My Great Uncle at Pearl Harbor

This is a great story of my great uncle Gordon Gehrke who joined the Navy in 1937 after High School in Merrill, Wisconsin. He was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Here is his story told in his own words.

“In 1940 the USS MEDUSA got orders to join a convoy of ships and proceed to Pearl Harbor, HI. This was good duty; liberty every other day and every other weekend. Honolulu was a dreamy little city with Waikiki beach, the Ala Mauna Hotel, Hilo Hattie and one good golf course, Ala Wai which was a public facility. Harry Owens big band used to play at the Ala Mauna Hotel. In another part of Honolulu was Hotel Street mostly frequented by enlisted Navy guys. There were plenty of bars, "Gin Mills" as the Navy guys used to say and for $2.00 you could walk upstairs in almost any old hotel and have your choice of a blonde, brunette or redhead!

In Hawaii, I played a lot of golf. On December 7th, 1941 we were playing at Ala Wai, real early in the morning as usual. We had already finished the first nine holes when we noticed all these planes (aircraft) flying over the Pali and heading toward Pearl Harbor. We didn't think too much about it because we knew that a couple of our carriers (Aircraft Carriers) were expected to be coming into Pearl Harbor. We all remarked about the same thing; there come our carrier planes. About the time we got to about to the 9th hole we heard these muffled, loud explosions. We remarked that the stupid army was holding gunnery practice on a Sunday morning. Even when we saw the huge columns of black smoke rising off in the direction of Pearl Harbor, we remarked that the stupid C.B’s were burning tires again! This was all happening very quickly and it wasn't until we saw all these jeeps and military police out on the golf course and the M.P's asking if any of us were in the military. We all remarked that we were regular Navy and we were promptly told to get our ass back to our ship or base!

I don't remember exactly what I did with my golf clubs, bag and shoes but I guess I left them there at the Ala Wai Club House and put my regular civilian shoes back on and headed for the next taxi that would take me back to Pearl Harbor. It was the fastest seven-mile ride I ever had in my life! When I reached the gate to the dock at Pearl Harbor, I began to run to get on the next motor launch that would take me to the USS MEDUSA. No one could comprehend what was happening. The Japanese planes were making their bombing runs, anti-aircraft guns were rattling, and battleship row was wiped out. Thick black oil covered the water. I noticed that the mattresses that were in the motor launch were covered with blood from the wounded that had been transported from some of the ships. I won't elaborate except to say that it was chaotic.

The USS MEDUSA was not a combat ship but we had one five inch battery and some 20 and 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns on the ship. My battle station was topside with a set of headphones to relay messages from the bridge. I recall a two-man Japanese submarine that surfaced or tried to surface near the MEDUSA. We helped` sink that sub that was later raised for the records.