A friend of mine emailed these pictures to me and I thought I’d share them with you all here on FSM. From my understanding many of these pictures of the attack on Pearl Harbor have never been published anywhere and may have been taken as the attack happened. The fellow who sent these picture to my friend received from an old shipmate on the USS Quapaw ATF-11O. Interesting thing was he had never seen them anywhere else. So I would assume they are original.
Enjoy the pictures and feel free to save if you like.
Those are some amazing pictures, thanks for sharing. I suspect they were taken soon after the attack and not during; judging from the amount of people milling around.
I think it was durring and after, if you look at the 13th picture there appears to be a Zero flying over head. Also some of the pictures were taken at a distance and you can see explosions so I’m figuring both durring and after. We will never know for sure.
Awesome shots, maybe two are in LIFE pictorial history of WWII, but the rest I have never seen before. Strange how things work out. Can’t imagine how the war would have gone or where we might all be, if our carriers had been in port…just kind of makes you think. Thanks to all who serve[#toast]
Really does take you back doesn’t it. I mean of course I wasn’t there, but it sure makes you feel like you were. I soled out of Ford Island back in the early 1980’s. I remember how neat it was back then before they closed the runway down.
Lastly I’ll say this…I think too many people both here in the US and elsewhere forget too easily how these kind of attacks can happen and forget how we always have to be vigilant, especially considering the GWT. Photos like these serve to help us never forget and help us to commit to never letting it happen again.
Thank you for sharing these pics with us. A big thank you also to the people who have passed them onto you. VERY, VERY sobering.
salbando: you hit the nail on the head. Never forget. It’s happened before, it can happen again. We might like to think it won’t, but we are dealing with human nature…
I was stationed at Pearl, and when ever i was feeling a little down, i would go out to the Arizona and just reflect on how bad my life really wasn’t. It is so peaceful and calm. I still get goosebumbs when i remember seeing the oil on the surface of the water. As if she was still bleeding
FYI from the PBY forum: “These keep going around the groups with this kind of description, but about half of these are in most of the Pearl Harbor books; most of the rest are in the Goldstein and Dillon Pearl Harbor photos book, and I think most or all are also online at www.history.navy.mil - Brooks A. Rowlett” Still a great set of pics most people would never see. Gary
My Dad was boatswains mate the USS Helena, joined right after Pearl Harbor in February of '42. He spent his entire Naval carreer on that ship, served for 23 years and retired in 67. I can remember as a kid seeing all these momento’s he had from the USS Helena. He passed away in 73 and durring a move we lost most of his stuff from the Navy.
I vehemently agree with the sentiment of this post but must second what garys has said… this same group of photos has been posted to the vast majority of forums and photo sharing sites that I frequent, and with almost the same exact description in many cases.
Not that this is a bad thing, mind you… because it isn’t. The fact that one or two, or twenty folks have seen a particular photo or set of photos does not mean that everyone in the country or the world has seen them. So the more people who are made aware of this kinda stuff, previously published or not, the better. But I can’t help but grit my teeth every time I see these photos being touted as ‘Never Published’… I guess I just need to rant about it after having seen it so many times…
OOPS! ‘Rant’ has officially been designated as a four letter word here on FSM! My most sincere apologies if I’ve offended anyone by using such a dirty word… LMAO
Anyhoo, thanks for posting these photos here so that those who may never have seen them in the past could have this chance to do so.
As I recall, Helena was inboard of Oglala and they had quite a time clearing her after Oglala capsized. I joined the Navy in December of '67, right after your dad retired. I gained a lot of respects for boatswains mates during my enlistment. Those guys could do anything with a line and a couple of blocks! I hope people remembered to thank him for his service when they had the chance.
Regards,
Bruce
Thanks for posting these unforgetable pictures, i havn’t seen any of them before but have seen one of the same view as pic 4 from a slightly different angle (from the std bow and closer) even a Brit can appreciate the feeling these pictures have on you guys from the USA, kind of like a few months ago for me, i stood in the trench left by a crashing Lancaster bomber near what was RAF Lindholm, there are still parts of the aircraft strewn round, some identifyable, like a wing panel, some undercariage leg components, a couple of bomb hooks and other parts. as luck would have it the crew of this aircraft managed to bail out as the aircraft went in, also near that site is the remainants of a wellington, some of the crew on that aircraft wern’t so lucky. there there are parts of the geodetic structure, some wooden pieces possably from the cockpit floor, engine pieces and what looks like pieces of leather from a seat, and the sole form a shoe. i said a silent prayer as i stood there not only for those who perrished but for my children never to have to experience war.
