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Remembering Pearl Harbor
Dear Editor,
For a memorial of Pearl Harbor Day Dec. 7, 1941, I had an Open Forum presented in the Gazette the week of Dec. 7, honoring the two young men from Red Willow County who were stationed at Pearl Harbor that horrible morning.
My uncle, James. M. Gammill and Leonard "Link" Sines, both are now deceased, but i had my uncle's account of that day, but nothing to print about "Link" Sines.
After this article was printed, I was pleasantly surprised when I received the story of Link's military days in the U.S. Marine Corps, written by Link.
The story and his picture was sent to me by his daughter, Linda Sines Clark of Windsor, Calif. Link was on active duty in the Pacific theater for the duration of the war, except for two months.
My most sincere thanks goes to the daughter, Linda, for sending Link's military story.
His story starts with his account of the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, aboard the Tennessee.
Thank you for printing the following by Link.
Patsy Redfern,
President, Danbury Auxiliary Unit 276.
Pearl Harbor
Dec. 7, 1941
By Leonard 'Link' Sines
Following are my recollections of the events at Pearl Harbor on the Days of Infamy." Marine Detachment, USS Tennessee.
The guard of the day was on the fantail ready for colors at 0800. The first thing I saw out of the ordinary was two planes dive-bombing Ford Island. I was on the quarter deck at the time, waiting for a boat to go over to Aiea Landing for a softball game we were supposed to play for the ship's championship.
The guard of the day broke ranks and went to their general quarters stations. I just had to step up to the gun deck. My station was as a sight-setter on the No. 10 5-inch broadside gun. I hooked up the phone and tried to get the lower handling room to send up some powder bags. The warrant officer in charge said "No, we would just shoot up the harbor," and he was right.
We all assembled on the starboard side where were out of the way of debris from the West Virginia. Our stern was on fire and we were getting a lot of smoke from the Arizona. I relieved a sailor on a 3-inch AA gun on the quarter deck, but couldn't see to shoot anything. We were berthed just ahead of the Arizona and took a direct hit from a bomb just like the one that sunk the Arizona, but it didn't explode. The GOOD LORD was with us.
Before going over the starboard side, I watched the Nevada go up Battleship Road with all their AA guns firing. It was an awe-inspiring sight. When the West Virginia was sunk beside us, we were squeezed into the quay and it took about a week to get out. When we went to 1010 dock and spent another week getting repairs and then left for Bremerton, Washington, arriving on the day before New Year's.
The damage we had sustained at Pearl Harbor was repaired and they got rid of me. I was transferred to the guard company at Bremerton for a month before going to the Fleet marine Fore in San Diego. I was in E Co. 2nd Battalion Nine Marines for a short time before going to the tank battalion. I stayed in tanks for the rest of the war.
I also received a promotion to sergeant before leaving the ship.