Dec. 7, 1941: Veteran Robert Missildine recalls a day that lives in infamy

Charles J. Dean | By Charles J. Dean |
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on October 27, 2013 at 5:55 AM, updated October 27, 2013 at 6:23 AM

ALABASTER, Alabama – Robert Missildine has been asked the question a million times: What do you remember about Dec. 7, 1941?

Missildine closes his 91-year-old eyes and a few moments later, his eyes still closed, answers the question.

"Everything. I'm not sure what I had for dinner yesterday but I remember that day alright," said Missildine of that infamous Sunday morning almost 72 years ago when Japanese torpedo planes and fighters attacked U.S. ships and aircraft at Pearl Harbor killing 2,335 U.S. servicemen and wounding another 1,143. The attack severely damaged the U.S. Seventh Fleet and propelled the United States into World War II.

That war and all of the nation's wars and conflicts and the men and women who served in them and who served in peace time as well are remembered each Veterans Day. In Birmingham, the nation's oldest Veterans Day parade remembers the service of men like Missildine. The parade, which has lost some of its luster over the years, is in the hands of new organizers who are working to restore it and grow it.

Missildine, who has not attended a parade in years, said he hopes the parade survives.

"I think it's a good thing and I don't mean for the veterans who know what we did, but the kids and the country to know and remember," said Missildine.

Missildine, a retired printer who lives in Alabaster, said he still remembers Dec. 7 as if it was yesterday.

"It was a little before eight (a.m.) and I had just come from breakfast to begin my watch which that day was standing duty outside the captain's cabin," said Missildine, who grew up on a farm in Autauga County. "My buddy, Art Rotter, had been standing duty and when I walked up he was looking at a picture of a pretty girl. It was his sister, Mary Jane. I remember saying she was sure a lot better looking than Art and we were laughing when all of a sudden there was this loud noise and the ship seemed to jerk. Next thing I know the captain came flying out of his cabin heading to the bridge."

Missildine said he and Rotter were following their commander and had almost reached topside when a young officer met them and told the captain that the fleet was under attack by Japanese planes.

"We got topside and the sky was almost black with planes and heavy black smoke and the smell of burning oil was already in the air," said Missildine.

A gunner's mate aboard the light cruiser U.S.S. Raleigh, Missildine ran to his 50 caliber anti-aircraft gun and in short order opened fire.

"...There were so many of them in almost every direction. A lot of them came in so low you could see the faces of the pilots," said Missildine.

Already hit by a torpedo and listing to one side and threating to capsize, a bomb then hit the Raleigh about an hour into the attack," said Missildine.

"It just missed the guns and the ammunition box," Missildine said.

According to the action report written by the Raleigh's executive officer, that bomb ripped through the ship exiting below the water line into the bottom of the harbor where it detonated.

"Had it (the bomb) hit that ammunition box or blew up below deck I suppose I wouldn't be here today," said Missildine.

Firing his caliber relentlessly, Missildine believes he and his fellow gunners hit a number of enemy aircraft causing damage including five who were seen to have crashed or which fell apart in flight. Missildine remembers one plane in particular which he opened fire, ripping off his tail.

"It crashed on land nearby. The wings tore off but the body stayed together. I've always wonder if that pilot died or escaped," said Missildine.

His ship damaged and taking on water, Missildine said officers ordered the crew not working the guns like him to throw overboard anything heavy they could move in a desperate attempt to lighten the ship and prevent it from sinking.

"They got all our torpedoes over the side I think and we had a couple of airplanes on the back of the ship and they tossed them overboard too. I guess it worked. The ship didn't sink."

Docked nearby the Raleigh that day was the battleship U.S.S. Utah. Hit by at least three torpedoes, Missildine said the battlewagon rolled over and capsized just minutes into the attack. Missildine said one of his most vivid memories was the franic work to save Utah crew members trapped below the ship's deck. Surviving crew members who had made it off Utah returned to its hull after hearing the shouts of voices and banging on the hull from inside.

Missildine said his ship played a role in the effort to save the men of the Utah trapped inside.

"Some of the Utah men made it to the Raleigh and got our saws and cutters and made it back to the hull where they began trying to cut through the hull to the men below," said Missildine. "That had to be really hard work and under such conditions almost impossible. But somehow they got through to some of the men below. I think maybe they rescued maybe 14 or so."

The attack lasted a little less than two hours. Missildine said he does not remember being angry or tired or much of anything.

"...Sure you had some guys who were mad and some who just had to cry when it was over but I think a lot of us were just numb and kept moving. All you had to do was smell the burning oil and smoke to know a lot of damage had been done and a lot of men were probably gone."

Days after the attack, Missildine was assigned to what he called grim but solemn duty: retrieving the bodies of dead sailors.

"So many of them sank to the bottom of the harbor and it took a few days for the bodies to become bloated enough to float to the top," said Missildine. "That was hard duty. But there was not a man I remember who complained and in fact every man who could walk or lift or row wanted to help."

Missildine served throughout the war, much of it on the Raleigh, which was repaired.

"They decommissioned her just after the war ended and the Gillette Company bought her, I think to make razor blades out of," Missildine said with a smile. "She was a good ship."

After the war Missildine married Mary Jane Rotter, the girl in the photo he was admiring just as the attack began.

"I didn't really know her but I sent her my money to keep during the war figuring she was Art's sister and maybe I could trust her. She kept every penny of it for me," said Missildine. "She was great and a really good cook. She died a few years ago. ...I miss her."

Of his service and particularly of the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Missildine is modest.

"Hawaii was a paradise until that morning and for a country boy from Autauga County it was like a dream," said Missildine. "The war changed all that but I was proud to have served and made it home. The real heroes didn't come home and all of us need to remember them."