PROCEEDINGS OF ARMY PEARL HARBOR BOARD 2121
TESTIMONY OF
JOSEPH P. McDonald, TECHNICIAN FOURTH‑CLASS; 580TH AIRCRAFT WARNING; APO 958, c/o POSTMASTER, SAN FRANCISCO,
CALIFORNIA
(The witness was sworn by
the Recorder and advised of his rights under Article of War 24.)
1. Colonel WEST. Mr.
McDonald, will you please state to the Board your name, rank, organization, and
station.
Mr. McDonald. T‑4;
Joseph P. McDonald, 13006145, 580th Aircraft Warning, APO 958, care
Postmaster, San Francisco, California.
2. General GRUNERT.
Sergeant, in this particular investigation, General Frank will ask the
questions, and the other Members of the Board will interject any questions they
see fit; so just listen to what General Frank has to say ,and give him the
answers to his questions.
3. General FRANK. You are
back here on furlough, Sergeant?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, Sir.
General FRANK. To what do
you belong, now?
Mr. McDonald. I still belong
to 580th Aircraft Warning.
4. General FRANK. To what
did you belong in December 1941 ?
Mr. McDonald. Well, I was
still with the, 580th Aircraft [4153] Warning. It was just a company at
the time and was just being organized. We just built up this information center
about six months before, and we were assigned to certain jobs, and I happened
to be communication man, switchboard operator.
5. General FRANK. Were you
on duty the morning of the attack, December 7?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
6. General FRANK. Where?
Mr. McDonald. At the
information center‑well, fighter control.
7. General FRANK. Where was
this information center at which you were on duty?
Mr. McDonald. It was located
in Fort Shafter, Hawaii.
8. General FRANK. And it was
the temporary information center that had been set up at that time and from
which exercises had been held along back in October?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
9. General FRANK. You ran
the private branch exchange switchboard?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
10. General FRANK. Do you
have pretty clearly in your mind what happened on the morning of December 7?
Mr. McDonald. Well, Sir, I have
written it so many times I imagine I have it memorized.
11. General FRANK. All
right. Will you tell us about it?
Mr. McDonald. Well, I was on
duty. I went on duty at five o'clock the night before and I was on duty all
night, up until 7:30 the morning of December 7; and at 7:20 I received a call
from our unit on the north shore. I think [4154] the unit was 6‑QM.
12. General FRANK. That was
at Opana Point?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
13. General FRANK. Proceed.
Mr. McDonald. I did not
realize at the time that there was anybody in the building, so I wrote the
message down, and when I turned around,
2122 CONGRESSIONAL
INVESTIGATION PEARL HARBOR ATTACK
the clock was right behind me in the next room, it
was in the corner, and I turned around to time the message, and I saw
Lieutenant Tyler, and he was sitting at the plotting table. He was supposed to
go off duty at eight o'clock, and he was just sitting there. Everybody went
home, and that was the first day we had off in over a month, and so the guys
went home about seven o'clock. I mean the plotters. They worked all along for a
month there. They were working from 4 o'clock in the morning all the way
through to dusk, and December 7 was the first day they got off in the month.
Well, when I received the
call, wrote it down, and I brought it up to the lieutenant. I am not quite sure
whether I read it to him, or handed it. I think I read it to him. Any way, the
lieutenant looked at it afterwards, and I expressed that it was the first time
I ever received anything like this. I said, "Do you think we ought to do
anything about it?" So I wanted to call back the plotters. I mean they
didn't have much practice there all along, and when this fellow called in he
expressed it to be "an awful big flight."
14. General FRANK. Tell us
what the message was.
Mr. McDonald. Says,
"Large number of planes coming in from the north, three points east,"
and he really expressed; [4155] so after I told the lieutenant, he just,
he didn't say nothing; so I went back to the telephone, and I talked to the man
on the unit again.
15. General FRANK. That is,
you to talked to the man at Opana ?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir. and
he just repeated the message, and I went in and I told the lieutenant again. I
said; "Sir, I would appreciate it very much if you would answer the
phone"; and after he was finished with his conversation —
16. General FRANK. He
answered the telephone?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, Sir.
After he was finished with his conversation, I asked him, "What do you
think it is?" He said, "It's nothing." We learned later he was
expecting bombers in from the States. Well, we thought he knew.
Sir, I don't mean to accuse
this man, by an means. I am just trying to express it just the way I did,
because I, when I wrote this message out, I wrote it up for a department
signal, Hawaiian Department signal, and before I signed it, I brought it down
and had him look it over.
17. General FRANK. You had whom look it over?
Mr. McDonald. This
lieutenant, Lt. Tyler; because I felt that anything that I do say was against him.
18. General FRANK. Did you
make any comment to him as to whether you thought there might be something real
about it?
Mr. McDonald. Well, sir, I
did. I said, "It's the first time I have ever received anything like this
and. it looks kind of strange." I don't know the exact words I used; but
anyway, I took this. I was relieved at 7:30, so I took this message with me. By
the way, it was the first time I ever did that, but I wanted to show the
fellows, up [4156] at the tent; so they all saw it and when the planes
were coming over there, I began to get a little shaky, especially when
everybody was saying it was Wheeler Field on maneuvers; but when they started
coming down and diving all around, I just started running for the nearest
pile.
Anyway, after we realized,
we went into the tent and turned on the radio. Everybody knew it was war,
because the announcer was
PROCEEDINGS OF ARMY PEARL
HARBOR BOARD 2123
saying, "Oahu is under attack!" So I ran
down to the information center, and I gave the message to Lieutenant White.
That was my communication officer and commanding officer, and he brought it up
to the controller, my controller.
19. General FRANK. Who was
the controller at that time?
Mr. McDonald. I am not sure,
sir, but I think it was a Major Bergquist.
20. General FRANK. Had he
reached the information center by this time?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
21. General FRANK. What time
was this?
Mr. McDonald. Well, it was
only a couple of minutes after the attack, because he came from Wheeler Field,
and he said he was strafed and everything coming down.
22. General FRANK. Well, it
would take more than a couple of minutes to come from Wheeler Field. That is 20
miles away.
Mr. McDonald. Well, it must
have been about a half an hour, by the time. It was about a half an hour; but
anyway, he came down. He questioned me.
23. General FRANK. So, as it
really turned out, the man at the radar station at Opana Point probably had
really picked up the attacking Japanese force on the oscilloscope, and this [4157]
was his report of it; that is correct, isn't it?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
24. General FRANK. And the
lieutenant, when you showed him the message, had assumed that it was these B‑17s
coming in from the States, is that correct?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
25. General FRANK. As a matter
of fact, this Lieutenant Tyler, who was in there, was in there for instruction,
was he not?
Mr. McDonald. I think he
was, sir. I only saw him around there, I think that was about the second time I
saw him. I knew he didn't understand, because he was—well, all those
lieutenants just come down there, and they just learn by just looking at the
men working.
26. General FRANK. As a
matter of fact, it really wasn't your assigned duty to call these things to
their attention, but your assigned duty was ready just to man the switchboard?
Mr. McDonald. I don't know,
sir. Just commented. That's about what anybody would do.
27. General FRANK. When the
information center really got to working, there were other men assigned around,
plotting on the boards, whose duty it was to do what you were doing at this
time, is that correct?
Mr. McDonald. No, sir. Well,
I just got the thing. As soon as I got the information, I just brought it in to
the lieutenant, and I just—well, I just expressed it, "I never had
anything like this before."
28. General FRANK. All
right, Sergeant.
29. General GRUNERT. Are there any questions?
[1168]
30. General RUSSELL. Who was
Lieutenant White?
Mr. McDonald. He was our
communication officer sir
31 General RUSSELL. Did he
go on duty in the information center that morning when you went off, Sergeant?
Mr. McDonald. He went on at
8 o'clock, I think; usually came around about a quarter of eight or 8 o'clock.
2124 CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION PEARL HARBOR ATTACK
32. General RUSSELL. Did he
go on every day?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir; he
was our communication officer, sir, and he really lived up to his last name.
33. General RUSSELL. How
about this Lieutenant Tyler? Is that his name, Lieutenant Tyler?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
34. General RUSSELL. Were
you two the only two men in the information center that morning
Mr. McDonald. As far as I
know; yes, sir.
35. General RUSSELL. You had
been in there since the night before, at 5 o'clock?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
36. General RUSSELL. And
this lieutenant had been in there all that time with you?
Mr. McDonald. No, sir; he
came on about 4 o'clock in the morning.
37. General RUSSELL. Had
anybody been in there up until 4 o'clock, except you?
Mr. McDonald. No, Sir. There
was a guard outside.
38. General RUSSELL. Normally, when you would get messages over the telephone, didn't
you have somebody there to put them up on a board of some sort?
Mr. McDonald. No, Sir. In
case I ever got any messages, [4159] I had all the information I wanted,
in book form, and if I didn't understand, I could contact Lieutenant White, or
contact any of the officers around.
39. General RUSSELL. Was
there always an officer there after four o'clock in the morning?
Mr. McDonald. After 4
o'clock? When we went on the alert, why, there were.
40. General RUSSELL. I mean
before this morning.
Mr. McDonald. No, sir; they
usually came on about 7:30 or 8 o'clock.
41. General FRANK. On this
particular morning, the information center had been manned, there had been some
people up there to run it, from 4 to 7, had there not?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
42. General FRANK. About how
many?
Mr. McDonald. I judge there
were about 15.
43. General FRANK. And they
went off at what time?
Mr. McDonald. They went off
at 7.
44. General. FRANK. They
went off at 7 o'clock? Well, how did you happen to stay there?
Mr. McDonald. Well, I was on
duty until 7:30; and you see it was Sunday morning, and they didn't eat—my
relief didn't eat breakfast until about 7 or 7:15, so I had to wait until about
7 :30.
45. General FRANK. And the
people who had been manning it from 4 to 7 had left, and you and the lieutenant
were the only ones left of those who had been there from 4 to 7, is that
correct?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
[4160]
46. General RUSSELL. How
long had you been working in the center?
Mr. McDonald. I was working
there for about four months before that.
47. General RUSSELL. Had the
other soldiers been working along with you for those four months?.
PROCEEDINGS OF ARMY PEARL HARBOR BOARD 2125
Mr.
McDonald. Yes,
sir; everybody.
48. General RUSSELL. The
same crew would be in there every morning?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir. Most
of them were trained men.
49. General RUSSELL. Now,
you say that you did not have a day off. I do not know whether that got in the
record, what you meant about that, or not. Was everybody going to quit, that
day, Sunday, December 7?
Mr. McDonald. No. They
didn't have to pull their shift—I mean, they pull it until 7 o'clock in the
morning, and then they would have the rest of the day off on Sunday.
50. General RUSSELL. But all
the other days, they stayed on after 7 o'clock, they all did?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
51. Colonel TOULMIN. What
was the reason, Sergeant, for their getting off on that particular day?
Mr. McDonald. I could not
understand it, sir. I just happened to be unlucky, I guess.
52. Colonel TOULMIN. Had
they had a day off at any other time prior to that?
Mr. McDonald. Well, I don't
think there were any passes for a month before that. I am not quite sure about
that, sir. I think most of the men never got passes.
[4161]
58. Colonel TOULMIN. During
the preceding month was the aircraft warning service working all light?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir; it
was all working. We used to pick up the clippers and everything else.
54. Colonel TOULMIN. It was
doing all it was supposed to do, then?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
55. Colonel TOULMIN. That is
all.
General RUSSELL. Would it
work all day, Sergeant?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir. Most
all day long, the radar was on.
56. General RUSSELL. You had
been in there almost every day up until this December 7?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
57. General RUSSELL. After 7
o'clock in the morning, you continued to stay on there, every day, is that
right?
Mr. McDonald. No, sir. We
changed. We had different shifts.
58. General RUSSELL. But
when you would go off duty, some other boys would come in?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
59. General RUSSELL. All
right.
60. General FRANK. On this
particular morning had there been any reports of flights in the air from 4 to
7?
Mr. McDonald. That was the
first I received, sir.
61. General FRANK. Would you
receive them? Wouldn't they go directly to the board?
Mr. McDonald. Well, yes,
sir; they have their tactical phone. It goes right to the plotting board.
[4162]
62. General FRANK. So, while
the board is manned and in operation, these messages coming in would go
directly to the telephone on the board and would not come to you; that is
correct, isn't it?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir; that
is tactical.
2126 CONGRESSIONAL
INVESTIGATION PEARL HARBOR ATTACK
63. General FRANK. And this
one happened to come to you because the people at the board had left, and it
came to your telephone exchange?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
64. Colonel TOULMIN. Who
called you from the outlying station, do you know?
Mr. McDonald. Well, sir, it
was Joe Lockard.
65. Colonel TOULMIN. And
what did he say?
Mr. McDonald. Well, at first
they just said, "There's a large number of planes coming in from the
north, three points east," and then when I returned to the phone, he said,
"Hey! Mac !" Then he expressed it again, the same message.
66. Colonel TOULMIN. Was he
calm, or excited, or what?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir; he
was excited. He said he never saw so many planes, so many flashes on the
'scope.
67. Colonel TOULMIN. When
you gave him back the information to "forget it," or something to
that effect, what did he say?
Mr. McDonald. Well, the
Lieutenant talked to him last, sir.
68. Colonel TOULMIN. I see.
That is all.
69. Major CLAUSEN. Do you
have any way, Sergeant, of fixing the exact time that you received this call
first from Lockard?
Mr. McDonald. No, sir. When
I turned around, to time the message, it was 7:20.
70. Major CLAUSEN. You are
pretty sure of that?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
71. Major CLAUSEN. You saw
that time on the clock?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
72. Major CLAUSEN. Was that
the time you wrote on the message?
Mr. McDonald. Yes; sir.
73. Major CLAUSEN. Did you
work on any other stations connected with the radar besides this information
center?
Mr. McDonald. No, sir. We
had our definite jobs. We all helped put up a radar, then we were assigned to
different jobs.
74. Major CLAUSEN. This was
a mobile radar station?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
75. General GRUNERT.
Sergeant, had there been previous tests and exercises using the communication
center?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir.
76. General GRUNERT. And how
did it work‑all right?
Mr. McDonald. Yes, sir; it
worked.
77. General GRUNERT. Do you
know how many stations they used in those exercises, how many radar stations
outside of the communication center?
Mr. McDonald. I imagine they
used them all sir.
78. General GRUNERT. And how
many would be all, do you know?
Mr. McDonald. There were
about five or six; I am not quite sure.
79. General GRUNERT. Are
there any other questions? Sergeant, do you know of anything else that you
might have in your mind that you would like to tell the Board, that may be of
help to it?
Mr. McDonald. No, sir.
80. General GRUNERT. All
right; thank you for coming down.
(The witness was excused,
with the usual admonition.)