Iowa ensign on the USS Arizona died amid chaos at Pearl Harbor

Dec. 7, 1941 is a date which will live in infamy. The United States Pacific Fleet and Army Air Corps were attacked by Naval and Air Forces of the Empire of Japan. Japan’s armed forces had already invaded China in the 1930s, which at the time was a free country under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek.

After aggression against China, the U.S. government, although formally neutral, instituted an embargo against Japan. It blocked the sale of metal to the Empire, which it needed to continue building weapons.

This enraged the Japanese military, which believed that as long as the United States maintained a presence in the Pacific, there would be no way to complete Japanese dominance over much of Asia.

One of the leading proponents of this idea was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He had been a Naval Attache to the United States in 1932 when two admirals, both from Iowa, William Leahy and Harry Yarnell, designed and carried out an exercise in which planes from U.S. aircraft carriers surprised the island of Oahu, and destroyed the Navy there. The planes simulated dropping bombs, and the sneak attack plan alerted everyone on the island as to its vulnerability to military action.

Yamamoto remembered this, and when his navy sought to decimate the U.S. Pacific Fleet, six carriers steamed to a rendezvous 200 miles north of Oahu, almost exactly as Leahy and Yarnell had done, and unleashed 353 bombers, torpedo bombers, and fighter planes on a course due south.

These planes were detected by radar at Kahuku Point on the northerly edge of the island, but the operator knew a squadron of B-17 bombers was scheduled to arrive that morning, and assumed the signatures on his screen were these aircraft.

The operator then retired for breakfast. As he did, at about 7:55 a.m., Commander Mitsuo Fuchida led the Japanese force overhead. When he reached the harbor, he interrupted radio silence and announced “Tora Tora Tora,” which was the code telling all pilots the harbor was not readily defended, and their attack should begin.

The first set of planes to dive down on the seven battleships were dive bombers carrying torpedoes. The dreadnoughts were anchored two abreast, in front or in back of the others, on the east side of Ford Island in the center of the harbor. The Oklahoma was hit by five torpedoes, the West Virginia, by six, and the California, by two. They were anchored alongside the others, which meant the rest of the fleet had to be hit with bombs.

The planes swept low and dropped ordnance with precision on the Maryland, Tennessee, and Nevada. At just before 8:10, one bomb fell directly onto the deck just ahead of the turret on the battleship Arizona. The projectile passed through the teakwood and metal armor to ignite a fire that penetrated into the ship’s magazine, detonating 1.7 million pounds of gunpowder and munitions.

The ship, which weighed 33,000 tons, was lifted above the water line and snapped in half. Smoke from the explosion could be seen for miles in all directions. The heat was so intense, it melted the infrastructure of the ship into an impassible wall of crumpled steel. As the flames continued for the next two hours, teams attempted to rescue survivors who were either trapped inside or flailing in oil covered waters.

One who was recovered was Ensign Lawrence Anderson. He had been born at Galesburg, Illinois, but resided in Waukon, Iowa where his father ran a wholesale produce business. While attending classes at Iowa State College, he enlisted with the Navy, and after training in suburban Chicago, was assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona, the pride of the Pacific Fleet.

When the bomb struck on that otherwise peaceful Sunday morning, he was wounded and brought to shore for, along with many others, medical attention. Because so many required blood, stitches, and gauze wraps, not every sailor could receive immediate or adequate attention, and Anderson succumbed to his wounds that afternoon.

Again, due to their sheer numbers and chaos after the attack, most of the bodies were held in storage or temporarily buried near Honolulu. On Dec. 8, Congress declared war against Japan.

In four years of war in Asia and Europe, nearly a half million Americans gave their life for the cause. The Department of War was overwhelmed with attempting to properly accommodate the remains and the families of their loved ones. There was also a debate as to what was the proper protocol for memorializing victims of the attack at Pearl Harbor.

It was not until 1947 that the remains of Anderson were turned over to his family. They held a private ceremony at Mt. Olivet Cemetery on the northwest side of Waukon, where he was remembered with full honors.

A small granite marker not a foot tall, stands just to the south of the front entrance of the burial ground. On it are inscribed the words “Lawrence D. Anderson, Iowa, Ensign USNR, World War II, Aug. 21, 1918, Dec. 7, 1941.” The modest gray stone is a small memorial to a man who played a large part in history.

Figures vary, but at least 1,400 people lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor, including personnel from the Arizona. In 1962, a floating monument was dedicated directly above where the ship sunk. Etched into its walls are the names of those lost, many of whom remain inside the twisted hull of the battleship.

Two hundred U.S. flags are raised, one at a time, on its flagpole every week for distribution to families and those who wish to remember the bravery shown in response to the attack. The author of this column is proud to have a reminder of their heroism in his private collection. Remember all for whom it represents this December 7.

David V. Wendell is a Marion historian, author and special events coordinator specializing in American history.