Oil On Water Was Several
(Continued from Page 1)
the Japanese had set their tor
pedoes to run at 21 feet, so as
to run under the Vestal, w hich
drew 19 feet of water, and slam
into the hull of the Arizona.
"We didn't know what was go
ing on." he said. He and the
other two men ran down to
tlie messhall. But just as they
arrived, a bomb came crashing
through the ship, tlirough tlie
messhall and down into a stor
age room. There wore lfi casu
alties in the messhall. A man
standing next to Kahlgren was
killed.
After mat explosion, he said,
smoke came billow ing from the
lower decks, so he ran back up
to the top deck.
The executive officer of the
ship yelled at him, "Get the
hell off." So he jumped into a
motor launch which was taking
men off the sinking vessel.
He recalls that the Arizona
blew cip just after that launch
left the Vestal and the blat
broke the moorings between the
Iwo ships.
The Vestal's captain, Cason
Young, was hurled into the
water by the blast, but swam
back to his ship and climbed
aboard again. Then, he ordered
the Vestal to move and ran the
sinking ship tip on the beach
before it sank. By that time it
had taken a second bomb hit.
For that feat, tlie captain re
ceived the Congressional Medal
of Honor. He was killed later in
the war.
Besides saving his ship, the
captain also saved tlie life of a
sailor who happened to be
spending a time in the Vestal's
brig. Tlie man with the key to
his cell was killed by a bomb
blast and only by running the
ship upon the beach was the
man's life saved.
Fahlgren said oil on the water
was several inches thick and it
was burning hotly. This, he
said prevented many men from
jumping off the Arizona and
saving themselves.
iFa'hlgren finally got ashore
and once there was selected to
join a group of firefighting vol
unteers. But the group was
scattered as soon as it was
formed by strafing Japanese
planes and Fahlgren found him
self near the officers' club.
Through the smoke, he saw a
group of 40 or 50 soldiers
marching bis way, with rifles
on their shoulders.
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"I thought for sure they were
Japs," he said.
When they marched by, lie
saw that they were Americans.
That night, Kahlgren found
himself among a group of sail
ors hastily formed into fighting
units. They had been told by
their officers that the Japanese
had landed and they were sta
tioned in cane fields to fight the
invaders off. The only invader
of Kahlgren's cane field was a
large dog. It was killed.
When the Arizona sank, he
said, a machine gun turret was
left above water and all through
the night, he could hear that
machine gun rattling. The next
morning, it was found the gun
had shot down three American
planes flying in from the car
rier Enterprise, standing off
Hawaii. It was one of the many
tragedies resulting from confu
sion following tlie attack.
Fahlgren said three two-man
Japanese submarines were sunk
in Pearl Harbor during the bat
tle and he saw one that was
raised from the harbor floor.-
He didn't find out for four
days what had happened to his
brothers on the Vestal. They
were all safe.
And, he sard, he later found
out that the Filipino cook on
the Vestal had stood on the deck
of his ship during the height of
the attack and thrown apples at
the low-flying Japanese planes
with a few manges thrown
in for "tracers."
Kahlgren stayed on the re
paired Vestal for the rest of the
war and finally left the Navy
in 19-17. Although from Mon
tana, lie wound up in Klam
ath Kalis and is today a part
ner in the Hilton distributing
company. He is married and he
ami his wife, Lois, have two
children.
While Kahlgren was moving
away from the Vestal in a mo
tor launch, Paul Caldwell, sev
eral hundred yards away on tlie
cruiser Phoenix, was minding
his battle station and finding
notihing to do. His station was a
rangefinder, for which there
was no use.
Caldwell, a native of Klamath
Kails, was eating breakfast
when (he attack began.
"We were in the messhall
when the PA system passed the
word, 'aid defense. Man your
battle stations. This is no drill.'
"When I got topside, I knew
it was no drill. The Arizona
blew up. The damnedest explo-
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sion you ever saw. Fire and
smoke everywhere.
"I sat there and watched the
planes come in and strafe."
Of the Arizona, lie said:
"She exploded and went
straight down.
"They caught us with our
shorts down and that was the
uniform of the day too shorts.
"They strafed us. Nobody was
hit, but a .50-calibre slug ran
around the steel rangefinder
well. It didn't hit any of us."
Tlie Phoenix captain got his
ship moving.
"We tried to go around the
channel, but the old Utah was
bottom up in the channel and
it was blocked."
Finally, he said, the ship got
out of the harbor, but confusing
reports sent tlie cruiser all
over (lie ocean without finding
the Japanese.
Three days later, the Phoenix
came back to Pearl.
"Roy, it was really a mess,"
he said.
The first war mission for the
Phoenix w as to escort a convoy
of civilians to San Francisco.
Then, the ship spent almost the
rest of the war throughout the
South Pacific in a number of
battles. She was hit by bombs
June 4, 1944, in the Philippines,
but managed to limp to Austra
lia for repairs.
The only time the Phoenix left
the Pacific was for two months
in 1943 when the ship took Sec
retary of State Cordell Hull
from Washington to Casablanca
for a high allied meeting. Cald
well left the Navy an acting
chief petty officer in 1947. He
has been with the Klamath
Falls Fire Department for four
years as a driver. He and his
wife, itita, have six children.
The family lives at 1215 Owens.
Karl Carlson, 46, retired as a
chief petty officer in 1959 af
ter 23 years in the Navy. He
lives at 927 Alandale and was
once Hie Navy recruiter in
Klamath Falls.
On Dec. 7, 1941, he was a
boiler tender on the destroyer
USS Craven, with Task Force
14 and Admiral Halsey.
The task force had transport
ed 14 planes to reinforce Wake
Island as the situation between
the United States and Japan
grew worse.
The task force arrived off
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that Sunday morning and was to
have entered port at 10 a.m.
Dec. 7.
Carlson said the executive of
ficer of his ship and told his
men that he expected war to
break out at anv moment. And
it did.
Carlson too was eating
breakfast and listening to Hono
lulu radio when the announce
ment of the attack came. Soon
official word was flashed and
general quarters was sounded.
"We steamed around looking
for the Jap fleet, but we didn't
sight any planes," he recalled.
"Tlie next morning i Monday)
we went into port and saw the
damage.
"The first thing I looked for
was the big crane used to
mount guns in the harbor. If it
was down I knew we were in
trouble. It was still standing."
After picking up fuel and sup
plies, the Craven headed out
again for reconnaissance duty,
but still couldn't find the elu
sive Japanese fleet.
Ten days later, the ship was
back in Pearl Harbor.
"It's hard to imagine the state
Quiet Observance Held
HONOLULU iUPI - Prayers
. . . taps ... a moment of si
lence . . . and the laving of a
wreath above the rusting hulk
of a once-proud battleship.
This was to be the quiet ob
servance of Pearl Harbor Day
Saturday, 22 years alter Japan's
attack on the naval base bore
that triggered U.S. enlry into
World War 11.
Some 70 representatives of 26
veterans' organizations planned
the quiet observance at 3:15
p.m., EST. at the white con
crete memorial above tlie bat
tleship USS Arizona.
The Arizona was sunk in the
PHILADELPHIA (UPD -Princess
Grace of Monaco said
Sunday on her arrival here to
visit her mother that she would
visit (ne grave of President
John K. Kennedy this week and
call on Mrs. Kennedy.
The princess, (he former
Grace Kelly, said her visit to
the President's widow would be
at the former First Lady's con
venience. rn IJ'if
nn
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U- i T J ZrAztfS IOkccN 5TAMP5J
"Nil
of chaos," Carlson said.
Carlson later left the Craven
for duty aboard the destroyer
L'SS Stenbel and remained on
her in the South Pacific through
tlie rest of the war. Carlson re
tired in Klamath Falls in 1959
after a tour of recruiting duly
here. He and his wife, Marcella,
have one son. Carlson is com
mander of the local chapter of
the Disabled American Veter
ans. Vern Sclwrtgen, tlie Klamath
Falls building inspector, wasn't
at Pearl Harbor rtn the day of
the attack, but he did arrive
less than two months later as
an employe of Pacific Bridge
Company.
Schortgen was assigned to su
pervise tlie raising of tlie battle
ships California and Maryland.
Pacific Bridge raised five of
the battleships in all.
Schortgen said the ships were
sunk in M feet of water and
their tops were barely under
water. All had torpedo holes in
their hulls.
To raise them, Schortgen said,
this technique was used:
First the ships were surveyed
and the size and location of the
first wave of the Japanese at
tacks that long ago Sunday.
Her rusted hull still entombs
the bodies of 1.102 American
dead. Her fuel tanks still bleed
a thin stream of oil across the
smooth waters of Pearl Har
bor. The Navy no longer observes
Pearl Harbor Day as such be
cause it is Defense Department
policy to conduct a single me
morial for all war dead on
May 30 each year.
There was, of course, a fresh
er note of mourning here Satur
day. For lags throughout (he
harbor have been at half-staff
(he past two weeks in memory
of the late President John F.
Kennedy, a Navy hern of the
Pacific War that began here
Dec. 7, 1941.
IT
holes determined. Then patches
made of 12xl2 uich timbers were
constructed and edged with rub
ber tubing.
A patch would be lowered and
hold down with ballast. The div
ers would draw tlie patch in
ward with cables and jacks
until it covered the hole.
When the holes were patched,
a concrete wall was poured on
the ship's deck with tlie top of
the wall out of water. Huge
pumps would then pump out tlie
water inside the walls and then
inside the ship. Finally, the ship
would rise. Water pressure had
sealed the patches against the
hold.
Schortgen said that even two
months alter the disastrous at
tack, the harbor was still a
shambles, w ith wreckage every
where. "They hadn't even started to
clean it up." Ik- said.
Each of these four men have
something special to remember
about that day 22 years ago.
Thousands of men across the
country have similar memories.
Kahlgren, for example, is a
member of a unique associa
tion the Pearl Harbor Survivor
ors Association, which holds its
convention every year on Dec.
7. Next year that convention will
be held in Portland and the
battle of Pearl Harbor will be
fought once again in the minds
of men who were there, and
lived to remember.
Sun., Dec. 8, lflta Tagc 5-A
Herald & News Klamath Falls
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