On this day in 1941, the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor was devastated by a surprise attack that resulted in over 2,400 American deaths. Today we remember and honor those who perished in the attack.
War! Honolulu Paper Headline, Dec 7 1941 Sun, Dec 7, 1941 – 1 · Honolulu Star-Bulletin (Honolulu, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
War Declared! 3,000 Killed, Wounded | Dec 8. 1941 Mon, Dec 8, 1941 – Page 1 · The Bismarck Tribune (Bismarck, Burleigh, North Dakota, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
Pearl Harbor Day Thought | Editorial Cartoon 1946 Sat, Dec 7, 1946 – 4 · The Austin American (Austin, Travis, Texas, United States of America) · Newspapers.com
Find more on the Pearl Harbor attack and its effects through subsequent years with a search on Newspapers.com.
My father, Philo Nelson Kelley (P. N. K., “Pinky”) Englesby, from Mondovi, WI, originally, was a Navy Pearl Harbor survivor. He was a medical corpsman, a pharmacist’s mate, with the US Naval Mobile Hospital No. 2, one of the first MASH-type medical units, later of movie and TV fame, in all of the military. He was transferred from the USS West Virginia to the mobile hospital only ten days before the attack. The mobile hospital was located in the mountains above the harbor on Aiea Heights. Since the hospital was not fully set up, they had to house the many patients, most of whom were horribly burned, in their barracks, which were the only hospital buildings yet erected. Between the bombings, they would go down the mountain to retrieve the wounded and the dead. Some time after the attack, dad and his fellow corpsmen would go on and even down into the sunken ships in the harbor in order to retrieve the dead, if possible. He sometimes would say that he would never forget the smell of the bodies or parts of bodies from decomposition.Some years later during the war the entire unit was decorated by Admiral Nimitz and the president for its service before, during, and after the attack. Dad later got into the submarine service and served in the Pacific first and the Atlantic towards the end of the war. He became a chief pharmacist’s mate, invariably called “doc’ on his subs, the only qualified medical provider for the 70 plus men aboard. I’ve searched for many years trying to find information about the Naval Mobile Hospital No. 2 and the men who served in it at Pearl Harbor. Anyone out there reading this have any info on this mobile hospital or the staff who served with it? So far, I’ve run across on-line only two other descendants of men who served at Pearl Harbor with the mobile hospital. Those men who were also there with my dad were Thomas Tippin and Whit Bryan. Is there anyone reading this who has a connection, too? If so, I’d sure like to hear from you! Thanks!