Voices of the Pacific

By: Amanda Thompson, Oral History Consultant

William Arthur Rodda was born March 25, 1921 in Marinesco, Michigan, but moved to Sutter, California shortly after where he was raised. As the Great Depression hit the country, Rodda looked for any job to help his family and with an upcoming war, the Navy seemed like an option. After boot camp in San Diego, he was assigned to the USS Nevada and set out for Hawaii in May, 1940. On the morning of December 7, 1941, he awoke at 5 a.m. with the rest of the crew and began sweeping the deck. As the ship’s band played the last note of the National Anthem, the explosions began and chaos ensued.

We went to the battle station right then, number four turret. Hollering out to the guys down [on] the shell deck, and hollering down to 'em, "The Japs are attacking us,” and of course I can't say the words they used, what they said. They didn't believe us and well, in just a few seconds, the loudspeaker come on and said it wasn't a drill and that the Japs were attacking us.

The USS Nevada was the only ship to get underway during the attack. It steamed down the harbor along Battleship Row until it reached the channel. By this time, the attacking Japanese planes swarmed to sink it and block the harbor entrance. The men of the USS Nevada decided it would be best to ground the ship at Hospital Point.

I got told to go up on the boat deck and fight fire. And then the water quit running, we lost pressure. We started hauling the dead guy’s back to the fantail. I didn't know ‘em personally. I knew their faces…The boat deck, the fifth and sixth divisions, the ones that lost most of 'em. That's where the bomb hit, up there back of the anti-aircraft guns…We thought they were coming back. They should have, actually. They could have really pounded us if they'd come back. That evening, the rumors ran rampant regarding the possibility that the Japanese would return for an invasion of at Pearl Harbor, but out on maneuvers, sent back planes to scout the Japanese fleet. They began to land on Ford Island, but before many of them reached the ground, the sailors in the harbor open fired on them as they thought they were the Japanese returning.

I went down to the turret and laying down there after dark, and all of a sudden, all hell broke loose up there. I went up to see what was going on. Our own planes coming in from the ENTERPRISE and they shot some of those down. And heard all this shooting and I hurried up and got back up on top side and these planes coming off the ENTERPRISE and everybody opened on'em. They had their running lights on too, but they must have gotten -- they was gun happy by then, some of 'em, trigger happy.

The USS Nevada was repaired and put back into service in October, 1942. It served as a convoy ship in the Atlantic and was present during the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944. After further repairs, she was then sent to the Pacific for the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

After the war, the USS Nevada was used as a test ship for nuclear bombs. When the first sinking attempt failed, the Navy tried one more time and succeeded. In May, 2020, the USS Nevada was discovered three miles underwater and 65 miles southwest of Hawaii by the cultural resource management firm, Search Inc. Although the Navy was aware of the proximity of the location of the ship, its final resting place was not discovered until just a few months ago.

William Rodda transferred to the USS St. Louis for the duration of the war and spent most of his wartime experience in the Africa campaign. He returned to the USS Arizona

the island. The aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, home-ported Memorial in 1994, when this oral history was recorded.

*Oral histories are transcribed verbatim from the interviewee. While terms such as “Japs” are unacceptable today, we must look at them through the lens of historical context. Pacific Historic Parks strives to promote education through primary resources such as these interviews in their original form in order to gain an understanding of the world as it once was.”

As we live through a catastrophic global pandemic, we look back to another world changing event, the attack on Pearl Harbor. These three centenarians have survived Pearl Harbor and have no plans of letting the coronavirus slow them down.

Charlie Imus was a Seaman 2nd Class assigned to the Navy's VP-23, an aircraft patrol squadron on Ford Island. During the first attack on Pearl Harbor, personnel were ordered to remain in their barracks until there was a lull. He later reported to the hangars and fired a few rounds at a Japanese airplane with a rifle. Damage to the Navy's grounded planes, Imus said, was devastating. "All of our planes were destroyed except for one," he said.

"I’ve climbed Mount Fuji, I’ve gone bungee jumping in New Zealand, I’ve been to a 500 Indianapolis race,” he said. "I bungee-jumped off the Kawarau Bridge, which is the first commercial bungee-jumping deal in the world. It was on my 80th birthday. I was 20 years younger."

He just grinned when asked what he thinks of every morning when he wakes up to greet the day. "You just hope that your back ain’t hurtin’ like it can,” he said.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Shipfitter 1st Class John “Jack” Garrett was aboard the light cruiser USS St Louis tied up next to its sister ship, the light cruiser Helena, in Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Garrett was waiting to go ashore when Japanese bombers, torpedo planes and fighter aircraft attacked the U.S. Navy fleet in the harbor.

Upon the attack the crew went into action firing the ship’s cold boilers in preparation to back away from its mooring, moving into the channel, where it was fired upon by a Japanese mini-sub. The two torpedoes missed the ship, giving it the nickname the “Lucky Lou.” The USS St Louis was the first ship out of the harbor, between the two Japanese raids.

Navy veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Charlie Imus proudly wears his Pearl Harbor hat as he celebrates his 100th birthday on July 8.

Jack Garrett, 100, of Rome City (left) thanks everyone for the birthday wishes after a driveby parade on Saturday, May 16. Jack’s son, Charles walks over to congratulate his dad.

The St Louis would participate in 11 major naval battles in World War II and earn 11 battle stars. Garrett was in all of them.

Garrett believes, from what he has been told, that he is the oldest active member of an honor guard firing squad in the United State. At 100, Garrett plans on continuing with the honor guard as long as he can.

Dr. Harley Jolley, retired professor of history at Mars Hill University, is remembered fondly as one of most loving and interesting instructors to grace the campus. A veteran of the Army Air Force, Dr. Jolley was one of thousands stationed at Hickam Air Field on the morning of December 7, 1941. When asked about his experiences that day, Dr. Jolley remarks how he was asleep in his bunk when the attack commenced. Hearing the commotion from the dropping of bombs, Dr. Jolley and his bunk mate initially believed it was some sort of practice being carried out by the United States Navy stating, “the damn Navy is at it again.” After realizing what was happening, Dr. Jolley rushed to his post along the perimeter of the airfield and began defending his fellow soldiers. Today, Dr. Jolley still suffers from a piece of shrapnel picked up from the attack as well as the realization that he was” very fortunate” to avoid a much serious injury.

Jack Garrett, 100, of Rome City (left) thanks everyone for the birthday wishes after a drive-by parade on Saturday, May 16. Jack’s son, Charles walks over to congratulate his dad.

“Eternal rest grant unto them and let perpetual light shine upon them and may they rest in peace.”

Thomas Berg USS Tennessee Port Townsend, WA

Arleigh Birk USS Honolulu Hoyt Lakes, MN

Thomas D. Davis USS Whitney Alabama

Joseph Herbert Lehamn Garrison Ford Island NAS Huntington Beach, CA

John E. Gideon Naval Base Pearl Harbor North Fort Meyers, FL

Henry A. Heim Hickam Field New Cumberland, PA

Schofield Barracks Gainsville, FL

Schofield Barracks Camp Hill, PA

Daniel R. Kramer USS California Clinton, IA

Walter T. Larson USS Nevada Rogers, MN

Robert Lloyd Hickam Field Dayton, NV

Walter Mallin Schofield Barracks Trumbull, CT

Harry Ogg USS Neosho Corpus Christi, TX

USS Phoenix San Jose, CA

USS California Appleton, WI

Perry Paul Stroud Sr. USS Ralph Talbot Crescent City, CA

Philip G. Tveten USS West Virginia Mesa, AZ

Milton Walter Verberg Fort Shafter Sun City West, CA

Arthur W. Wells USS Pennsylvania Chico, CA

Harley Smith Wright Jr. USS Hulbert Portland, OR