Pearl Harbor attack recalled

Sunday morning around 8 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941, U.S. Army Master Sgt. Kenneth Slagle and his family were planning a day out on the island of Oahu, Hawaii to take some time away from Schofield Barracks where the family was living in post housing.?Every so often we?d take a trip (out of the barracks),? said Leon Slagle, Kenneth?s son.Everything seemed routine, said Leon, who was nine at the time. His older brother, Kenneth Jr., had left earlier that morning to go earn a little money as a caddy at the post?s golf course, and the rest of the family was ready to head out for the day.There was some concern, however, about some stray planes in the sky. Although Leon?s father thought the planes might be U.S. planes on maneuver, Leon said his father decided to find out more.Leon?s father took off with another sergeant in a Hudson car to see what they could find out. Leon would learn later a Japanese plane had strafed the car his father was in, but only one round struck the vehicle, passing between the men and lodging in one of the doors.None of them knew that moments earlier, about 20 miles away, Japanese bombers and fighters had launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.Even with the sight of stray planes over Schofield Barracks, the army?s main base on Hawaii, no one was really clear how extensive the attack was, Leon said.�One vivid memory Leon recalls from those early hours was hearing a stray plane near the post?s water tower, and though he didn?t see a bomb drop, he recalls seeing the cloud of dust from an explosion and a tire flying through the air.While his father was out on duty, Leon and his mother Agnes, sister Mary and infant brother Robert were waiting for news at their house.Confusion was common, and what information they could get came from the post?s radio station, which signed off as the attacks continued with, ?We don?t know what this is and we?re signing off,? Leon remembers.?There were no warnings of any kind,? Leon said of the attack.He added he didn?t see his brother Kenneth Jr. until hours later when he was brought back to the post.To get families away from any imminent danger, they were evacuated from the post, he said. Army personnel took them to a school tucked away in the island?s high ground.?They got families out just as fast as they could,? Leon recalls.As they traveled to the school, ?we went pretty close to Pearl (Harbor),? Leon said. ?We could see all the smoke (from bombed ships).?The Japanese attack on the naval base, which lasted about two hours, devastated the U.S Navy?s Pacific Fleet, including all eight of its battleships and damaged or destroyed 350 aircraft.The families from Schofield Barracks stayed in the school for two weeks, Leon said.When the families returned to the post, they saw a changed base: the U.S. Army Air Corps had taken over much of the post?s housing and the post?s practice polo grounds had been transformed into an airfield for P40 Warhawk fighter-bombers.The Slagles along with other families moved into apartments nearby and remained in Hawaii until February of 1942, Leon said. He and his family arrived in Taylor in March of that same year.Leon?s father would serve in the Pacific when the U.S. entered World War II after the attacks on Pearl Harbor.Leon would see war again in June of 1953 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Korean War. He entered the war in its last month with the 45th Division as a radar operator.His unit, based about 1,200 yards from the front lines, used radar to detect North Korean artillery strikes.�He remained in Korea at war?s end, and though the 45th division left for the states, he had to stay behind because he hadn?t spent enough time on his tour of duty. He was attached to the 24th Division, the same unit his father served in while stationed in Hawaii.When Leon talks about his experiences in Hawaii and in Korea he likes to tell people, ?I was at the beginning of World War II and the end of the Korean War.?

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