HomeMy WebLinkAboutHorace B. Hamilton, Brazos Valley HeroesBy Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
First of Two Parts
We are losing our World War II veterans daily, and with them
their memories of their experiences in the war. There is one group
that has few left to recall the greatest event of their time, the day
it all started.
Those veterans call themselves the Pearl Harbor Survivors.
Horace B. Hamilton, who lives near Caldwell, is one of those
survivors who lived through that fateful day.
As recalled by Hamilton, "I had graduated from Leander High
in 1941 at the age of 16.1 was born in Florence, Texas, on June 2,
1924, and didn't turn 17 until after I graduated. I wanted tojoin the
navy, so with my parents' permission, I joined on June 13,
did my boot training in San Diego and was sent to Pearl Harbor to
go aboard the USS Phoenix, a light cruiser.
"One of the first things we did after I went aboard was escort
three presidential liners filled with troops to reinforce Corregidor
Island in the Philippines. I didn't realize at the time that most of
those guys would be dead or serve out the war in a prison camp if
they survived the Battan Death March.
"We had returned to Pearl for about a week before the attack.
That Sunday started out like any other morning aboard ship. I had
my breakfast and was on the fantail, the back end of the ship.
We saw some planes coming, but didn't think too much about it
because our pilots used the Utah as a target ship. They would fly in
and drop sand bags, like they were bombs, for target practice.
"About the time they started dropping their torpedoes and
bombs, we saw the red sun on the sides of their planes. One of the
guys yelled'Those are Japs!'The torpedo planes were the first to hit.
Pearl was shallow, and those torpedoes were set properly and they
knew which ships to fly to.They had very good spy work before they
hit us that day.
"On Battleship Row, the USS Nevada got underway and was
trying to make it around Ford Island when they took a bomb down
their smokestack. Instead of clogging up the harbor, they pulled to
the side before it sank. That act kept the channel open. The next
ship was the USS Arizona, and it went down quickly. They hit the
Maryland, the Tennessee; the Oklahoma capsized, then the West
Virginia and the last one of the battleships, the California, took a
torpedo.
"Several waves of planes came over us - torpedo planes, dive
bombers, higher-altitude bombers and fighter planes. They also
had a midget sub in the harbor. On the Phoenix, we had a lot of near
misses. Before we could return fire, we had to have the marines,
who had 45s, shoot the locks off the ammo lockers because no one
our guns. We and the Detroit, along with four'tin cans; destroyers,
got underway and made it out of the harbor.
"Our orders when we got to sea were to search out and engage
the enemy. For three days we tried to find the Japanese, but they
had left the area. It is a good thing they had left, because if we had
"When we pulled out of Pearl, a picture was taken of the
Phoenix. It is probably the most famous photo taken at Pearl. It
shows the Arizona and the Maryland in the background, on fire and
with all the black smoke filling the sky. In the foreground of the
photo is a periscope sticking out of the water from that Japanese
sub. We didn't have one casualty or take any direct hit. From that
day forward, we were called the'Lucky Phoenix.
off the Nevada and supplies and ammo. We had to cut off our gun
liners and repairthem. As soon as we could get that done, we took a
convoy of wounded, civilians and dignitaries back to San Francisco.
On the Detroit, they had loaded all the gold they had in Hawaii to
take to San Francisco. We made two of those trips to San Francisco.
"Afterthat, we escorted the Queen Mary and the other ships to
Australia. We were the first American warship to dock at Melbourne
in 30 years. We were re-supplied and operated along the western
coast of Australia, patrolling the Indian Ocean and what was then
the Dutch West Indies. It was here the Japanese would sink the
his flagship. We began our part of the campaign to take back the
Pacific with our first action in the Solomon Islands at New Britain,
and then Guadalcanal. The Phoenix made every battle we were
involved in on every island landing, including Leyte Gulf.
"In 1943, we headed back to the east coast of the U.S. for an
Secretary of State, to Casablanca, Morocco, where he and President
Roosevelt met with Churchill and the other allied leaders at the
the battles leading up to the invasion of the Philippines. There they
would be involved in the greatest naval battle in history.
If you want to have a name added to the Veterans
Memorial, for more information, to make a contribution,
or if you know a World War II veteran whose story needs
to be told, contact the BVVM at www.bvvm.org or Bill
Youngkin at (979) 260-7030. The deadline for adding
names to the memorial wall for this year's Veteran's Day
By Bill Youngkin
Special to The Eagle
Second of Two Parts
the fleet as best they could, some venturing into the Japanese
Fleet formation.
"Still, the Japanese Fleet came on. Our destroyers picked
them up several miles away and passed the word. Already
guns were beginning to train out, getting the range for the
first salvo, the most important thing in an engagement like
this. Few on the ship had ever witnessed a naval battle before v
yet everyone handled themselves like veterans.
"The Seventh Fleet was ready as the Japs edged closer. We
knew at any second the big guns on one of the ships was going
to explode, then all would open up. At 3:53 our battleships
opened up, the cue for all the ships to let go. Tracer shells shot
out at the surprised enemy as ships seemed to fire from every
conceivable angle. A Jap battleship was the main target, and
shells landed around it in a never-ending stream. The first
salvos were near misses. After that, there were no misses. Every
ship poured shell after shell into the now-flaming Japanese
warship until the blaze lit up the horizon for miles around.The
flames told us how well we were succeeding.
Horace B. Hamilton of Burleson County was one of the
survivors of Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Phoenix. After Pearl
Harbor, the Phoenix would be called the "Lucky Phoenix"
because she did not incur any direct hits or suffer any casualties
during the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor.
That title of "Lucky Phoenix" would stay with the crew of
the Phoenix until the war's end. The Phoenix would be involved
in one other epic event in the Pacific, the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
According to Hamilton, "We aided the invasion of the
Philippines and were offshore when General MacArthurwaded
ashore and proclaimed, 'I have returned: This is where we
started to have a lot of air attacks by the Japanese. Again, we
were lucky and suffered no direct hits by the Japanese planes.
What we didn't realize was we were about to be in the next
great naval battle of the Pacific, the Battle of Surigao Strait"
Hamilton has an account of that event that was compiled
shortly after the battle. It states in part: "It was a blustering
hot day in the Philippines when word came that the Japanese
Fleet was on the move toward our position and a huge naval
engagement might be expected within a matter of hours. Our
ship took on an air of its own, as if feeling the pulse of the crew
and our long-sought chance to prove our worth.
"The dinner hour was strangely quiet as each man
pondered over what the future might hold. Word passed of
the size and strength of the Japanese fleet, so all hands were
aware of the problem facing us.
"Our force consisted of battleships, cruisers and destroyers
reinforced by a sizeable number of PT boats who served as
advance spotters. We had all heard Tokyo Rose boast about
the Japanese's one big strike to destroy the American Fleet,
and here it was. We knew the fate of the Philippines lay in the
balance.
"For 45 minutes this battle raged on with the Japanese.
After their major ships were aflame and sinking, they turned
and ran. Early the following dawn, we could see the actual
damage we had done. Jap ships were ablaze, belching smoke
thousands of feet in the air. As we came upon them, we
turned our guns on the sinking cripples so they would never
again threaten the American Fleet. All hands were tired but
supremely happy after a hectic night. One of the greatest naval
battles in history was ours, and we knew it."
Hamilton and the crew of the Phoenix would return to
Leyte Gulf and continue to assist the American invasion of the
Philippines. One of their last duty assignments of the war was
to take aboard the survivors of the Battan Death March and
deliver them to hospitals in the area. These were the same
men they had delivered to Corregidor just before the war
started with the surprise attack conducted at Pearl Harbor.
When asked about his time of service, Hamilton stated,
"I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I did my part. Freedom is not free.
You have to pay the price, and that price is usually the blood
of the veterans.'
"We got underway and took up our battle lines shortly
after sunset. Most of the crew was on deck, waiting for the
call to battle stations. Hours passed. It began to look like the
Japanese had turned tail and run. Under a full moon, our ships
were clearly visible and everyone was uneasy at the delay.
"Suddenly, word went out that our spotting boats, the PT
boats, had located the Japanese Fleet. It was now 1;30, and
. .1 - nT L.... Lna
If you want to have a name added to the Brazos Valley
Veterans Memorial, for more information, to make a
contribution, or if you know a World War II veteran whose
story needs to be told, contact the BWM at www.bvvm.org