The China Marines were withdrawn from Shanghai in November 1941.
For four years the Marines were surrounded by and had close dealings with the occupying Japanese and were well regarded.
The China Marines were well aware of the rumors of a coming Japanese attacks and passed on the intel to Pearl Harbor.
My Dad was a Marine and the forward sentry on the USS Phoenix on the morning of December 7th, 1941.
Three days earlier he and the Marine Detachment onboard were ordered to fill all the ammunition boxes for the .50 caliber deck guns and padlock them. The Marine NCO’s were also issued sidearms and Thompson SMG’s. They knew what was coming.
My Dad saw the original recon flyover, shot the lock off the ammunition box and began firing the forward .50 cal. Browning. He said that he heard no other firing before he opened up.
The Phoenix was already making steam as they were to tow a target for gunnery practice that morning. The Japanese made their turns over the Phoenix allowing the Phoenix gunners to shoot down three aircraft. There were no Phoenix casualties and they made it out of the harbor safely.
We had plenty of warning.
Very well written. Thank you for posting.
“..one that would produce an industrial war-making machine such as the world has never seen.”
Within the next several months we celebrated Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo (symbolic but significant still) and victory at the battle of Midway, having cracked their code. Quite a turnaround.
While I was on the Arizona, a boatload of Japanese tourists pulled up. I wanted to shout, "Why are you here. Did you come to see your handiwork?" But of course I didn't. Nor was it fair. All of those tourists had been born after 1941. It was none of their doing. Still, it shows how deep the feelings are of those of us who were alive then.