When dawn broke on the morning of December 7, 1941, a massive Japanese fleet rode the waves just 200 miles from the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Six large aircraft carriers, escorted by 2 battleships, 8 destroyers, 3 cruisers and 3 submarines sat poised to launch a surprise attack on the American Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. The mission had been planned for months and practiced in secrecy in terrain similar to the Hawaiian harbor. At 6:10 A.M. Admiral Nagumo ordered the mission to proceed. The six aircraft carriers began the launch of 183 aircraft, the first of two waves that would ultimately include 360 aircraft:
40 torpedo bombers
135 dive bombers
104 horizontal bombers
81 strafing planes
The Japanese carriers turned into the wind and one-by-one the first wave was airborne, each plane circling slowly until the entire flight (except for two planes that crashed on takeoff) was assembled. Then the force began the nearly two-hour flight to Pearl Harbor.
When the enemy planes reached the Hawaiian Island’s coastline the sailors at Pearl Harbor were completely unprepared for the events that were about to unfold. Many, having spent their Saturday on liberty ashore, were sleeping in. Others had arisen early, eaten breakfast, and were en route either to duty assignments or Sunday liberty in Honolulu or along its tropical beaches. Breakfast was still being served aboard the USS Utah when the first Japanese planes appeared over Pearl Harbor.
The surprise was complete. No one believed an attack from 4,000 miles away was possible, and the alert level was very low. At the airfields American planes were parked in neat rows wingtip-to-wingtip. Aboard the big destroyers anti-aircraft guns weren't manned and most weaponry and ammunition were securely locked up. Most of the big ships' top commanders were ashore, leaving junior officers to deal with routine daily chores. It was a day designed for relaxation and rest....or for unexpected disaster.
When the first Japanese airplanes sighted the American ships in the harbor there was exultation. Though their intelligence had been quite thorough and accurate, none of the Japanese commanders had expected to find such a shooting gallery....all of the big battleships of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet in one place at one time. Less than ten minutes before the 8:00 revile aboard the American ships, Japanese flight commander Mitsuo Fuchida ordered the attack to commence. Moments later at 7:53 A.M. the radios in the airborne Japanese armada came alive with Fuchida's pre-arranged battle cry, "Tora! Tora! Tora!".... translated Tiger! Tiger! Tiger! Immediately the enemy planes descended upon the peaceful harbor to unleash death and disaster.
Despite the fact that the Japanese air commanders had not expected to find ALL of the big destroyers at their mercy, they knew the USS Utah would be at anchor. They also knew the ship was old--a non-combat vessel, and had ordered their pilots not to attack her. The order was not a compassionate one; there was no compassion in the hearts of those who mercilessly plotted the murder of the unsuspecting sailors at Pearl Harbor that morning. The Japanese commanders simply considered the Utah unworthy of the "waste" of their firepower. Despite that order fate frowned on the Utah and her crew. It was one of the first American ships hit, a torpedo slamming into it in the opening minutes just as the crew was hoisting the American flag on the fantail. (It is often believed that the huge wooden planks covering the ships deck caused trigger-happy Japanese pilots to mistake the Utah for an aircraft carrier, thus making it a prime target.)
Almost immediately seawater flooded the ship causing it to list sharply. Below deck men scrambled for daylight, seeking to escape the quickly capsizing vessel. A second explosion rocked the already doomed ship and men furiously sought to find safety before it became a tomb for them. Lieutenant Commander Isquith, the senior officer aboard the Utah, ordered all hands on deck. The Utah was in danger of sinking and might have to be abandoned.
Below deck in the engineering plant, water rushed towards the huge boilers. Peter Tomich, ever mindful of his crew, ran to warn them of the impending doom and to issue an order to evacuate. "Get out," he yelled above the horrible noises around him. He could feel the ship slowly turning on its side and knew that in moments any hope of escape would vanish. He had to get his men, who were the only family he knew, out of danger. "Get topside! Go....the ship is turning over! You have to escape now!", he continued to shout at them. Then, realizing that unless the boilers were secured they would rupture and explode, he ignored his own evacuation order and set himself to the job that had to be done. While the crew rushed up the ladders and headed for Chief Tomich remained behind in the rolling, sinking ship he called home. He calmly moved from valve to valve setting the gauges, releasing steam here and there, and stabilizing and securing the huge boilers that otherwise would have turned the entire ship into a massive inferno no man could survive.
AT 8:05 A.M. the Utah was practically on its side, listing at 40 degrees. Those emerging from below deck were met with gunfire from the sky as the Japanese continued to strafe the deck with their machine-guns. The huge timbers that had covered the deck shifted with each explosion, trapping men and crushing bodies. It was hopeless to remain and swiftly the men on deck moved to the starboard side to leap into the water and swim for safety. Below deck Peter Tomich continued to do what he did best, tend to the boilers. He must have realized due the incline of the Utah, that his time for escape had run out, but his valiant efforts would buy precious minutes for his fellow sailors. Before the ship rolled completely over he got the job done to prevent the explosion that would have end all hope of survival for hundreds of men now trying to swim to safety.
At 8:12 A.M. the mooring lines that held the Utah in place snapped with the sound of whips whistling through the air. With a last gasp the aging ship rolled completely over, its masts digging into the muddy floor of Pearl Harbor. The last bubbles of air made their way to the surface as time ran out for those still trapped below deck. In all, 58* men died; 54 of them would never make it out of the hull of the Utah as it rolled. It became their grave….
For all time interring them within its rusting hull.
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Chief
Yeoman Albert Thomas Dewitt Wagner was just finishing breakfast when
the first bombs hit the USS Utah. "Suddenly, the air was rent by
a terrific explosion. Rushing to a porthole I saw a huge column of
black smoke billowing high into the heavens."
The letter to
John Tonich informing him of his cousin Peter's death at Pearl Harbor was returned stamped
"Address Unknown". Three months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt
authorized the award of the Medal of Honor to Peter Tomich. The letter announcing
the award was returned the same way. (No one knew that almost twenty years earlier,
John Tonich had returned to Croatia.) No other relatives could be found for Peter
Tomich. His award is the only Medal of Honor since the Indian Campaigns in the late
1800s that has never been awarded either to a living recipient, or surviving family
member. Indeed, the crew of the USS Utah was the only family John Tomich had.
For them he had given everything he had that others might return to their own
family.
