USS California's Four Medals of Honor

foreign surrounding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor many Heroes arose 15 members of the United States Navy were awarded Medals of Honor for actions that day four of those were crew of the flagship of the Battle Force of the U.S Pacific Fleet USS California it is history that deserves to be remembered laid down in mayor Island Navy yard in October 1916 and launched three years later USS California BB 44 was the fifth U.S Navy vessel to carry the name the second of two Tennessee class battleships she mounted four turrets each with three 14-inch 50 caliber guns well similar to the preceding New Mexico class in many ways the Tennessee class Incorporated lessons learned during the Great War notably torpedo bullcats intended to give better protection from underwater attack 600 feet long at the water line with a beam of 95 feet 5 inches and displacing 33 000 long tons California was assigned to the U.S Pacific Fleet battle forces Battleship division 2 which had been moved to Pearl Harbor in June 1940. in order to deter Japanese aggression in the Pacific California had finished an overhaul in April 1941 and on December 7th was moored by herself at Birth F3 on the Southeastern side of Ford Island the southernmost ship along what was called Battleship row California was the flagship of the U.S Pacific Fleet Battle Force carrying the flag of vice admiral William S pie despite the ongoing sino-japanese War growing tensions and reports of Japanese Naval actions in the Pacific just the previous day Saturday December 6th when Admiral husband Kimmel commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet asked Pai for his opinion regarding an intelligence report about Japanese Fleet movement South Pai had responded the Japanese will not go to war with the United States we are too big too powerful and too strong Saturday had been a liberty day and many of the crew were not on board in the early morning of Sunday December 7th including Admiral pie captain Joel Bunkley and first officer Commander Earl Stone the bombs started falling just before 8 A.M Lieutenant Commander Marion little was the senior officer aboard and according to the ship's action report he ordered the ship to General Quarters at 7 50 A.M crew members aboard went to their Battle Stations all guns were manned repair and medical Crews assembled and the ship started preparations to get underway instant Herbert C Jones so just relieved the junior officer of the deck and had begun his duties born January 21st 1918 Jones the son of a Navy Captain had joined the naval Reserve in 1935 at just the age of 17. after two years of college he was commissioned an incident in November of 1940 and been assigned to the USS California a 23 year old had just married his wife Joanne that summer 45 year old Chief radio man Thomas Reeves was an old salt who had first enlisted in the Navy as an electrician third class in 1917. having worked as an operator for Western Union he became a radio man after serving 22 years he'd intended to retire in September 1939 but in response to the outbreak of the war in Europe President Roosevelt issued Proclamation 2487. the day before his retirement was supposed to take effect the president proclaimed that an unlimited National Emergency confronts this country which requires that its military Naval Air and civilian defenses be put on the basis of Readiness to repel any and all attacks or threats of aggression directed toward any part of the Western Hemisphere the Declaration prohibited Reeves from leaving the Navy and so he enlisted for another four years he took a position on Admiral Pie's staff a crewmate described him as a near legendary figure a Pioneer during the Primitive days of the arc transmitter he was a man who scored the easy Shore bullet that could have been his for one of the toughest jobs in the enlisted Navy Chief in charge of the radio gang Commander Battle Force Chief Reeves was responsible for 90 radio men of both the ship and Admiral's flag complement he was at the station called Main radio located on the platform deck below the third deck port side 29 year old Gunner Jackson ferris's Duty station was on the third deck where he was in charge of an ordinance repair team an athlete who had been a wrestler boxer and football player before enlisting in the United States Navy in 1933 Ferris had been stationed aboard the USS Mississippi where he continued his athleticism having been the first on an all-navy rowing crew that set a three-mile race record he's achieved the rank of Warrant Officer before being moved to California in January 1941. machinist mate first class Robert Raymond Scott had played football for Washington High School in Massillon Ohio before attending Ohio State University enlisted in the US Navy in 1938 and had been stationed aboard USS California since August of that year when the call to General quarter sounded the 26 year old reported to his battle station working an air compressor in a forward compartment below decks the compressor was critical for a number of systems including air pressure to the 5-inch guns the first bombs fell on Ford's Island but California came under attack quickly being strafed by a6m zeros the crew engaged the Enemy by 803 but only a limited supply of ready ammunition was available California's five-inch guns only had 50 rounds each in nearby ready boxes and only two of the ship's 50 caliber machine guns have been designated as ready with 400 rounds of ammunition each all other ammunition was below decks in the magazines as the crew rushed to open the magazines a group of Nakajima B5 in Kate torpedo bombers attacked California was exposed along the port side and two of their type 91 aerial Torpedoes each with a 452 pound explosive charge struck the first just forwarded the bridge and the second farther aft both below the armor belt the damage was significant in fact more significant than it should have been the ship had been prepared for inspection that meant many of the bulkhead doors that would protect the ship from flooding if it were damaged in battle were open the first torpedo had struck the hole just below Jackson ferris's Duty station report later read Ferris was stunned and severely injured by the concussion which hurled him to the overhead and back to the deck quickly recovering he acted on his own initiative to set up a hand Supply ammunition train for the anti-aircraft guns as compartments flooded and sailors were overcome by the fumes Ferris pulled them out despite twice passing out himself from fumes he is credited with saving the lives of 17 Shipmates below deck Robert Scott was keeping his compressor operating as the compartment started to filled with water and oil Sailors began to evacuate but Scott knowing that the compressor was critical refused to leave even as the water was reaching Waist Deep Gunners mate v.o Jensen was the last man out he urge Scott to leave but Scott replied as long as I can give these people air I'm sticking I smoked poured through the battleship Herbert Jones kept to his duty and made his way through the damaged vessel the Torpedoes had pierced fuel tanks spilling oil onto the third deck and filling it with noxious fumes Captain Bunkley would rather report that the strength of the fumes were such as to overcome the ammunition party attempting to expedite the delivery of ammunition Jones rescued an injured shipmate from a dark hallway filled with oily smoke but was overcome briefly by the noxious fumes coming to he saw an anti-aircraft crew without a leader he took control directed their attack but the Torpedoes they cut the ship's power Bunkley explained the rupture of fuel oil tanks forward introduced water into the fuel system and before it was cleared light and power was lost in the ship at a critical time the flooding of compartments in close proximity to the torpedo hits prevented the necessary access to make possible some control of damage without power the machine hoists used to move ammunition from the magazines were disabled Jones quickly organized a party of volunteers to carry ammunition up from the magazines no small task as the ship was completely dark and the shells for the five-inch guns weighed 50 pounds each California was listing dangerously little ordered counter flooding but not before the ship listed nearly 16 degrees to Port Maine radio was flooding and had to be abandoned Chief Reeves was the last man out he could have gotten to safety but he encountered Jackson Ferris who requested assistance moving the ammunition Reeves gathered all the men that he could and went to the smoke-filled third deck to help pass ammunition despite the Heat and fumes he stayed in the burning passageway passing ammunition a shipmate who credited Reeves with saving his life wrote it was there on the starboard side of the third deck less than 50 feet from the entrance to the radio room that he had supervised so long and so ably that he was overcome by smoke and fire collapsed and died after the torpedo planes came the aichi d3a dive bombers attacked near Mrs cosmoor flooding but at 8 45 a bomb struck the deck reports at the time suggested that it might have been a unique weapon the type 99 number 80 Mark V armored piercing bomb these were obsolete 16-inch shells used on the nagato-class battleships modified as armored piercing bombs well trimmed down each of the bombs still weighed some 1700 pounds contained 50 pounds of high explosives the same type of bomb had pierced the deck of USS Arizona causing her magazine to explode the bomb that struck California pierced the main deck and struck the Honor's second deck exploding and starting a fire killing 50 crew among them was Ensign Jones grievously wounded the compartment he was in was set Ablaze two Sailors tried to rescue him but he put their lives first he told them leave me alone I'm done for get out of here before the magazines go off fire was raging and without power pumps did not work but amazingly Engineers managed to get the boilers operating restoring power Captain Bunkley made it to the ship and assumed command at 9am and prepared to get the ship underway damage control teams were still fighting to keep her afloat but as she prepared to get underway a massive burning oil from Battleship Road Kim Potter and threatened to set the ship on fire Bunkley was compelled to order Abandoned Ship by the time the fire died down the crew was able to return to the ship the flooding was too much despite strenuous efforts by the crew and many support vessels California slowly settled to the bottom it took three days for her to settle Herbert Jones was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in March 1942 for conspicuous Devotion to duty extraordinary courage in complete disregard of his own life above and beyond the Call of Duty during the attack on the fleet in Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on 7 December 1941. the Department of Defense website announced that Jones's actions inspired men around him including Marine Corps private Howard Haynes who was awaiting a misconduct discharge and had been confined on the ship before the attack a remorseful Haynes later told one of his supervisors that he was alive because of what Jones did God give me a chance to prove I'm worth it he said in 1943 the Destroyer Escort USS Herbert C Jones was named in his honor it was sponsored by his widow Joanne Ruth Jones Robert Scott's Medal of Honor was presented to his mother a widow who had lost her only son in March 1942. the Massillon Ohio independent wrote the people of Massillon are proud of Robert R Scott but their pride will not be tempered by the chill of acute loss and sadness that must inevitably pervade his home war after all reverse is complete the order of life in times of Peace parents glory in the success their children attain by living in times of War they are called upon whether they like it or not the glory of the honors attained in dying in 1943 the Destroyer Escort USS Scott was named in his honor Thomas Reeves Medal of Honor was delivered to his next of Ken his brother Fred in March 1942. radio Man Theodore C Mason recognized his friend Thomas Reeves and the dedication to his 2013 book Battleship sailor what would live for others to emulate and for history to admire were the qualities of men like Reeves to such men defeat was unendurable failure was not acceptable the historic escorts USS Reeves launched in April 1943 and sponsored by his niece Mary Ann Reeves who was named in his honor Jackson Ferris survived his injuries it was originally awarded the Navy cross but after review the award was upgraded to a medal of honor in 1948 the citation reads by his inspiring leadership his Valiant efforts and extreme loyalty to his ship and her crew he saved many of his Shipmates from death and was largely responsible for keeping the California in action during the attack Ferris received a commission served aboard the USS Saint Paul he retired in May in 1948 to Lieutenant Commander you're in a bachelor's degree in Commerce from the University of Southern California passed away in 1966 of a heart attack the frigate USS Ferris launched in 1972 was named in his honor California was salvaged repaired modernized and returned to service in January 1944. served in the Marianas campaign the Philippine campaign and at Okinawa in October 1944 California earned some revenge for the attack on Pearl Harbor when she engaged Japanese battleships at the Battle of Surigao Strait she was decommissioned in 1947 stricken from the roles in 1959 I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide check out our community on the historyguyguild.mocals.com our webpage at thehistoryguy.com and our merchandise at teespring.com or book a special message from the history guy on Cameo and if you'd like more episodes of Forgotten history all you have to do is subscribe [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 76,857

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy

Id: S-zKIdW7BRY

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 07 2022