kept them in the air as much as he could; meanwhile he contin-
uously *hammered into them the importance of their jobs. It
was‘a frantic race against time and despite the difficulties which
slowed them up, he managed to whip them into a smooth
operating squadron.

The ‘skipper,’ as they called Lieutenant Commander
Waldron, treated them like a father and they, in turn, went ‘all
out’ for him. They used to say of him that he had apparently
been flying torpedo planes while the Wright Brothers were still
“batting the breeze,’’ and when he yelled at them, ‘“‘Don’t sit
there fat, dumb and happy! Do something!’ they really

moved.

There was far too little time and the boys of Tor-
pedo 8, flying and working under consteént pressure,
knewit. When the Japs hit Pearl Harbor on.Decem-
ber 7, 1941, Ensign William R. Evans, known: to his
squadron mates as ‘‘the Squire,’’ sat down and
wrote a sober letter to his parents.

 

66 \ K }

HAT A DAY... the incredulousness of it all gives
each new announcement the unreality of a fairy tale. How can
they have been so mad? Though I suppose we all have known
it would come some time, there was always that inner small
voice whispering, ‘No, we are too big, too rich, too powerful;
this war is for some poor fools somewhere else; it will never
touch us here.’ And then this noon that world fell apart.

«|. . The public has come to think contemptuously of
Japan. And that, I fear, is a fatal mistake—today has
given evidence of that. This war will be more difficult
than any war this country has ever fought.

“Once more the whole world is afire. ..in the month
approaching Christmas it seems bitterly ironical to mouth again
the time-worn phrases concerning peace on earth—good will
to men with so many millidns hard at work figuring out ways
to reduce other millions to slavery or to death.

“Let us hope tonight that people, big people, little people, all
throughout this great country, have the faith to once again
sacrifice for the things which we hold essential to life and hap-
piness. Let us defend these principles to the last drop of

blood 3..."

Morning and evening following the Jap attack on
Pearl Harbor the squadron spent long hours in the
ready room of the U. S. S. HORNET awaiting the
word that would send them into the air against the
enemy. Afternoons, Skipper Waldron crammed
them with tactical knowledge. They knew that
when their chance for action came it might be their
only chance.

It was with this sober knowledge of what lay ahead
that Radioman 3/c William F. Sawhill prepared a
letter for his parents. A letter which, if he had
returned, he would have never sent.