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Vol. 111 - No. 290Wednesday, December 7, 2005 www.rustonleader.com50By George GrahamCrime/Courts ReporterIn a matter of hours, the death tall at Pearl Harbor stood at 2,403, mostly sailors, Pearl Harbor, on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii, (then a territory of the United States) was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Navy at approximately 8 a.m., Sunday, Dec, 7,1941, 64years ago today, Ruston resident Ed Rolf still remembers being rudely awakened by the sounds of bombs exploding.Rolf was stationed at Scoffield Barracks, 15 miles from Pearl Harbor. He had been up most of the night guarding the flight line at Wheeler Field, a fighter-plane base adjacent to Scoffield Barracks.But shortly after hitting the sack,” Rolf was awakened by the sounds of war.“At the time the Japanese started bombing Pearl Harbor, they started bombing Scoffield Barracks,” Rolf said. “Our fighter planes were all lined up like soldiers in a line. The Japanese shot them all up then bombed thehangars. Three of the hangars had something in them and two didn’t. They bombed the three and not the two, so theyRolfknew what they were doing.”A veteran at age 23, Rolf hoped to get out of the Army and return to civilian life, but the attack changed all that.“I was really upset and angry—partly because they woke me up after only two hours of sleep and partly because of what they were doing to us,” Rolf said.Rolf ended up staying in the Army for the duration of the war, most in Europe, where he earned the Purple Heart, Pacific Combat Medal, European Combat Medal and the Bronze Star.The surprise attack had been conceived by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. The strike force of 353 Japanese aircraft was led by Commander Mitsuo Fuehida with no warning and no formal declaration of war.The Japanese attack took all seven battleships present on “Battleship Row” out of action.Two, Maryland and Tennessee, were repaired in a matter ofweeks, as was the Pennsylvania. Three, however, were under repair for a year or more. Battleships Oklahoma, Utah and Arizona would never return to service.Nearby Hickham Field was also the simultaneous victim of the surprise attack by the Japanese, where 18 Army AirCorps aircraft including bombers, fighters and attack bombers were destroyed or damaged on the ground. A few U. S. fight-Cavender~ers struggled into the air against the invaders and along with ground fire from undamaged and partially disabled Naval ships managed to shoot down 29 Japanese aircraft.On Dec. 8, the day after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed Congress: “Yesterday, Dec. 7,1941— a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval andair forces of the Empire of Japan.”Roosevelt asked for and got a formal declaration of war and the United States officially entered World War II.Lundy Cavender, who turns 85 on Dec. 13, enjoys luring bluebirds and cardinals into the yard of .his Ruston home to watch them cavort in his birdbath.He also likes talking about his grandchildren and what it was like when he was a sailor at the beginning of World War II.Cavender was a young man of 21 serving aboard the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Louisville, CA28. Approximately 100 battleships, destroyers, cruisers and various support ships were at Pearl Harbor but more than half of the U.S. Pacific fleet was at sea, including all the U.S. carriers and Louisville.For us, Pearl Harbor was Dec. 8,1941— you see, we were near the PhilippinevividRuston resident Lundy Cavender’s ship, the heavy cruiser U.S.S. Louisville, returned to Its home port of Pearl Harbor nine days after the Japanese sneak attack. This photo of the battleship U.S.S. Pennsylvania was taken showing a destroyed tug boat in the foreground.Islands on the other side of the International Date Line,” Cavender said. We had escorted the U.S.S. Coolidge, whichwas loaded with National Guardsmen, to Manila (Philipines) from San Diego, We were returning to Samoa when our orders were changed.Louisville was routed through the Dutch East Indies and while travelingthrough the Torres Straits between NewSee ROLF, page 3
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