Session 11

Sailors of the Pacific Fleet

These four veterans provided a personal recollection of the events of December 7th and how it affected them and their ships. For each ship berthed at Ford Island, there is a varied story of destruction and survival. These eyewitnesses are the historical links to that fateful day.

 

Speakers: Everett Hyland, USS Pennsylvania - Mr. Hyland was a sailor aboard the flagship USS Pennsylvania. As a radioman, he served in the ship’s communications.
On that day he went to his battle station and was a loader on one of the three-inch anti-aircraft guns. He was later grievously wounded and nearly lost his life. After months of hospitalization, Everett was returned to service. After the war, Mr. Hyland became a school teacher and is currently one of the Pearl Harbor survivor volunteers at the USS Arizona Memorial.

Don Stratton, USS Arizona - Mr. Stratton is a survivor from the battleship USS Arizona. The circumstances of how Don survived the cataclysmic explosion are miraculous. He is but one of a handful of men who were shielded from the blast in a gun director located on the port side of the ship. He served his country throughout WWII in the Pacific and became a hard-hat diver after the war. He is the first Pearl Harbor Survivor to have an action figure modeled after him.

Jack Evans, USS California - He was a sailor from the USS Tennessee. The night before the attack he danced in the jitterbug contest and won it with a 10-year-old girl. The next day he was aboard ship on the main top of the Tennessee. From that vantage point he was an eyewitness to the panorama of the attack and the destruction of Battleship Row.

Lee Soucy, USS Utah - Mr. Soucy was a Pharmacists Mate 2nd Class aboard the USS Utah. That vessel, formerly a battleship, was now an auxiliary with a hull number
AG-16. Mr. Soucy would tend the wounded from the USS Utah and other vessels at an aide station set up at the new BOQ at Ford Island. Lee would serve with distinction in the US Navy throughout the Pacific War.