Dec. 7, 1941, began just like any other quiet Sunday morning for the Pearl Harbor naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii. The United States battleships were moored in the harbor in what was known as Battleship Row, along with a majority of the Pacific fleet. The United States had not yet entered World War II, which had been raging in Europe for over two years. Soldiers and sailors stationed on the island were training for a war that seemed like only a distant possibility to their tropical paradise. That all changed by 8 a.m. when the Japanese military began a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, hoping to strike a crippling blow to the U.S. fleet. President Franklin D. Roosevelt described Dec. 7 as “a date which will live in infamy.” His words could not have been truer. Today, the Tennessee State Library and Archives honors Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day by highlighting the firsthand account of Clifton E. Blankenship, who witnessed the whole scene from his position on the U.S.S. Tennessee’s No. 6 gun mount.
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| Japanese planes attacking Pearl Harbor. A printed caption filed with this photograph states, “Japanese planes (circled) dive on U.S. military forces at Pearl Harbor, fighting back with anti-aircraft fire – seen at right – on the opening day of the U.S.-Jap war, Dec. 7. Heavy column of smoke at left rises from burning USS Arizona.” Tidwell, Cromwell, Collection, 1794-1976 Tennessee Historical Society (THS 680). |
Clifton Ezro Blankenship was born in Campbell County, Tennessee in 1918. He enlisted in the Navy in 1937 and served his four-year enlistment term aboard the U.S.S. Tennessee. He had worked his way to the rank of Boatswain’s mate, second class, and was due to be honorably discharged in mid-December 1941. In his account, Blankenship recalls having just “settled back to read my paper,” when he heard the first explosions. Thinking it was the Army conducting target practice, he was stunned to see the Japanese flag painted on the aircraft as they swarmed the harbor.
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| Blankenship account describing the attack on Pearl Harbor, pages 3-4. Tennessee World War II Veterans’ Survey 1996, Record Group 237 Tennessee State Library and Archives |
Blankenship recounts his first taste of combat in an under-manned anti-aircraft battery as “chaos and disorder prevailed.” He describes seeing the torpedoes and bombs fall, ripping apart the U.S.S. West Virginia and U.S.S. Oklahoma, and watching as both ships began to tilt to the side and sink under the water. The oil that had leaked into the water covered the harbor in a sheet of flames as sailors who abandoned ship tried to escape. He felt the explosion of the U.S.S. Arizona’s powder magazine rock his own ship and the thick smoke made it difficult to aim the anti-aircraft guns.
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| Blankenship account describing the attack on Pearl Harbor, pages 5-7. Tennessee World War II Veterans’ Survey 1996, Record Group 237 Tennessee State Library and Archives |
Blankenship found inspiration in the survivors they rescued from the sinking ships. He recalls, “… they were battered and beaten, but still they came out of the burning water aboard the Tennessee, and asked ‘What can I do to help?’” These were the lucky ones. A total of 2,403 people died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Half of the fatalities were sailors assigned to the U.S.S. Arizona. Their remains still lie entombed in the wreckage at the bottom of the harbor. Blankenship was discharged on Dec. 18, 1941, and re-enlisted the next day for another full term. The war had only just begun for the United States, but as the U.S.S. Tennessee sailed out of Pearl Harbor, repaired and ready for a more equal battle, Blankenship “was thinking of my shipmates, and the thousands of other sailors, soldiers, and marines who had made the supreme sacrifice for their country on the ‘Day of Infamy.’”
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| Blankenship account describing the attack on Pearl Harbor, Pages 10 and 14. Tennessee World War II Veterans’ Survey 1996, Record Group 237 Tennessee State Library and Archives |
Clifton E. Blankenship’s World War II veteran survey and memoir of Pearl Harbor can be found in the Tennessee World War II Veterans’ Survey Collection, 1996: https://sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/world-war-ii-veterans-survey-1996
For more resources on World War II located at the Tennessee State Library and Archives, visit: https://sos.tn.gov/products/tsla/tennessee-world-war-ii-guide-collections-tennessee-state-library-and-archives
The Tennessee State Library and Archives is a division of the Office of Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett
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