INFAMOUS DAY: Marines at Pearl Harbor
by Robert J. Cressman and J. Michael Wenger
Sources
The authors consulted primary material in the Marine Corps Historical
Center Reference Section (November/December 1941 muster rolls) and
Personal Papers Section (Claude A. Larkins, Roger M. Emmons, and Wayne
Jordan collections), as well as in the Naval Historical Center
Operational Archives Branch (action reports and/or microfilmed deck logs
for the 15 ships with embarked Marine Detachments, and those units
included in the Commandant, 14th Naval District, report), in the office
of the Coast Guard Historian, and in the Gordon W. Prange Papers.
The Pearl Harbor Attack: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on
the Investigation of the Pearl Harbor Attack; (Washington, D.C.:
Government Printing Office, 1946) contains useful accounts (Lieutenant
Commander Fuqua, Lieutenant Colonel Whaling, and Lieutenant Colonel
Larkin), as does Paul Stillwell, ed., Air Raid: Pearl Harbor!
Recollections of a Day of Infamy (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press,
1981).
General works concerning Pearl Harbor that were consulted include
Gordon W. Prange, et al., December 7, 1941: The Day The Japanese
Attacked Pearl Harbor (New York: McGraw Hill, 1987), Walter Lord,
Day of Infamy (Henry Holt & Co., 1957), and Japanese War
History Office, Senshi Sosho [War History Series], Vol. 10,
Hawaii Sakusen (Tokyo: Asagumo Shimbunsa, 1970).
Articles from the Naval Institute Proceedings include:
Cornelius C. Smith Jr., "...A Hell of a Christmas," (Dec68), Thomas C.
Hone, "The Destruction of the Battle Line at Pearl Harbor," (Dec77) and
Paul H. Backus, "Why Them And Not Me?" (Sep81). From Marine Corps
Gazette: Clifford B. Drake, "A Day at Pearl Harbor," (Nov65). From
Shipmate: Samuel R. Shaw, "Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Pearl
Harbor," (Dec73). From Naval History: Albert A. Grasselli, "The
Ewa Marines" (Spring 1991). From Leatherneck: Philip N. Pierce,
"Twenty Years Ago ..." (Dec61)
About the Authors
Robert J. Cressman is currently a civilian historian in the Naval
Historical Center's Ships' Histories Branch. A graduate of the
University of Maryland with a bachelor of arts in history in 1972, he
obtained his master of arts in history under the late Dr. Gordon W.
Prange at the University of Maryland in 1978. Mr. Cressman, a former
reference historian in the Marine Corps Historical Center's Reference
Section (1978-1981), is author of That Gallant Ship: USS Yorktown
(CV-5), and editor and principal contributor of A Glorious
Page in Our History: The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942. He and the
co-author of this monograph, J. Michael Wenger, also co-authoried
Steady Nerves and Stout Hearts: The USS Enterprise (CV-6) Air Group
and Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.
J. Michael Wenger, currently an analyst for the Square D Company in
Knightdale, North Carolina, graduated from Atlantic Christian College in
1972, and obtained a master of arts from Duke University in 1973. Mr.
Wenger has taught in the Raleigh, North Carolina, school system and
writes as a free-lance military historian. He is the co-author of The
Way It Was: Pearl Harbor The Original Photographs. His
publication credits include the Raleigh News and Observer
and Naval Aviation News.
THIS PAMPHLET HISTORY, one in a series devoted
to U.S. Marines in the World War II era, is published for the education
and training of Marines by the History and Museums Division,
Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington, D.C., as a part of the U.S.
Department of Defense observance of the 50th anniversary of victory in
that war.
Editorial costs of preparing this pamphlet have been
defrayed in part by a bequest from the estate of Emilie H. Watts, in
memory of her late husband, Thomas M. Watts, who served as a Marine and
was the recipient of a Purple Heart.
WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES
DIRECTOR OF MARINE CORPS HISTORY AND MUSEUMS
Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons, USMC (Ret)
GENERAL EDITOR, WORLD WAR II COMMEMORATIVE SERIES
Benis M. Frank
CARTOGRAPHIC CONSULTANT
George C. MacGillivray
EDITING AND DESIGN SECTION, HISTORY AND MUSEUMS DIVISION
Robert E. Struder, Senior Editor; W. Stephen Hill, Visual
Information Specialist; Catherine A. Kerns, Composition Services
Technician, R.D. Payne, VolunteerWeb Edition
Marine Corps Historical Center
Building 58, Washington Navy Yard
Washington, D.C. 20374-5040
1992
PCN 190 003116 00
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