, the USS Charleston, accompanying an expeditionary force bound for the Philippines, stopped off at Guam, informed the governor that the United States and Spain were at war, and promptly received surrender of the defenseless island. At the war’s end, Guam became an American possession along with Puerto Rico. The Philippines was purchased from Spain for a price of 20 million dollars. Spain sold the rest of the Marianas to Germany for 4.5 million dollars.

THE GERMAN PERIOD (1899-1914)

The islands, except for Guam, were sold by Spain to Germany for a price of $4.5 million in 1899. They remained under the German flag until the start of WWI. When the war started in 1914, the Japanese moved into the islands and against the German administration forcing them out without a struggle. After its’ defeat in 1919, the Allied Powers of which Japan was a member, stripped Germany of all overseas possessions.

THE JAPANESE PERIOD (1914-1944)

At the end of World War I, the Mariana Islands were turned over to the newly created League of Nations. Japan had become an ally of the United States, Great Britain and France shortly before the end of the war and was named as this Pacific area’s administering authority. By 1919 the islands were being administered by Japan as a mandate under the League of Nations.

From that time and up until the beginning of the 2nd world war, the Japanese had developed and maintained thriving fishing, sugar cane, and agricultural industries in the Marianas. They also had a railway system to move people and crops such as sugar cane around the island. The Japanese had brought in Okinawans and Koreans to do the labor. The civilian population in early 1944 included Chamorros, Carolinians, to the number of nearly 5,000. The additional numbers of Japanese, Okinawans, and Koreans brought the total to about 15,000. Had it not been for an expansionist Japanese military, the Marianas could have remained the place of agricultural prosperity they had enjoyed.

Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in 1935 after it virtually annexed the island nations into the Empire. The islands were in effect, an integral part of the Japanese Empire. The Japanese military would increase the population of the islands by about 40,000. Nearly 30,000 would be quartered on Saipan, with 5,000 or more on each of the islands Tinian, and Rota. The industries established by the Japanese on Saipan before the war, would never return to the Marianas. The devastation and changes on the islands would prevent it.

INTRODUCTION

WHY THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC TOOK PLACE

In the mid 1800s it was decided to send coal burning steamships across the Pacific to Japan and to China in order to increase commerce, and to compete with the British in international trade. Shanghai was the main sought after destination. The route for the U.S. across the Pacific began in San Francisco. The ships would sail a distance of 2100 miles to Honolulu, then 3200 miles to a newly established coaling station on the island of Chichi Jima in the Bonin Islands. After that it was 1500 miles to Shanghai.

An incident involving poor treatment of American whaling men by the Japanese gave President Millard Fillmore reason to contact Japan. He sent a squadron of warships under the command of Commodore Perry, to express the displeasure of the U.S. over the incident, and also to befriend them into a trading agreement. On the way to Japan, Commodore Perry stopped at Chichi Jima, then an unclaimed island, and he planted the American flag on the island claiming it as an American coaling station. The date was June 15th, 1853; 91 years to the day before D-Day on Saipan.

On July 8th, 1853, four U.S. Navy ships with 61 cannons and flying the American flag entered Edo (Tokyo) Bay (one of these same flags would be on the Missouri at the surrender of the Japanese in WWII). The Japanese, not yet aware of the existence of steam engines, saw the ships as noisy black cloud belching monsters, or giant dragons puffing smoke. They were the black ships of evil men (description comes from FLYBOYS by James Bradley). The Japanese did not like the Americans from the very beginning.

With the firepower Commodore Perry had on his ships, he could have brought Tokyo to its knees had he wanted to do so. But he didn’t. What he did do was give a letter from the U.S. President to the Japanese Emperor. That was a beginning of negotiations leading to The Treaty of Kanagawa, which opened up Japan to commerce with the West.

Prior to 1854 Japan had successfully been kept closed to the world. From this time forward, things would change.

When the United States was in the middle of its Civil War, Japan decided to make its first overseas conquest. On January 17th 1862, a Japanese ship sailed into the harbor of the American coaling station at Chichi Jima. The Japanese took down the American Flag, and put up their own Japanese Flag the Rising Sun. This would be just the beginning of things to come.

THINGS TO COME

Japan won a victory over China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. By then the Chinese had granted the Russians a lease to build the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Manchuria to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok. An alliance with Russia and China against Japan was also concluded. Russia put troops in Manchuria in an agreement that would keep them there till 1903. After the agreement expired Russia refused to remove the troops. Japan didn’t like that, and they engaged in what became the Russo-Japanese war. On February 8th, 1904 Japan launched a surprise attack on the Russian Fleet at Port Arthur (now Lu-shun) in southern Manchuria. The battles raged on nearly 11 months until January 2nd 1905 when The Russian commander at Port Arthur surrendered. The Japanese also destroyed Russia’s Baltic Fleet in a battle in the Tsushima Straits on May 27-29, 1905. That brought Russia to the peace table. During this time, the Japanese Army landed in Korea and overran that country without much problem. They were on the move.

The treaty between the Japanese and Russians, which President Theodore Roosevelt mediated, was held at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the United States. It was called the Treaty of Portsmouth, and was signed on September 5th, 1905. The Russians agreed to leave Manchuria, which was returned to the Chinese, and Japan maintained control of Korea. The defeat of Russia made Japan a world Naval power. Next on Japan’s agenda would be China yet again

CHINA

Hashimoto Kingoro, a Chief Secret Agent for Japan, said There are only three ways left for Japan to escape from the pressure of surplus population. We are like a great crowd of people packed into a small narrow room, and there are only three doors through which we might escape, namely emigration, advance into world markets, and expansion of territory. The first door, emigration has been barred to us by the anti-Japanese immigration policies of other countries. The second door, advance into world markets, is being pushed shut by tariff barriers and the abrogation of commercial treaties. What should Japan do when two of the three doors have been closed against her? It is quite natural that Japan should rush upon the last remaining door. Expansion of Territory would be the door they chose. How did they intend to do that? They would expand by the use of a nasty military aggression.

The Mukden Incident of September 18th, 1931 was the beginning. It was also called The Manchurian Incident, and occurred in southern Manchuria when the Japanese military blew up a section of railroad owned by Japan’s own South Manchuria Railway. The incident happened near Mukden (today’s Shenvang), and the Japanese military accused the Chinese dissidents of the crime, thus providing an excuse for the Japanese Annexation of Manchuria. In China this incident is referred to as the September 18th Incident, or Liutiaogoa Incident." By 1937 full war commenced between China and Japan. A clash on the 7th of July, 1937 between soldiers of the Japanese garrison at Beijing and Chinese forces at the Marco Polo Bridge was the pretext for Japanese occupation at Beijing and Tianjin. China’s military and political leader General Chiang Kai-shek refused to negotiate an end to hostilities on Japanese terms and placed crack troops outside the Japanese settlement at Shanghai. The Japanese bombed Shanghai on September 1st, and the battle for the city was underway. On September 21st, Japanese airplanes bombed the capital city of Nanking. Shanghai fell on November 11th, and Nanking fell on December 12th, 1937.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed his displeasure, and condemnation of the actions of Japan, and it wouldn’t be long till the entire world in the form of the League of Nations had condemned Japan for their aggression against China.

On the same day that Nanking fell, the U.S. gunboat Panay and three U.S. oil tankers were sunk by Japanese bombers on the Yangtze River in China. The U.S. called it an incident, and for some reason of restraint, did nothing about it. The United States just watched the progress of what was now a war between China and Japan. Interestingly, Japan didn’t declare war on China. Consequently, the laws of war such as the Geneva Convention did not apply and as far as Japan was concerned, such laws didn’t need to be observed. They hadn’t signed the Geneva accords anyway. Instead of declaring war, the fighting was declared an incident. In reality, whatever the Japanese called it didn’t really matter. These incidents were acts of war, and the United States was becoming well aware of the threat that was to follow.

To read of how the Chinese were treated by the invading Japanese is to get an idea of the type of mentality, and the spiritual state of the Japanese forces in WWII. According to James Bradley, in FLYBOYS, The Japanese Army pursued a ruthless policy of slaughter known as the Three Alls—Kill All, Loot All, Burn All, and it didn’t matter if the all were military or civilian. A 1933 Army infantry textbook assured the Japanese officers that when they took prisoners, if you kill them there will be no repercussions. Military or civilian, according to the Japanese they were all prisoners. Massacres of civilians were routine.

When the Japanese military was sent into China, they were sent with no supplies to follow them. So, they had to rely on food from the locals. When they would enter a village, the first thing they would do is look for food. If they found a woman hiding, and as the need arose, they would rape her, maybe kill her, and in some cases they would eat her.

When I saw a woman, the first thing that came to mind was to rape her. I would not look at her face. Then I killed her. After I killed her, I thought of eating her. I was thinking of how to feed my soldiers. I didn’t need much force. It went smoothly. I used a sharp Chinese kitchen knife. It only took me about 10 minutes. I didn’t cut the bones. I just cut where there was a lot of meat—mainly the thighs, bottom, and shoulder. When I cut her up into meat, there wasn’t much blood. I took her meat back and gave it to one of my soldiers to cook. If you cut it up into slices, you can’t recognize what sort of meat it is. He didn’t ask where it came from. I told them this was a special distribution of food. We had a barbecue and we ate her meat. There were only a few slices per soldier. There were sixty people in my company. They were happy to have this meat. They said it tasted very good. Japanese soldier Enomoto-san as told to an American intelligence officer Frank Gibney during a debriefing of POWs.

Most of us thought then that murdering, raping and setting fire to villages were unavoidable acts in war, nothing particularly wrong. Japanese soldier POW Tominaga said as he was debriefed. These interviews come from the book FLYBOYS page 62 (see references). Author James Bradley’s research results as provided in his book, is the best collective reference I could find on the subject of Japanese treatment of the Chinese during this pre WWII period. His book is a good read. I highly recommend it. He tells us (paraphrased):

One hundred thousand Americans would die in the Pacific war. Japan’s loses would be 2.5 million military and civilians. But nearly 30 million Chinese died in the rape of China. They would die for any number of reasons, or no reason at all. They died in military operations, for being guerrillas, for possessing some food, for being in the way, for being a girl, or just because a bored Japanese soldier wanted to have some fun. Entertainment included rape, dousing people with gasoline and lighting a match, forcing sons to rape mothers, shoving sticks of dynamite up girls’ vaginas to blow them up, cutting fetuses out of pregnant wombs, and chopping off countless heads.

From Bradley (p.59): Japanese army soldier Genzo Honma remembered that the Chinese devils were useful for all sorts of experiments: to test the power of hand grenades, the officers would go and grab a nearby man and thrust one against his stomach, after pulling the pin. As the man writhered in protest, the grenade would fall to the ground and explode—just seven seconds after the pin was pulled. The man’s legs would scatter like clouds and disappear like mist; only his torso remained on the ground.

Bradley: (p. 59-60) I personally severed more than forty heads, Shintaro Uno remembered. If more than two weeks went by without my taking a head, I didn’t feel right. Physically, I needed to be refreshed. I would go to the stockade and bring someone out, one who looked as if he wouldn’t live long. I’d order the one I planned to kill to dig a hole, then cut his head off and bury him in the hole.

This evil of the time even spread to the mindset of the Japanese civilians. They would celebrate such acts of bravery and the victories of their Japanese military soldiers. James Bradley tells us it was reported in a newspaper the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun on November 30th, 1937:

"CONTEST TO CUT A HUNDRED! TWO SECOND LIEUTENANTS ALREADY UP TO EIGHTY!

Then on December 6th, IT’S A 89-78 IN THE CONTEST TO CUT DOWN A HUNDRED A CLOSE RACE, HOW HEROIC!

Then on December 13th: CONTEST TO CUT DOWN A HUNDRED GOES OVER THE TOP, M—106, N—105 PAIR PLANS TO EXTEND CONTEST."

It might be noted that the Japanese military actually did show some concern about the Chinese women. The concern had to do with the raping of them. However, that concern was not because of the injustice, it was for the health of the Japanese soldier. The Military command didn’t want their soldiers to catch venereal disease. They figured that if a significant number did get infected, it would weaken the Army. The soldiers used condoms to prevent infection. 32.1 million condoms were sent Army units stationed outside Japan. They would use them on young Korean and Chinese women, or girls, that they kidnapped. The young women, or girls, were taken to where they were needed to provide comfort to the Japanese soldiers. Hence, they were called comfort women.

Bradley tells us the compliment of comfort women to service the Japanese military was estimated to be 1 woman for every 35 soldiers, navy and airman, or 20,000 women for every 700,000 men. The women were required to service between 35 and 70 troops a day, with one day off a month. On that day off they would be examined by the doctors for venereal disease. Possibly as many as 200,000 young women and girls were dragged into this sexual hell, and it is thought that less than 10 percent survived. This was the murderous, raping rampage of China, and the Japanese forces that committed the crimes are the same that would attack Pearl Harbor, and that the Americans would be called to fight until the end of the war in 1945.

Neither the Americans nor the British approved of the rape and destruction of China through the ruthless aggression of Japan. And, neither the Americans nor the British wanted to lose the right to trade with China. The support from America and England would go to China. In July 1939, the United States announced that it would end its commercial treaty with Japan. In June 1940 America banned the export of aviation gasoline, lubricating oil, and scrap iron to Japan, and sent aid to China.

In July, 1940 in an attempt to encircle China and cut off her lifeline to the aid from America, Japan occupied French Indochina intending to end the conflict on Japan’s terms. Japan also allied with Italy and Germany in the Tripartite Pact. The U.S. reacted in August 1940 by dispatching more than 400 newly built military aircraft to America’s colony, the Philippines. FDR also promoted Manila-based General Douglas McArthur as Commander in Chief of all U.S. military forces in the Far East. FDR then froze all of Japan’s assets in the United States, completely ended all trade with Japan, and cut off the flow of precious oil. Britain and Holland followed suit.

Without a source of oil, Japan would be paralyzed and out of oil reserves in 20 months.

Japan tried to negotiate by asking the US to cut off aid to China and allow Japan an access to oil. In doing so, the Japanese said: The Emperors divine peace would rule throughout Asia, and all would be well. The U.S. countered Get out of China and we’ll sell you oil. Japan did not get out of China.

In early November 1941, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito was presented with a military plan for war with the United States. The military conceded, if the United States had the will, they had the material strength to carry on a long war. But the feeling was that the United States didn’t have the stomach for a long war, and they wouldn’t be given the chance for one. First there would be the knock out punch at Pearl Harbor, then immediately the invasion of Malaya, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Guam would follow.

Beyond that there were no follow-up plans, but it was perceived that the United States, despite its size and material and industrial strength, was a weak willed soft culture. They were materialistic, and too selfish to support a war against Japan in the far reaches of the Pacific. They would be wrong about that. The Japanese military convinced the Emperor the United States would not continue for very long to support an unprofitable war. The plan then was to knock out the United States right away (Bradley P. 76).

Bradley writes: On November 8th, 1941 the chief of the Navy’s Combat Intelligence Unit, Joseph Rochefort wired Washington the radio transmissions out of Chichi Jima indicated there would be a ‘two-pronged attack, one going east from Japan, and one going south. On November 27th 1941, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations wired an urgent dispatch to all Pacific stations: THIS DISPATCH IS TO BE CONSIDERED A WAR WARNING: NEGOTIATIONS WITH JAPAN LOOKING TOWARD STABALIZATION OF CONDITIONS IN THE PACIFIC HAVE CEASED AND AN AGGRESSIVE MOVE BY JAPAN IS EXPECTED WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS."

1 The Beginning Of:

The War In The Pacific

PEARL HARBOR

Just before 07:30 in the morning on December, 7th, Admiral Husband Kimmel received a phone call from headquarters on the U.S. Territory of Hawaii that told him a submarine had been sunk before it entered the channel into Pearl Harbor. While he was waiting for confirmation of the report, a Japanese attack force was just over 200 miles to the north of Pearl Harbor. According to TARGET: PEARL HARBOR, by Michael Slackman, Pages 72 and 304, the Attack Force was made up of 3 Carrier Divisions including: 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 2 Heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 9 destroyers, 7 tankers, and 3 submarines, for a total of 27 ships and 3 submarines. It was the First Air Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo.

The aircraft carriers were the Akagi, Hiryu, Kaga, Shokaku, Soru, and Zuikaku. The carriers had a total of 423 planes, including Mitsubishi Type 0 Zero fighters (designed to fight aircraft, armed with machine guns), Nakajima Type 97 Kate torpedo bombers, or horizontal bombers, (designed for ground/sea targets, they flew nearly parallel to the surface, and carried a torpedo, or a bomb), and Aichi Type 99 Val dive bombers (dives nearly vertical at, and releases the bomb close to the target).

To realize the basic function of the other ships of the Attack Force, the two fast battleships are the most powerfully armed of the warships. The 2 heavy cruisers are warships a little smaller than battleships, and the 1 light cruiser is smaller then the heavy cruiser. The 9 destroyers are big, fast armed escorts of a battle group, and the 3 fleet submarines provided escort for the Attack Force. Accompanying the fleet were

7 tankers for refueling. All the warships of the fleet are armed and able to deliver tremendous destruction to their enemy. The Japanese had decided their enemy was the United States.

The Japanese Attack Force and its air group were larger than any previous aircraft carrier-based strike force. In addition to the Attack Force, an Advanced Expeditionary Force included 20 fleet submarines and 5 midget two-man subs of the Sixth Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Shimizu. They would proceed to Hawaiian waters independently of Admiral Nagumo’s First Air Fleet. The five two-man Ko-hyoteki-class midget submarines were intended to be used for reconnaissance, and to intercept any reinforcements that may be sent to Pearl Harbor, or ships trying to escape the harbor during the battle. The midgets were to penetrate the harbor nets and torpedo ships at anchor.

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About the time Admiral Kimmel received the phone call, and just launched from the Japanese carriers, were 183 of the carrier’s aircraft. This 1st wave of the Japanese attack was approaching the Hawaiian Islands using the KGMB radio station as a homing beacon. There would be 2 waves of aircraft in the attack. The second wave would consist of 167 planes, and add that to the first wave of 183 planes, there were at least 350 aircraft including torpedo, or horizontal bombers, dive bombers, and fighters that attacked Pearl Harbor. A scout plane had successfully flown over Pearl Harbor reporting back to the Japanese fleet that there were nine battleships and seven cruisers in the harbor, but no carriers. The Japanese had counted on the US carriers being in the harbor. Nonetheless, the attacking Japanese continued toward Pearl Harbor.

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A sunburst of rays through the clouds surrounding a rising morning sun reminded the Japanese aircraft Flight Leader Commander Fuchida of the Japanese flag, and seemed to be an omen of good luck to come. With the Harbor in sight at 07:49, the signal to attack To,-To,-To was given from the aircraft Flight Leader to the pilots of the 1st wave: At 07:53 it was radioed to the commander of the fleet, Admiral Nagumo that total surprise had been achieved. The report would be relayed to the commander of Japan’s Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

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December 7th, 1941.

At 07:55, the dive bombers hit the airbases at Hickam, Wheeler, Kaneohe, the Navy Yard, and Ford Island. The torpedo bombers would follow. Fighters maintained a cover over the islands to prevent US aircraft from spoiling the success of the attack. Later they would attack and strafe everything they considered to be a target. At about the same time the dive bombers went into action, torpedo bombers hit the anchorages. They focused heavily on the main anchorage known as Battleship Row on the east side of Ford Island. They also targeted the carrier births on the west side of Ford Island. Again, it was Fortunate for the U.S. the aircraft carriers weren’t there. The carriers Enterprise, Lexington, and Saratoga, which could have been in the Harbor, were out to sea.

The submarines didn’t really come into play, except the midgets, of which one was seen and sunk before the attack, and the others were sunk, or lost in the battle, with one being beached. One of the crewmen of the beached midget, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, was captured and became the 1st Japanese prisoner of the war.

The attack was quick. By 10:00 in the morning the 2nd wave of Japanese aircraft was beginning the land back on their carriers. The results of the surprise attack are as follows: The Battleships that had been sunk were the Arizona, the Oklahoma, the California, the West Virginia and the Nevada. The Arizona and the Oklahoma were a total loss. The others would be re-floated, repaired, and they would contribute to the war in the years ahead. The Battleships that suffered less serious damage were the Tennessee, Maryland, and the Pennsylvania.

Target ship Utah, and the minelayer, Ogala were capsized and lost. The destroyers put out of action were the Helm, Shaw, Cassin, and Downes. Ships that suffered light to moderate damage were the light cruisers Honolulu, Helena, Raleigh. The sea plane tender Curtis was hit as were the repair ship Vestal, the tug Sotoyomo, and the YFD2, or floating dry dock. Including the tug and the floating dry dock, 21 vessels were sunk or damaged in the attack. The U.S. aircraft lost totaled 64 for the Army, and 98 from the Navy to total 162. The U.S. Personnel lost were 2,403 dead and 1,178 wounded.

The Japanese losses are believed to have been 5 torpedo bombers, 15 Dive bombers 9 fighters for a total of 29 aircraft, 120 crewmen plus 10 from 5 midget submarines including the one sub crewman that was taken prisoner (This report is according to TARGET: PEARL HARBOR Slackman pp. 77, 308) As it is with records of casualties and equipment damage reports throughout the war, sometimes there are conflicting numbers.

These are the facts as provided by the War Records depository at the University of Hawaii: The surprise attack started at 7:55 a.m. and ended shortly before 10 o’clock. There were 96 ships in Pearl Harbor, and 31 Japanese ships (vs. the 27 reported by Slackman in TARGET: PEARL HARBOR) in the striking force. This included six aircraft carriers that sent 350 planes on the raid. The smallest Japanese vessels were five midget submarines released from larger subs. At Pearl Harbor, 18 American ships were sunk or seriously damaged. At the airfields 188 planes (vs. 162 reported by