VETERAN OF THE MONTH San Diego - DECEMBER 2019 By Holly Shaffner
Chief Petty Officer Stu Hedley, USN This month’s selectee is the Veteran of the Month; but he should be Veteran of the Decade. In honor of the 78th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, we select WWII veteran and Pearl Harbor Survivor Stuart “Stu” Hedley as the Veteran of the Month. Stu turned 98 years old in October and he can recount every detail from December 7th, 1941 like it was yesterday.
The time was 0755 and he was stationed on the battleship USS West Virginia. Stu was looking forward to going on a picnic with a girl and her mom that day but instead he witnessed hundreds of Japanese bombers invading Pearl Harbor on a sleepy Sunday morning. Over the intercom, he heard “away the fire and rescue party” and he made his way to the weather decks. Out on deck, he saw the barrage of enemy planes striking the battleships. A Japanese bomber flew so close that he could see the enemy air crew laughing as they fired their weapons and dropped torpedoes into the harbor. One of the USS West Virginia officers yelled, “Battle Stations on the double!” and Seaman First Class Hedley ran to Gun Turret #3 where he was the gun pointer for the 16-inch gun. Once there, he could hear the machine bullets striking the turret and could feel the torpedoes hitting the ship. The West Virginia took hits from six torpedoes and two bombs, one bomb landed near Stu’s battle station. He is here today to tell his story because that bomb did not explode. Eleven other men in the turret next to him were not as fortunate as they all perished.
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WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / DECEMBER 2019
During the attack, Stu and his shipmate wanted to see what was happening outside, so they opened their periscope cap and he watched in horror as the USS Arizona was struck. “I saw the explosions and bodies being thrown in the air,” said Hedley. He and his shipmate knew they had to get out on deck and when they did, he saw the USS West Virginia was listing 15 degrees and he thought the ship would capsize. He watched the USS Oklahoma capsize and they knew they had to get off the ship. The ship was moored outboard of the USS Tennessee and they had to figure out how to board the battleship. Stu watched as fellow sailors were being killed as they tried to use lines to cross over to the ship. He saw the barrel of one of the ships guns extending over the ship, so he and his buddy ran across it and jumped on to the Tennessee. Stu is a man of deep religious faith and he told his buddy, “If I don’t die today, I will see the end of the war.” Once onboard the Tennessee, they were instructed to get to shore. Between the ship and shore were flames shooting up about 30 feet off the water from the burning petroleum. Stu stripped down to his skivvies and he and his buddy jumped feet first into the water. They swam as far as they could under water and came up twice through the burning flames to get air. “It was the hottest breath of air I have ever taken,” said Hedley. They reached the beach as the USS West Virginia sank into the mud. They were taken to the base dispensary and since they were not wounded, they were given ointment, sulfa and morphine and told to render care to injured men. At about 0925 Stu saw an enemy plane making a bombing run and he yelled “Duck!” The enemy plane dropped a bomb in the center of the dispensary. Stu’s near brushes with death did not end there. The West Virginia was being refloated and repaired so he was reassigned to the USS San Francisco which was ordered to the Battle of Guadalcanal.