Hey guys!
This is my special one shot for Pearl Harbor.
On December 7, 1941, a day which President Franklin Roosevelt called, "A day which will live in infamy", the American naval base at Pearl Harbor suffered a devastating attack by over 300 carrier based planes from the Empire of Japan.
The attack only lasted a couple of hours, but it sunk or heavily damaged all of the battleships stationed there, as well as taking the lives of 3,000 people (1,177 alone from the battleship Arizona), not to mention all the other warships, planes, and buildings the Japanese planes attacked and heavily damaged or destroyed.
During the attack, on the battleship, West Virginia, one of the crewmen, an African-American cook named Doris Miller, not even having training to use a gun, stepped up and manned one of the AA guns on the ship, shooting at the Japanese planes and defending his ship. He is also credited with helping to save the ship's captain.
This story is based on Miller's actions during that terrible day.
It was a peaceful, early Sunday morning, December 7, 1941 and in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, all of the sailors on the many warships of the U.S. Pacific fleet were spending it lazily, sleeping in, eating breakfast, or playing games on the decks. They weren't even acting like there was a war going on, but there was. Since Germany was conquering most of Europe, Britain and now Russia struggling to hold back Hitler's armies.
And Japan, threatening to expand its empire in the Pacific, which would mean the U.S. Pacific fleet would be the first to act if Japan showed any sign of wanting war or attacked. However the U.S. demanded to stay neutral, despite such actions by Germany and Japan, but how much longer would the U.S. pretend war was not coming…
Back to Pearl Harbor, on the battleship, West Virginia, one of the eight battleships lined up in what was called, "Battleship row", a Blue macaw cook named Blu was just finishing up serving breakfast to the sailors who came to the mess hall and was cleaning up the plates. Blu joined the navy from his home state of Texas, wanting to see the world, but they made him a cook instead on the West Virginia, which means he would be below the deck, cooking up meals instead of being out on the deck, to enjoy that fresh sea breeze as the ship sailed in the ocean. Blu wasn't surprised at all, his kind were discriminated in America and the armed forces were no different. He didn't even receive training to operate and fire a gun. As Blu was down, below decks, something very unusual was happening.
As the sailors, out on deck, enjoyed their morning, the buzzing of many planes could be heard and the sailors looked up to see the planes swarming around. They thought it was just their navy concluding war exercises, but as the planes came lower and lower, they noticed something different, rather than the stars painted on the wings, it was just giant red circles. It was the symbol of the rising sun of the Empire of Japan.
As the sailors were confused, the planes suddenly started dropping bombs and torpedoes and started to explode as they hit the ships of the fleet. Now the Second World War truly began as the Japanese planes literally targeted every ship in the harbor and every plane on the airfields. The American sailors and many military personal quickly grabbed any weapon they could find and started shooting back, from AA machine guns to handguns.
Blu, down below, couldn't hear the attack starting as the armored plating of the battleship blocked out the sounds of chaos happening. As the "General Quarters" alarm rang in the ship, alerting the sailors to their actions stations, Blu thought, like everyone else before that it was just another drill in case of an actual attack.
"Just another dumb drill!" Blu said loudly as he was peeling potatoes in preparation for lunch.
At that very moment, a Japanese high level bomber dropped its bomb, heading straight for the West Virginia. as the bomb went through the deck without exploding, it traveled near by Blu, Blu getting the surprise of his life as the bomb went further down below deck, to land in the middle of some shells for the main 16 inch guns of the ship.
As some other sailors saw the bomb, they ran to get out, Blu seeing the bomb. Realizing it was also a bomb he ran out, but not before saying… "Son of a…"
The bomb then blew up, but Blu managed to get out, on the deck, the explosion rocking the ship. As Blu looked around him, he saw smoke, the ship's sailors running about to man their positions and a Japanese plane passing by. Blu realized this was the real deal and ran to join the crew to action stations.
As Blu was running on the ship, the ship's captain, by the name of Felipe was directing the bridge of the ship, however as he was leading, everything went quiet. And as everyone just stood there, trying to listen, an explosion from a bomb tore through the bridge, killing or severely wounding everyone without warning.
As Blu was climbing up some stairs to see the captain, he ducked down as the bridge exploded above him. After the smoke cleared a bit, he continued on and got into the bridge, to find his captain laying down with bloody wounds all over.
"Blu!" Felipe called out. "You find my XO, tell him he's in command and get more ammo here…!" Felipe shouted out his orders.
"Everyone's where they need to be captain, you trained us well." Blu said. "You trained us well." Blu trying to cover up his captain's wound, but Felipe was dying and slowly his eyes closed.
"Captain…" Blu tried to get the captain up. "Argh!" Blu shouted as Felipe died right there.
Blu ran out, leaving his captain there to lay in rest, to carry out the captain's orders. Running to find the ship's XO, he ducked as the Japanese planes continued the attack, even the Japanese fighters spraying the deck with bullets. Eventually Blu found the XO shouting for more ammo into the ships telephone.
"We need ammo here!" The XO shouted as Blu came to his side.
"Sir!" Blu shouted to make himself heard over the chaos. "Captain said you're in charge sir!"
The XO nodded his head to let Blu he understood and continued shouting for more ammo into the ships' telephone. As Blu left the XO, he continued keeping low on the deck as he walked to find sailors dead or with serious wounds in there. As Blu kept low, he noticed one of his own friends who died. As Blu wanted revenge, for his captain dying, he found one of the AA guns not manned.
Standing up, he walked to it and mounted it, quickly pulling back the handle to cock the gun and bring it to action. He tried this by watching other sailors do it when war exercises were conducted and now his peeking paid off as Blu began firing off randomly, at first, at the attacking Japanese planes, yelling as he fired off .50 caliber rounds. As Blu fired off the AA gun, he sighted a single target and focused on it.
"Come on, come on!" Blu yelled as he dared the Japanese plane froward.
Eventually Blu hit something critical in the plane and the plane started trailing smoke, the plane's pilot losing control as the plane fell from the sky. It passed over Blu, Blu ducking down as the plane hit his ship's seaplane crane, crashing into it and then landing in the water.
Blu fired and reloaded that gun all throughout the attack, until the Japanese planes were no longer in range and were heading back for their carriers. As quietness returned to Pearl Harbor, the peace from the early morning was shattered as the harbor, once home to the proud ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was now only filled with burning or sinking hulls and the oil making the clear water a sickly black. Along all the ships were the many dead bodies, the blood mixing with the oil, causing trouble for the sailors swimming in the harbor.
Blu helped the sailors out of the water and even plucked an American flag, all dirty with oil and blood, out from the water. All he saw around him was death and destruction, so different from the tranquil, beautiful sight of what Hawaii supposed to be. He came to see the world and see the world he has, for what it currently was. And now, he and his country were thrusted into the greatest conflict in human history.
Well guys, I guess I could have made this better… But… What do you think?
Oh and before I forget…
Doris Miller would be the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor.
And for Pearl Harbor itself, well the next day, President Roosevelt would call for a declaration of war against Japan, bringing America into the Second World War, Germany would declare war against America three days later, truly creating a global conflict.
The U.S. Pacific Fleet, suffered a terrible blow during the attack, but all the ships, sunk in very shallow water were all raised, except for the Arizona, which was turned into a memorial. All the ships would return to combat, to help America win in the Pacific.
And a stroke of luck was on the American side, as all the fleet's aircraft carriers, with their escorting ships were out at sea, lucky to avoid the attack. With the aircraft carriers all still alive, it allowed the U.S. navy to quickly get back on its feet and carry out the rallying cry of "Avenge Pearl Harbor!"
And avenge they did, at battles such as Coral Sea and Midway, where at Midway, four Japanese carriers were sunk, all four of them having participated in the Pearl Harbor attack.
The war in the Pacific theater would not end until the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 and the Japanese signed the surrender documents on board the U.S.S. Missouri, on September 2, 1945. The Missouri now stands as a museum ship in Pearl Harbor, close by the Arizona memorial, the place where the war started and the place where the war ended at the same place.
(Note: I based this story mostly from the movie, Pearl Harbor)
The End.