Andy Anderson - Shipmate - Pearl Harbor

DEC 6, 1941, Pearl Harbor

A conversation with Andy Anderson

Andy says there was a band competition that night at the “Block” building and the USS Arizona Band won it. As the bands started up a jitterbug competition, a little ten year old girl, “Joedy” got up front and they called for a dance partner.  A sailor by the name of Evans, from USS Tennessee took up the offer and danced with her.

The next morning, seaman Evans was in the top crow’s nest of the Tennessee on watch.

Andy Andrews (also age 10), who lived on the same street as Joedy, had an uneventful evening, but years later is telling me about meeting Joedy, and retired Captain Evans, and his friend Stu Hedley, who was in the USS West Virginia the next morning.

Meanwhile Ray Chavez, (now age 106) early that December 7, about 0350, noted in the logbook of the USS Condor (AN14) (a brand new coastal minesweeper) that a periscope was sighted outside of Pearl Harbor. The Condor was coming into port after a night of patrol. An old WWI destroyer was underway out of Pearl Harbor and manned by a reservist crew. The USS Ward was notified of the periscope but it could not locate it.  A bit later, An old supply ship, USS Antares, returning in the early hours, having been out to tow targets, observed a periscope and conning tower in its wake -- trying to sneak into the harbor.

The Ward was again notified.  This time, the Ward found the submarine with its conning tower exposed. The forward mount fired and missed, having been close and the round passed over the submarine. The next round would  come from the after 5” mount. The gunner there aimed but waited for ship motion to lay the hull over toward the water so he could depress the gun enough. That round was fired and hit the submarine below the conning tower. It blew up and sank.

According to Andy that is the sub found off Honolulu some 20 years ago.  It had drifted deep and to the East from the entrance to Pearl Harbor because of thermal currents.  The gun that fired that round is displayed at a reserve center in Wisconsin.

Then comes the attack.

Seaman Evans finds himself in an impossible position atop the USS Tennessee, inboard to the USS West Virginia. From his position, unable to come below because of fires and bombs, he viewed the entire Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor.  His friend Stu, in the West Virginia was able to crawl out from below decks of the ship and get into the water before the ship sank there.Andy, the ten year old, was living in Navy Housing about a five minute walk from the front gate of the base.Joedy lived nearby.  That Sunday Morning became a horrific memory of explosions, attacking aircraft and more. His dad was on a ship in the harbor (and survived).  

So --- I called Andy today to fill him in on our recent ship reunion at Valley Forge (ussocallahan.org) .  In the past, I have written about Andy and his Pearl Harbor experience. There are now about 14 Pearl Harbor survivors remaining, among them Captain Evans, Stu Hedley and Ray Chavez. Captain Evans, at the last meeting of Pearl Harbor Survivors in San Diego, was unhappy that the State of California took away his driver’s license (he is 100 now).  The survivors now include “The Children Survivors of Pearl Harbor” of which, Andy and Joedy are members. Andy said there are about ten of them at this point. Andy is 86 now.

Andy went on to a Navy career. He served in 9 ships with 18 years at sea and having changed ratings four times and serving in six conflicts (Korea and Vietnam of course). He now has over thirty years of service as a volunteer with the Coast Guard, doing harbor patrols and other tasks a few days a week.

Meanwhile,  Having discovered Joedy lived on his street in that critical time, he learned she also went to his same school and found a photo in which they are in a group, separated by only four other faces.  Joedy expressed that she always wanted to find that sailor she danced with and now she has. HE is Captain Evans, USN retired. They have lunch with the group on a regular basis now.

I may have to fly out to California to interview Andy. I’ve recorded him before - at some of our ship reunions. Some of the better stories got lost in my computer somehow but I hope to recreate them or find them one day. Andy was also present for the “second attack on Pearl Harbor” in 1968, when his ship (My future ship in 1971) was attacked by movie making Japanese Zeroes for the  film “Tora,Tora,Tora”.

Sometimes, a phone call to a shipmate from the Navy is unbelievably loaded with truth that puts fiction to shame. …..  Thanks, Andy for a great visit on the phone today.  He missed our reunion in Valley Forge this year because he was at his annual service week to keep up the old Destroyer Escort USS Slater, in Buffalo, NY. Maybe next year we can have him with us again.

Andy Explaining to a contractor in the historic area of Boston

-- “How to Paint - the Navy Way”. 2009.

A SIDEBAR: When Andy served in USS O'Callahan, he was a snipe (engine-room). So he was seldom above decks when underway. He had standing instructions to NOT bring him above decks at Pearl Harbor - as he tended to get teary and choke up if he came topside there. Most port visits were hours or a couple days as Pearl was a transit point for ships like ours. BUT -- when the filming of TORA TORA TORA was underway soon after the ship berthed there in 1968-9 - and Japanese Zeros were "strafing" the ships - somebody insisted Andy come up topside. He did. He witnessed a zero making a run on our ship. I think he kept his composure but imagine - to relive the experience in a matter of a few seconds as that took place.

Did you read some of the LINKS in the above story? This is from the Page about the gun mount on display in Wisconsin. ....
"As the Pacific War moved closer to Japan, Ward was assigned to assist with operations to recover the Philippine Islands. On 17 October 1944, she put troops ashore on Dinagat Island during the opening phase of the Leyte invasion. After spending the rest of October and November escorting ships to and from Leyte, in early December Ward transported Army personnel during the landings at Ormoc Bay, Leyte. On the morning of 7 December 1944, three years to the day after her Number Three Gun fired the opening shot of the War, she was patrolling off the invasion area when she came under attack by several Japanese aircraft. One bomber made a suicide crash into her hull amidships, bringing the ship to a stop. When the resulting fires could not be controlled, Ward's crew was ordered to abandon ship and she was sunk by gunfire from USS O'Brien (DD-725), whose Commanding Officer, William W. Outerbridge, had been in command of Ward during her action off Pearl Harbor three years before."