A fateful meeting at Pearl Harbor
Two weeks
before the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, my Grandfather a Colonel in the US Army Medical Corps, had lunch on board the USS Arizona with
Rear Admiral Isaac C. Kidd, the Commander of Battleship Division One. My
Grandfather and RADM Kidd were old friends having served together in the Panama
Canal Zone in the late 1920s and early 1930s. My Grandfather was traveling from
Manila in the Philippines, where he was
chief of surgery at Sternberg Army Hospital. He was in the states when the
attack occurred on December 7th.
RADM Kidd
was on the USS Arizona, his flagship, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. The
other ships in the Division were the USS Pennsylvania and the USS Nevada. RADM
Kidd directed the defenses of the ships until a Japanese bomb penetrated the
deck and exploded in the forward magazine, detonating over one million pounds
of explosives. The explosion ruined the ship and killed over 1000 men including
RADM Kidd. His remains were never found, only his Naval Academy ring welded to
a bulkhead by the heat of the blast. Divers later found a trunk of his
belongings, which were returned to his family and now are in the USS Arizona
memorial museum.
RADM Kidd was awarded
the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on December 7, 1941
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