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CNN Live Sunday
Sunken Warship a Watery Reminder of Pearl Harbor
Aired December 07, 2003 - 10:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM MORET, ANCHOR: For survivors, it is the worst military defeat the U.S. has ever suffered. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in this date in 1941.
Hundreds of visitors are expected to gather at the USS Arizona memorial today. Frank Buckley reports on efforts to maintain the memorial just below the surface in Honolulu Harbor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, standing here in a peaceful and beautiful Pearl Harbor today, it's hard to imagine what it was like here on December 7, 1941.
But beneath the USS Arizona memorial just behind me, the wreck remains, and it continues to provide a powerful testimony to the violence of that day.
(voice-over) It's been 62 years since the sinking of the USS Arizona, and it is still there, in just a few feet of water, just through this porthole to the past.
Here the signs of everyday life -- a phone, a uniform still hanging where a sailor placed it just so -- still speak to the loss of so many lives.
DAVE CONLIN, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGIST: Each of the things that we see on the wreck reminds us that there was 1,177 individuals that died.
BUCKLEY: But it is the effort to keep the story of the USS Arizona alive that brings these divers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our robot submarine.
BUCKLEY: From the underwater resources center of the National Park Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the waters of Pearl Harbor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Men were standing on these tile floors. You see an area that they would have been eating, cooking, December 7.
BUCKLEY: The park service is documenting how well the ship is holding up after six decades under water. These images, deep within the ship, providing clues about corrosion within the Arizona.
(on camera) Those interior views of Arizona are made possible by this remotely operated vehicle, but this ROV is more than a camera carrier. It also delivers this probe, designed to take scientific measurements inside the ship that are as important as the images.
(voice-over) The findings will help the park service to predict how long Arizona will remain intact.
MATT RUSSELL, USS ARIZONA PRESERVATION PROJECT: Sending the ROV inside of the ship is not just to take compelling pictures, but is to gather important scientific data so we can help preserve the ship.
BUCKLEY: So that the USS Arizona can continue to speak to generations to come.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: To help us put Pearl Harbor into military and historical perspective and get other little known facts about that day in infamy, we turn to naval historian Jack Green this morning in Washington.
Mr. Green, thanks for being here with us today.
JACK GREEN, NAVAL HISTORIAN: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: I want to talk to you a little bit about the history, obviously, just to remind our viewers about what today is. Can you put Pearl Harbor into a bit of a historical perspective for us, just background, maybe where America was at that point?
GREEN: Well, in 1941, the United States was an isolationist power. There was a massive war going on in Europe. Hitler was dominating Europe. There was a massive war in China that had been going on since 1937.
The United States was coming out of the Great Depression. Jobs were starting to be more plentiful; there was more money. Our arts and cultures were at their highest. Technology was coming. And all this was brutally stopped on December 7, 1941 at roughly 7:55 a.m.
COLLINS: Take us back to that day. What are some of the myths surrounding what happened? And we've all heard of Admiral Kimmel. Who was he and some controversy surrounding him, as well?
GREEN: Well, Admiral Kimmel was the senior admiral in charge of the U.S. Pacific and the United States fleet. At that time it was based at Pearl Harbor.
Many accounts and some movies show Admiral Kimmel being on a golf course when he hears about the fact that a Japanese submarine had been sunk just outside Pearl Harbor. In reality, he was in his quarters.
There are many who feel he was unfairly treated after the attack. He was relieved of his position, forced to retire as a two-star versus his four-star grade. And there are many right now who are trying to get that changed and have him posthumously promoted to his grade at the time of the attack. COLLINS: Seems strange that he wouldn't have been able to prove that at the time?
GREEN: Well, pardon me again?
COLLINS: It seems strange that he wouldn't have been able to prove where he was at the time?
GREEN: Well, this is just a myth that has come out, and he, of course, all the investigations show that he was, in fact, in his quarters when he gets a phone call that the USS Ward (ph) has sunk the submarine. But the myth still exists, and in fact, it's even seen in television shows and movies.
COLLINS: Let's talk about the soldiers just for a moment. Tell us what life was like for them?
GREEN: Well, the fleet had been pre-positioned in Hawaii since 1940. Because the State Department asked the Navy to do that to try to check Japanese encroachment from Southeast Asia.
Hawaii wasn't the tourist attraction it was today. It did not have the facilities to handle the whole fleet. There was a whole division of troops, a line division, which was expanding at the time.
So life for the average enlisted man in Hawaii was not all that exciting. They didn't have enough money to do the touristy things that others could do. For officers who had more money, it was a tropical paradise.
COLLINS: And quickly, before we let you go, Mr. Green, why is Pearl Harbor still so interesting?
GREEN: Pearl Harbor will always fascinate people, because the United States is finally forced to accept the fact that it is a world power.
We have become a world power with World War I, but we really didn't want to admit it. We go into isolation and all of a sudden brutally it's brought to our face that, like it or not, we are a world power, and we must get heavily involved in the world scene.
COLLINS: Naval historian Jack Green, thanks so much for joining us on this day. Appreciate it.
GREEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 7, 2003 - 10:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM MORET, ANCHOR: For survivors, it is the worst military defeat the U.S. has ever suffered. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in this date in 1941.
Hundreds of visitors are expected to gather at the USS Arizona memorial today. Frank Buckley reports on efforts to maintain the memorial just below the surface in Honolulu Harbor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, standing here in a peaceful and beautiful Pearl Harbor today, it's hard to imagine what it was like here on December 7, 1941.
But beneath the USS Arizona memorial just behind me, the wreck remains, and it continues to provide a powerful testimony to the violence of that day.
(voice-over) It's been 62 years since the sinking of the USS Arizona, and it is still there, in just a few feet of water, just through this porthole to the past.
Here the signs of everyday life -- a phone, a uniform still hanging where a sailor placed it just so -- still speak to the loss of so many lives.
DAVE CONLIN, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGIST: Each of the things that we see on the wreck reminds us that there was 1,177 individuals that died.
BUCKLEY: But it is the effort to keep the story of the USS Arizona alive that brings these divers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our robot submarine.
BUCKLEY: From the underwater resources center of the National Park Service in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the waters of Pearl Harbor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Men were standing on these tile floors. You see an area that they would have been eating, cooking, December 7.
BUCKLEY: The park service is documenting how well the ship is holding up after six decades under water. These images, deep within the ship, providing clues about corrosion within the Arizona.
(on camera) Those interior views of Arizona are made possible by this remotely operated vehicle, but this ROV is more than a camera carrier. It also delivers this probe, designed to take scientific measurements inside the ship that are as important as the images.
(voice-over) The findings will help the park service to predict how long Arizona will remain intact.
MATT RUSSELL, USS ARIZONA PRESERVATION PROJECT: Sending the ROV inside of the ship is not just to take compelling pictures, but is to gather important scientific data so we can help preserve the ship.
BUCKLEY: So that the USS Arizona can continue to speak to generations to come.
Frank Buckley, CNN, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HEIDI COLLINS, ANCHOR: To help us put Pearl Harbor into military and historical perspective and get other little known facts about that day in infamy, we turn to naval historian Jack Green this morning in Washington.
Mr. Green, thanks for being here with us today.
JACK GREEN, NAVAL HISTORIAN: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: I want to talk to you a little bit about the history, obviously, just to remind our viewers about what today is. Can you put Pearl Harbor into a bit of a historical perspective for us, just background, maybe where America was at that point?
GREEN: Well, in 1941, the United States was an isolationist power. There was a massive war going on in Europe. Hitler was dominating Europe. There was a massive war in China that had been going on since 1937.
The United States was coming out of the Great Depression. Jobs were starting to be more plentiful; there was more money. Our arts and cultures were at their highest. Technology was coming. And all this was brutally stopped on December 7, 1941 at roughly 7:55 a.m.
COLLINS: Take us back to that day. What are some of the myths surrounding what happened? And we've all heard of Admiral Kimmel. Who was he and some controversy surrounding him, as well?
GREEN: Well, Admiral Kimmel was the senior admiral in charge of the U.S. Pacific and the United States fleet. At that time it was based at Pearl Harbor.
Many accounts and some movies show Admiral Kimmel being on a golf course when he hears about the fact that a Japanese submarine had been sunk just outside Pearl Harbor. In reality, he was in his quarters.
There are many who feel he was unfairly treated after the attack. He was relieved of his position, forced to retire as a two-star versus his four-star grade. And there are many right now who are trying to get that changed and have him posthumously promoted to his grade at the time of the attack. COLLINS: Seems strange that he wouldn't have been able to prove that at the time?
GREEN: Well, pardon me again?
COLLINS: It seems strange that he wouldn't have been able to prove where he was at the time?
GREEN: Well, this is just a myth that has come out, and he, of course, all the investigations show that he was, in fact, in his quarters when he gets a phone call that the USS Ward (ph) has sunk the submarine. But the myth still exists, and in fact, it's even seen in television shows and movies.
COLLINS: Let's talk about the soldiers just for a moment. Tell us what life was like for them?
GREEN: Well, the fleet had been pre-positioned in Hawaii since 1940. Because the State Department asked the Navy to do that to try to check Japanese encroachment from Southeast Asia.
Hawaii wasn't the tourist attraction it was today. It did not have the facilities to handle the whole fleet. There was a whole division of troops, a line division, which was expanding at the time.
So life for the average enlisted man in Hawaii was not all that exciting. They didn't have enough money to do the touristy things that others could do. For officers who had more money, it was a tropical paradise.
COLLINS: And quickly, before we let you go, Mr. Green, why is Pearl Harbor still so interesting?
GREEN: Pearl Harbor will always fascinate people, because the United States is finally forced to accept the fact that it is a world power.
We have become a world power with World War I, but we really didn't want to admit it. We go into isolation and all of a sudden brutally it's brought to our face that, like it or not, we are a world power, and we must get heavily involved in the world scene.
COLLINS: Naval historian Jack Green, thanks so much for joining us on this day. Appreciate it.
GREEN: Thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
