Anderson remembers Pearl Harbor

Hanska man served on USS Nevada; 110 shipmates killed in the attack

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

HANSKA -- It was nearly 60 years ago, but Pearl Harbor survivor Walter "Bud" Anderson still remembers with vivid detail the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that claimed the lives of 110 of his U.S. Navy shipmates on the battleship USS Nevada.

With bombs and torpedoes exploding all around him, killing many of his shipmates, Anderson survived the attack without a scratch.

With the release of Disney movie "Pearl Harbor" this past week, veterans from across the nation are recalling the horror of the surprise attack.

Anderson, who turns 86 next week, signed a six-year enlistment in the Navy on Nov. 27, 1940. He attended boot camp near Chicago before reporting aboard the USS Nevada at Bremerton, Wash.

As a seaman, he rode the ship to Long Beach, Calif., for a few days of recreation before sailing west to Pearl Harbor in April of 1941.

The Nevada was part of a task force that included the battleships USS Arizona and Oklahoma and several destroyers.

In Pearl Harbor, the Nevada joined the battleships California, Tennessee, West Virginia and Maryland, among other ships.

In Honolulu, Anderson had Cinderella liberty, meaning he had to be back on ship by midnight. Only officers and those with passes could stay in town overnight.

The day before the attack, the gun powder for the Nevada's 14-inch guns was taken ashore in ammunition barges. The move saved the ammunition from being blown up during the bombing.

Anderson went ashore on liberty the evening of Dec. 6. At 5:30 a.m. Sunday, his gun turret crew went to the boat deck to stand a five-inch anti-aircraft gun watch.

Anderson ate breakfast and was thinking about writing a letter home when he went to the No. 1 turret on the ship's shell deck.

Then the chaos began.

"About the time I got there, another sailor came down," Anderson said. "He was all shook up and said Japanese planes were bombing the ships."

The Nevada's general quarters alarm sounded, and Anderson went to his battle station in the right powder upper with two other sailors.

When the ship was steaming, gunpowder was brought to them before they opened the door in the turret bulkhead. The guns were not to be fired in port.

Anderson got word that he was to go to the gun room, then to the ship's canteen (food store) and report to Chief Warrant Officer Hill. An enlisted sailor with many years of service, Hill later died that day on the ship.

The Nevada tried to get under way even though its big guns couldn't be fired because there was no powder for them.

Anderson went to the bridge to report all lines were clear. As he was leaving the bridge, a Japanese bomb fell on it, killing a captain.

Another bomb went through the bridge, hit an ammunition ready box and exploded, driving shrapnel in all directions.

Anderson witnessed the gruesome injuries suffered by the sailors. A first-class gunner's mate sitting in a chair was hit. His intestines protruded from a large hole in his stomach. He was still conscious, but near death.

Anderson went on deck and saw a sailor minus a leg sitting on a chair. A chaplain tried to stop the bleeding with a tourniquet. He put Anderson in charge of helping him until he was taken to the rear of the ship and transported to the hospital.

Anderson was told to abandon ship, but instead he chose to ride it down the harbor, past a bombed ship in dry dock.

"We were so close to the burning ship, we could feel the heat," Anderson said.

A Marine officer told him to help him with a fire hose, attempting to put out some of the nine fires on the Nevada. A water main was broken. No water ever got to the hose.

A fire tug pulled alongside the Nevada, which was near the USS Shaw that was destroyed in the most spectacular explosion of that day.

Anderson felt the heat of the Shaw explosion. The Nevada bow can be seen in the popular photo of the Shaw explosion.

One of the most horrifying memories for Anderson was seeing a Nevada gun deck boat crew. They wore shorts and undershirts. Some of the men were burned so badly, they were screaming in pain as they manned their guns.

The Nevada took so many bombs and torpedoes from Japanese planes, it had to be beached. It was a much better fate than sinking in the harbor and blocking it.

Anderson went back to the same gun mount, since the Nevada's main crew was killed or wounded. Just after dark, planes from U.S. aircraft carriers were flying towards Ford Island.

"It was stupid because when the planes got to Pearl, our gunners thought they were Japanese planes and fired on them until an officer told us they were friendly planes," Anderson said.

With no place to eat on ship, what was left of the Nevada crew went ashore for food, standing in a half-mile long line.

Anderson was offered the chance to strike for gunner's mate on the Nevada, but she was taken out of commission Dec. 10.

He was sent to the light cruiser St. Louis that escorted military families back to San Francisco.

Anderson had no bunk on the St. Louis, but he found a place on deck to sleep. He later got a bunk four decks below and kept it for nearly five years. Anderson became a crane operator on the ship, and his new job was picking planes out of the water.

During Anderson's tour on the St. Louis, a Japanese kamikaze pilot hit the ship and killed 17 sailors. The Japanese pilot was given a burial at sea with the U.S. sailors.

Anderson later served at Bremerton, on a tug in Portland, Ore., then back in Pearl Harbor on a yard craft. The only injury he sustained was a bruised toe that turned black and blue when a piece of flat iron fell on it during a South Pacific sea battle.

Anderson was discharged from the Navy in December 1946. He married his wife Norma in San Francisco in 1946. She recently died. Anderson worked as a meat cutter in Hanska for many years.