(Ft. Worth – WBAP/KLIF News) – On December 7th, 1941, America was dragged into World War 2 with the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and Clark Field in the Philippines. At Birchman Baptist Church in Ft. Worth, they marked the occasion with a special lunch for veterans, including two survivors of the attacks in Hawaii, and one survivor of the attacks in the Philippines.
Jim Hardwick was an 18-year old sailor assigned to the USS Honolulu, who was camping on the beach that morning, after a luau the night before. He had been celebrating his 18th birthday, which was on December 5th. Suddenly, he woke up to someone running up the line of tents, shouting that an attack was underway, and they needed to get back to their ships any way he could.
“The torpedo run had already occurred,” said Hardwick. “I got in for the horizontal bombers and the strafers. I made my way back to my ship, and a 500-lb. bomb hit just as I arrived.”
Miraculously, the cruiser suffered no casualties.
Hardwick had joined the Navy only one year and two days before…on his 17th birthday. He said after years of the Great Depression, he was glad to have “three hots (meals), a cot, and $21 a month.” After finishing mechanic’s school, he was afraid he’d be sent to the Atlantic Fleet, which was already having troubles with German U-boats. Hardwick said when he was assigned to Pearl Harbor, he had no idea where it was, but it sounded like it was as far from the war as possible.
Robert Tanner, who coincidentally also has a birthday on December 5th, was headed out that morning to celebrate with some buddies. He was an aircraft mechanic at Hickam Field, and his unit had been on alert the day he turned 20, two days before.
“I was standing on the steps of the barracks, waiting for three of my boys to come out, because we were going to celebrate my birthday party,” said Tanner. “All of a sudden, I heard the roar of an aircraft engine while I was on the top step. I took one step down, looked up, and that Zero was right in my face.”
The Zero is a Japanese fighter-bomber, but Tanner thought it was a US Navy plane, and they were intentionally flying low over the barracks to harass the Army, which he said they often did. He remembers muttering “damn Navy” to himself…then the first bomb went off.
It knocked him to the ground, and he remembers feeling a burning sensation on his head. The hat he had been wearing was blown off his head, never to be found again. He reached up and touched the top of his head, and when he looked at his hand, it was bloody. To this day, he doesn’t know if the wound was from flying concrete, or flying shrapnel.
Hardwick and Tanner were two of the honorees at the special luncheon at Birchman Baptist. The Church hosts regular meals to honor World War 2 veterans, but at this special Pearl Harbor observance, they honored veterans of all of the nation’s wars, and Cold War/peacetime veterans as well. The Western Hills High School Air Force Junior ROTC cadets and honor guard pitched in to present the colors, and to serve lunch to the veterans.
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