Seventy-five years is a long time, yet for those who happened to be stationed in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, no doubt it seems like yesterday.
Nonetheless, come Dec. 7 of this year, the world will mark the date which lives in infamy, the day Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. The first hit occurred at 7:53 a.m.. the second at 8:55 a.m. By 9:45 a.m. it was all over. Behind them was left chaos with 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included eight damaged or demolished battleships.
Roy Carter was one of the lucky ones that day. Not only did he survive, he escaped serious injury. Other than being covered in oil after jumping into the water, Carter was able to pull himself in to a motor launch full of other survivors headed to the submarine base.
Last fall I was lucky to have met Roy Carter and was honored to write his account of his memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor. To be honest, I was a bit worried about how accurate those memories would be at his age of 95. Three hours later, I was astounded at the clarity with which Carter spoke, the meticulous attention to detail, the compelling way he told such a horrific yet alluring story. I could have listened all day to his entertaining yet sobering narrative.
As he told me, “I’ve still got my marbles at 95.”
Turns out Carter has written a memoir, mostly for his children, he said, so that they and others who read it will have an understanding of history from his point of view.
Now I find out Carter is planning a trip to Pearl Harbor to take part in the events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. So I headed over to his well-kept house in Sunland and got the story first-hand.
“This will be my last time,” Carter said, adding he attended the 50th and 70th anniversary celebrations.
Aboard USS Oklahoma
There were seven U.S. battleships on Battleship Row on Dec. 7, 1941: The Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland, Oklahoma and California. Carter was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, the ship that sustained the most amount of damage and personnel loss second only to the USS Arizona.
In 1938, at age 18, Roy D. Carter, an Iowa boy, joined the Navy. There was no draft then, but like most his age, he bought into the popular line, “Join the Navy and see the World.” In the midst of the Great Depression there were very few jobs to be had, boosting the number of young men wanting to join the service.
“When I joined the Navy, the pay was $21 per month and after boot camp, we received $36 per month,” Carter remembers. “I was amazed that after four years many men were still making the $36. The education level was about sixth grade and many could not pass the required tests to advancement.”
After boot camp, Carter and his three buddies from Company 19 were assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was stationed in Bremerton. The ship was commissioned in 1916 and served in World War I.
A week after Carter boarded the Oklahoma, it went into dry dock. His first job was to scrape barnacles off the side of the ship, a job he admitted he didn’t care for at all. About six months later there was an opening in what Carter called the R Division, which were the carpenters and ship-fitters. He requested a transfer and got the job.
“During battle conditions the R Division’s job was damage control,” Carter explained.
Little did they know that the R Division would have its hands full trying to keep up with damage control on Dec. 7, 1941. That particular day began as most days did on board the Oklahoma and other ships stationed in Pearl Harbor. Senior Petty Officer 2nd class Carter was busy storing his clothing in his locker when the loud speaker blared, “air attack, all hands, man your battle stations.”
It was a Sunday morning, a time of leisure for most of the military personnel. Many were either still asleep, in mess halls eating breakfast or getting ready for church services. At 7:55 a.m., explosions began and low-flying aircraft shocked many into the realization this was not a training exercise and that Pearl Harbor was under attack.
At 8 a.m., Admiral Husband Kimmel, who was in charge of Pearl Harbor operations, sent out a dispatch to all the U.S. naval fleet. “Air raid on Pearl Harbor, this is not a drill.”
Torpedoes began hitting the Oklahoma as the air attack announcement was made.
“There was no way we could close all water-tight doors, hatches, ports and blisters,” Carter said of those first few startling moments. Part of the reason was everything on board was open for a planned inspection by Admiral Isaac Kidd, who never did make it to the Oklahoma that day. Instead, Kidd was killed on the bridge of the USS Arizona during the attack. He was the highest ranking American killed by the Japanese since 73 years earlier.
“Torpedoes were hitting the Oklahoma, but nobody knew how many until she was righted three weeks later,” Carter said. The Navy battle damage assessment board report indicated a total of nine torpedoes hit the battleship, eight mid-ship and one hit the rudder.
Carter describes the chaos of the day:
“I was at my battle station and immediately ran to the hatch and water door that led to the aft steering area. As I started to close the spring-loaded hatch, Mike Stuz, a quartermaster 3/C, was running up the ladder from the aft steering. He said, ‘Let me by, I have to get to my battle station.’ I let him by and closed the spring-loaded hatch that could only be opened or closed from the third deck. Torpedoes were still hitting the Oklahoma. By the time I got to the water-high door, all lights and communication were out. We were turning over, lumber was falling from the overhead.”
The reason is that the Oklahoma had rolled over and was listing at about 159 degrees, causing items to fall from above.
Carter never saw Mike Stuz nor his three friends who went to boot camp together.
“I’m the only survivor left of the four,” he lamented.
With the Oklahoma fully under attack, Carter began to work his way to the ammunition trunk used for gun turret 4. Lucky for him, he said, the trunk was open all the way to top side. When the ship got to roughly 90 degrees over, “I crawled on my hands and knees up to the top side. I got into the water and almost immediately water started to fill that trunk. The suction was such that I was pulled under. When I got back to the surface I was covered completely with oil from head to foot.”
If possible, things became more terrifying.
“In order to see what was going on, I rolled over on my back. There were five high altitude bombers who dropped five bombs — I thought they would hit me. Due to the trajectory, these bombs landed even with the Arizona and out about a block. I saw B-17s circling Hickam Field.”
Carter’s luck continued as he spotted a motor launch close by and managed to pull himself in. When the launch was full from other survivors swimming in the harbor, it headed to the submarine base.
On the way to the submarine base, Carter saw the USS Arizona burning, which, he said, lasted for a couple of days.
After he scrubbed the oil off of himself, Carter spent the day at the submarine base and that night slept in a bowling alley.
“There was a lot of gunfire that night,” Carter said. “There were planes from the USS Enterprise (aircraft carrier) that wanted to land at Ford Island (an islet in the middle of Pearl Harbor), it was dark and they were fired on and four were shot down.”
After about three months he was sent to Ford Island Naval Air Station for flight training school.
Carter’s thought was that after he got out of the Navy he would be able to fly commercial airplanes. So when he was asked if he still wanted to continue the flight training program, he said yes. He was shipped back to the states, finished the program and was commission Ensign and a Naval Aviator.
“I made 39 missions out of Dunkswell, England. Our squadron was submarine hunters,” he said.
Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945, ending the war. Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9 — at least 100,000 people died in the atomic bombings.
Japanese officials signed the surrender document on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on Sept. 2, 1945.
Two years after after the attack at Pearl Harbor the Navy decided the Oklahoma was not salvageable due to how much damage it had received. The Oklahoma was decommissioned on Sept. 1, 1944, and sold in 1945 to Moore Drydock Company in Oakland, Calif. The Oklahoma parted its tow line and sank on May 17, 1947, 549 miles out, bound from Pearl Harbor to San Francisco. Today, there is a memorial to the USS Oklahoma and the 429 sailors and Marines who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941, located on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. “The Oklahoma chose the sea,” Carter wrote in his memoir.
Time to return
Carter met his wife Barbara in 1943 while attending flight training in Chicago. They married in 1944, and after Carter graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology, they moved to Wisconsin where they raised three children.
One son followed his father’s footsteps, serving in Vietnam. Barbara and Roy moved to Sequim in 1986, settling in the Sunland community where they enjoyed a daily round of golf and fishing.
Barbara died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease six years ago. They were married for 60 years.
Today, Carter lives in the same house he and Barbara shared for 28 years. He no longer plays golf, but enjoys visiting friends who live at The Lodge. In just a few weeks, however, Carter faces another change in his life. He recently sold his home and is moving to a condominium at The Lodge. “Since I have dinner there every night, I might as well live there,” he said with a slight chuckle.
Now, along with packing up 28 years of memories, Carter is packing up for a final trip to Pearl Harbor. Although he will turn 97 in January, he will travel alone. “I was told I was foolish to go by myself, but I think I can do it,” he insisted. “I still do have all my marbles,” he reminds me.
He will leave Dec. 5 and return on the Dec. 9. Asked what his expectations of the visit are, he rattled off the full 11-day event schedule for the commemoration, which includes concerts by each branch of the military, a USS Arizona Reunion Association wreath laying ceremony, various tours, a Freedom Bell ceremony and ringing, a USS Oklahoma memorial ceremony, and of course, a parade.
The Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade and public ceremony takes place on Dec. 7 and honors the remaining Pearl Harbor survivors as the grand marshals, as well as recognizing all veterans, active duty military and their families. Carter will ride in the parade.
Some events are sobering, such as the bell ringing, one ring by family members for each veteran killed at Pearl Harbor or a visit to the USS Arizona Memorial where tourists and veterans alike are quiet and respectful.
After the Arizona sank, its superstructure and main armament were salvaged and reused to support the war effort, leaving its hull, two gun turrets and the remains of more than 1,000 crewmen submerged in less than 40 feet of water. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation to create the USS Arizona Memorial, which was officially dedicated on May 30, 1962. The monument attracts more than 1 million visitors each year.
The parade is produced by Historic Programs — a national not-for-profit, whose mission is to ensure America’s important history is never forgotten — and the presenting sponsor is the History Channel, which is producing a two-hour special about Pearl Harbor survivors coming back for the 75th anniversary. One of those, of course, is Roy Carter.
The History Channel is planning to send film crews to survivors’ hometowns to interview them and share stories just prior to the parade.
“They have contacted me, but I haven’t heard anything about them coming to Sequim yet,” Carter said.
A self-described history buff, Carter said the history of Pearl Harbor was a big draw for him. But then he shared the deeper reason for returning to the hellish nightmare of Dec. 7, 1941.
“I’m hoping to reunite with some of the 25th Infantry at the USS Oklahoma Memorial Ceremony,” he said. But, he added, “If there were five left, it would be a miracle.”
Carter belongs to the Pearl Harbor Survivor Association. The 2014 count showed 2,500 members alive.
There are 32 members of the association who live on the North Olympic Peninsula, but only three left who live in Sequim, Carter noted.
Which is expected, but regrettable nonetheless. Carter knows it, as do all veterans of the early wars. Soon they will be gone, leaving their friends, relatives and the younger generation without their words of wisdom, their personal views, their deep convictions regarding the military.
Which means we must take advantage of listening to stories from the likes of Roy Carter to keep alive the oral history of such momentous events as Pearl Harbor.
Some of this story is reproduced from an article printed in the Fall 2015 issue of the Living on the Peninsula magazine and written by Mary Powell, former editor of the Sequim Gazette.
