"Sunday morning: I heard the sounds of unfamiliar planes flying low over our house, punctuated by the sound of machine gun fire! At first I thought the US Navy was playing games this time with blanks in their guns. I sat up in my bed to see what was happening. My second floor bedroom was high enough that I could see over the single story officer’s quarters between our house and the airfield. I saw what looked like a big wooden warehouse rise up in the air and disintegrate! WWII was underway for the Campbell family!"
- James D. Campbell, III, of Lower Gwynedd, was 15 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. (2001)
It was a sleepy Sunday morning on December 7, 1941 when Japanese planes bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his iconic Day of Infamy speech in front of Congress, and America declared war on Japan.
This is the story of James D. Campbell, III who, as a teen, witnessed the attacks on Wheeler Army Airfield, near Pearl Harbor, and how he felt during that horrific time.
James D. Campbell, II
James D. Campbell, II (1901-1993) was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Campbell, Elsie Campbell, and the brother of Dorothy Miller.
Fun Fact # 1: His ancestors were soldiers who served from the American Revolution to the First Barbary War to World War I.
James II enlisted in 1917 during World War I as a radio operator and corporal in the 108th Field Artillery Regiment, 28th Division, PNG in the Army Expeditionary Force (AEF). He earned four Battle Stars. After the war, James eventually returned home in PA to finish his education. During the Depression era, he served as a company commander for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Pennsylvania where he supervised several encampments of the "CCC Boys." During this time, his men provided assistance to those affected by the St. Patrick's Day flood in the Susquehanna Valley from Match 17-20, 1936.
On November 5, 1940, James II was called for active duty and deployed to Hawaii. With his wife Ruth and then 14-year-old son, James III, they barked at a Navy port in Brooklyn, N.Y., traveled south through the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, to the west coast of Mexico then onto to San Francisco.
There, they embarked on a ship to Hawaii. He said he turned 15 somewhere between the Panama Canal and San Francisco. They arrived in Hawaii on Christmas Eve, 1940. He father was part of the 18th Pursuit Group, United States Army Air Corps a ground defense officer and held the rank of Captain.
Fun Fact # 2: They sailed on the SS Leviathan, which was a German ship given to the US as part of the war reparations from World War I.
Life as a Teenage Military Brat
James D. Campbell, III resumed high school at Leilehua High School near where his father was stationed: Wheeler Army Airfield. From a young age, he was fascinated with airplanes. Living near the airfield, he learned to recognize the "difference in engine and propeller sounds" from all types of planes that flew around him. He even built his first gas powered model, an A.J. Walker "FIREBALL". He was fortunate to be part of a model airplane club for young and old members near the Wheeler airfield.
"During the summer of 1941 there were several aerobatic events which took place at Wheeler Field. One of our dashing young pilots decided to show off his flying skills by flying through one of the hangars along hangar row! The punishment must have been impressive but not published. After the pilots had gotten familiar with the performance of the new P-40s, they decided to stage a comparative performance demonstration. A Boeing P-26, a Curtiss-Wright P-36, and a Curtiss-Wright P-40 were lined up at the western end of the field and at a signal the three started their takeoff roll. The P-26 very quickly left the ground and climbed at a steep angle. The P-36 left the ground a few yards further down the field and climbed at a shallower angle. The P-40 left the ground halfway down the field and climbed at a very shallow angle. So much for the new technology! Shortly after that demonstration, it was told that Lt. George Welch made the suggestion that with a “P-26 and a broom” he could sweep any German Messerschmit fighter out of the sky. Based on his record several months later against the Japanese Air Force, he might have been capable of doing it!"
- James D. Campbell, III (2001)
His grandmother Elsie came to visit the family on November 7, 1941 after spending four days sailing on the SS Mariposa.
"Her first words when she got off the ship were 'Don’t you know we will be at war with Japan within a month?'"
- James D. Campbell, III (2001)
His father received a war warning at Wheeler airfield, and requested several .50 caliber machine guns for defense. He ended up getting one gun, and that was placed on the rooftop of the Wheeler Field Fire House. It was the only weapon that was ready on the morning of December 7th.
After Pearl Harbor was struck, James's father was alerted by his officers to come to Wheeler Field. He was ordered by his father to pack up everything they had and have his mother and grandmother evacuated to a protected area.
After his father left the house in his new Dodge, James was not sure he would ever see him again. They finally saw him again five days later. He, his mother Ruth, and grandmother Elsie were placed at one of the Honolulu schools where they slept on the floor for about a week.
"I was in the kitchen peeling our morning pineapple for breakfast when a plane with a big red ball went past my window. Before I could call Jim, the bang of the barracks sounded—so he knew what was happening. He got into his car and was on his way.
After the attack:
Red Cross was on hand then and mothers of school students had come to the cafeteria and made breakfast for all of us from Wheeler and Schofield Barracks. The mothers...who came back to food to serve us were all Japanese. They were as scared as we were."
- Ruth Campbell (2001)
NOTE: James, II's sister Dorothy in Gwynedd Valley received a letter from their mother Elsie, letting her know they were evacuated and were staying at the home of another Hawaii resident. (See link in bibliography "Mrs. Campbell Writes Letter From Hawaii." Ambler Gazette. December 25, 1941. Page 1. )
James and his family stayed with Dr. and Mrs. Bloemendaal at the Schofield Barracks Officers Quarters area. He was called to volunteer at the Schofield Barracks Hospital where there was a limited staff in doctors and nurses. It was one of the hospitals to receive wounded soldiers and sailors from all over the island. He was tasked to carry "ducks” and bedpans around the hospital rooms to dump and replace them.
On December 25, 1941, James and his family said their "goodbyes" to his father before sailing on the SS Monterey. They arrived in San Francisco on New Year's Eve, and boarded on the train back to Pennsylvania on New Year's Day.
Aftermath
James, II remained in Hawaii until August 1944, and received two Battle Stars for Pacific service and the Commendation Medal for "organizing the defense of the airfield during the Japanese attack."
He went on to serve in the Korean War as a senior advisor to the 5th and 20th Division of the Republic of Korea Army. He retired from service on November 30, 1954. James graduated from Ursinus College with a BA in Political Science, and taught political science at the Valley Forge Military Academy until his official retirement in 1967.
Bibliography
"AJ FIREBALL SUPER / STUNTER." Academy of of Model Aeronautics. Accessed July 6, 2023. https://plans.modelaircraft.org/product/aj-fireball-super-stunter/.
"'In Their Own Words' - James D. Campbell III." DVIDS. Last modified December 7, 2021. https://www.dvidshub.net/video/824195/their-own-words-james-d-campbell-iii.
"'In Their Own Words' - Ruth K. Campbell." DVIDS. Last modified December 7, 2021. https://www.dvidshub.net/video/824200/their-own-words-ruth-k-campbell.
"Mrs. Campbell In War Zone." Ambler Gazette. December 11, 1941. Page 4. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_23575.
"Mrs. Campbell Writes Letter From Hawaii." Ambler Gazette. December 25, 1941. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_21289.
To read the entire account of James and Ruth, visit "Pearl Harbor Day - The Way it Was." U.S. Army. Last modified December 1, 2021. Scroll down to find their entries. https://www.army.mil/article/252404/pearl_harbor_day_the_way_it_was.
The Military Order of World Wars. (Paducah: Turner Publishing Company, 1995): 81.
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