Clip from an interview with David Neal
Description
Neal is describing his experience during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Click here to hear the complete interview.
Source
William H. Berge Oral History Center
Date
3 Feb 1981
Rights
Contact Special Collections and Archives, Crabbe Library, Eastern Kentucky University for reproductions, rights and permission to publish.
Format
audio cassette
Language
eng
Type
oral history
Identifier
1981oh099
Interviewer
William Berge
Interviewee
David Neal
Transcription
[Partial Transcript]
[This transcript begins at 1 minute, 23 seconds into the clip and lasts about three minutes.]
Bill Berge (BB): You remember the day the thing was bombed I guess, then? Where were you when you first knew it was getting bombed? Do you mind me talking about this?
David Neal (DN): We was crossed down on North shore next to Kaneohe Bay where they had the seaplanes and patrol bombers.
Berge: Uh, huh. What were you doing over there?
Neal: Building a training camp across the....
BB: Oh, so you were in construction there too?
DN: [inaudible]
BB: You where there that Sunday morning.
DN: Yeah. Uh huh, we had moved into this camp.
BB: Where were you living? Tents?
DN: No we had some temporary barracks and a mess hall, party room.
BB: Uh huh. How did you find out that the bombing started?
DN: I found out coming from the mess hall.
BB: So they actually bombed right there where you were on the north shore?
DN: Yeah, they strafed us. They didn’t bomb those old barracks. We just had part of them done. We just moved into the first one we got ready.
BB: So you had already eaten then, huh?
DN: I was in the mess hall when it started, and, uh, I came out, and, uh, there was a whole stack of lumber there where we was building some more [inaudible].
BB: SO they had already fired on you when you were in the mess hall though?
DN: Yeah, it had started. It was going on when I came out, and uh, there was a bunch of the guys just ahead of me who had climbed up on that lumber pile; they jumped atop this great big semi load of lumber. And, uh, there was four or five em up on that lumber pile looking over there at Kaneohe Bay, I guess that would have been looking west. Then they said “they’re on maneuvers”, one guy says “they’re on maneuvers.” I seen this plane a coming down, then I seen the smoke from his guns, and the tracers, and I said “maneuvers, hell.” He turned that wing up as he pulled out of the strafing dive and there was that red ball on it.
BB: Yeah, the rising sun, huh.
DN: Yeah, I said uh, “that’s the rising sun.” And some damn fool said “that’s just a sticker on the star.” [laughter & Mrs. Neal says] “Oh they couldn’t believe it!” I took off for the barracks. Well about the time I hit the barracks the bugler jumped out there and blew the call to arms, and we started a formation right there in them [inaudible], and then the company commander came out and told us to disperse.
BB: Hide anywhere you could, huh. And where did you go, do you know?
DN: I took off across the big, uh, it was grassy out from where we cleared off. It was just a pasture field was what is was, where a guy…it was… cattle running on it until we moved in there, there wasn’t none then. Big high grass. And, uh, I got strafed. I guess I was one of the last ones laying down and getting away from the rest of the crowd, that was my idea at the time. And, uh, one pulled out of a dive over there and was strafing and bombing them hangars and planes that were around on the grounds. And, uh, seen him coming, I fell down facing him, and when I fell down I rolled about four or five times. And he took the grass and, uh, I could reach out, and them bullets were popping like firecrackers hittin the ground by me there. And I could see that grass just laying over,… just like you took an invisible scissors and cut it off.
BB: And did anyone advise you to get up and run again?
DN: No, uh. About that time they blowed the call to arms again, and went back and, uh, they wanted a bulldozer operator over at this naval air station to fill in them bomb craters…
[End partial transcript]
[This transcript begins at 1 minute, 23 seconds into the clip and lasts about three minutes.]
Bill Berge (BB): You remember the day the thing was bombed I guess, then? Where were you when you first knew it was getting bombed? Do you mind me talking about this?
David Neal (DN): We was crossed down on North shore next to Kaneohe Bay where they had the seaplanes and patrol bombers.
Berge: Uh, huh. What were you doing over there?
Neal: Building a training camp across the....
BB: Oh, so you were in construction there too?
DN: [inaudible]
BB: You where there that Sunday morning.
DN: Yeah. Uh huh, we had moved into this camp.
BB: Where were you living? Tents?
DN: No we had some temporary barracks and a mess hall, party room.
BB: Uh huh. How did you find out that the bombing started?
DN: I found out coming from the mess hall.
BB: So they actually bombed right there where you were on the north shore?
DN: Yeah, they strafed us. They didn’t bomb those old barracks. We just had part of them done. We just moved into the first one we got ready.
BB: So you had already eaten then, huh?
DN: I was in the mess hall when it started, and, uh, I came out, and, uh, there was a whole stack of lumber there where we was building some more [inaudible].
BB: SO they had already fired on you when you were in the mess hall though?
DN: Yeah, it had started. It was going on when I came out, and uh, there was a bunch of the guys just ahead of me who had climbed up on that lumber pile; they jumped atop this great big semi load of lumber. And, uh, there was four or five em up on that lumber pile looking over there at Kaneohe Bay, I guess that would have been looking west. Then they said “they’re on maneuvers”, one guy says “they’re on maneuvers.” I seen this plane a coming down, then I seen the smoke from his guns, and the tracers, and I said “maneuvers, hell.” He turned that wing up as he pulled out of the strafing dive and there was that red ball on it.
BB: Yeah, the rising sun, huh.
DN: Yeah, I said uh, “that’s the rising sun.” And some damn fool said “that’s just a sticker on the star.” [laughter & Mrs. Neal says] “Oh they couldn’t believe it!” I took off for the barracks. Well about the time I hit the barracks the bugler jumped out there and blew the call to arms, and we started a formation right there in them [inaudible], and then the company commander came out and told us to disperse.
BB: Hide anywhere you could, huh. And where did you go, do you know?
DN: I took off across the big, uh, it was grassy out from where we cleared off. It was just a pasture field was what is was, where a guy…it was… cattle running on it until we moved in there, there wasn’t none then. Big high grass. And, uh, I got strafed. I guess I was one of the last ones laying down and getting away from the rest of the crowd, that was my idea at the time. And, uh, one pulled out of a dive over there and was strafing and bombing them hangars and planes that were around on the grounds. And, uh, seen him coming, I fell down facing him, and when I fell down I rolled about four or five times. And he took the grass and, uh, I could reach out, and them bullets were popping like firecrackers hittin the ground by me there. And I could see that grass just laying over,… just like you took an invisible scissors and cut it off.
BB: And did anyone advise you to get up and run again?
DN: No, uh. About that time they blowed the call to arms again, and went back and, uh, they wanted a bulldozer operator over at this naval air station to fill in them bomb craters…
[End partial transcript]
Tags
Citation
“Clip from an interview with David Neal,” Digital Collections, accessed July 5, 2022, https://digitalcollections.eku.edu/items/show/34917.