The Portland, Oregon, newspaper The Oregonian is generally credited with the first use of the phrase, “Remember Pearl Harbor,” in its 9 December 1941 afternoon edition. The phrase would later be used in countless books, pennants, posters, buttons, music and other wartime propaganda.
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The “Doom and Gloom Boys” were pre-Pearl Harbor cartoon characters created by artist Daniel Bishop for the St. Louis Star Times newspaper to poke fun at anti-Roosevelt factions. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Boys were often shown criticizing Roosevelt as a war monger for his national military build-up plans. After the attack on Pearl Harbor the “Doom and Gloom Boys” took Roosevelt to task as a President who was now to blame for not having America ready for war.
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Roosevelt’s secretary later wrote that the President, as news of the attack became fully known, “… maintained greater outward calm than anybody else, but there was a rage in his very calmness.”
“This dispatch is top secret. This order is effective at 1730 on 2 December: Combined Fleet Serial #10. Climb Niitakayama 1208, repeat 1208!” Interpreted freely, and often abbreviated as “Climb Mount Niitaka,” means “attack on 8 December.” This was undoubtedly the prearranged signal for specifying the date for opening hostilities. However, the significance of the phrase is interesting in that it is used so appropriately in this connection. Niitakayama is the highest mountain in the Japanese Empire. To climb Niitakayama is to accomplish one of the greatest feats. In other words undertake the task (of carrying out assigned operations). 1208 signifies the 12th month, 8th day, Itex time.
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The flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on 7 December 1941, was also flown aboard the U.S.S. Missouri during the surrender ceremonies in Tokyo Bay on 2 September 1945.
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In Washington, then White House Assistant James Rowe recalled that President Roosevelt was “cross as hell” because so many aides were out of town when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Attorney General Frances Biddle remembers that the President was in a mood of stunned silence and FDR’s son, James, at the time a 33-year-old Marine captain, reports that his father was “sitting in a corner with no expression on his face, very calm and quiet. He had out his stamp collection he loved so much and was thumbing over some of the stamps when I came in.
“‘It’s bad, it’s pretty bad,’ he said, without looking up.”
On 3 December 1941, U.S. Adm. Charles McMorris said, “Pearl Harbor will never be attacked from the air.”
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The very existence of Japan’s two-man submarines was one of the best-kept secrets of pre-World War II. Before the fleet left Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, even very few Japanese Navy officers were aware of this very important secret weapon.
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| William A. Maguire, Captain (Ch C), USN. |
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| Front of book The Captain Wears a Cross by Captain William A. Maguire, (ChC) U.S.N. |
Chaplain Maguire never shouted "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" that black Sunday at Pearl Harbor. For all that, his book is a modest yet virile record of service to his God, his country and his men.
On Dec. 7, 1941, when the U.S.S. California was being bombed by the Japs, the chaplain found a seaman crouching beneath the platform of an anti-aircraft gun. The lad had been ordered to seek cover from falling shrapnel. As the priest was about to pass, the lad beckoned him saying, "Hey, Father, how's to hear my confession?" The chaplain stopped and said, "Ease over, son, and give me a break; I've come without my tin hat." After he had given him absolution the boy thanked his confessor, spat on his hands, and exclaimed, "Now bring on them blasted Japs!"
Father Maguire does not seem to have written his book; he talks it, and in his conversational manner he refers back to people and events through his long and active Navy career. In so doing he unconsciously pictures himself as a leader with whom parents of every denomination would be glad to entrust their sons. The cross referred to in his title is a symbol no less important than his uniform as an officer of the United States Navy.
It was not long after Pearl Harbor that Chaplain Maguire denied the "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition” incident. His official statement that he had not fired a gun at Pearl Harbor was accompanied by resentment that he had been accused of violating the Geneva Convention that placed chaplains in the category of non-combatants. His statement was, of course, accepted, but the tradition was firmly established due to a radio broadcast in Hollywood at which the chaplain and his niece were guests. In the middle of Kay Kyser's program, the musical comedian made a speech, saying: "We have in the studio tonight Father Maguire, the chaplain who was at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7. He left his altar, grabbed a gun and fired at the Japs, yelling, 'Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition.'"
Even though it wasn't so, it was a good story; and from all the evidence it's a safe bet that except for the Geneva Convention the padre would have been in there shooting.
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| Front of book Rig for Church: The Thrilling Life Story of a Navy Chaplain by Captain William A. Maguire, (ChC), U.S.N. |
The arresting title of this book gives a clue to the contents but by no means conveys a notion of the great range of fascinating material contained within its uniform blue covers. Autobiographical, but never falling into the weaknesses of that type of writing, the series of brilliant sketches reflects the author’s profound interest in people and events—an interest which made every contact an enriching experience spiritually and materially. Unforgettable scenes, such as the burning of the Florence H., deeply dramatic descriptions, such as that given in the chapter entitled, “Rendezvous in the Sun,” are borne up by light and humorous anecdotes of incidents aboard ship, on the China Station, and elsewhere. Chaplain Maguire succeeds in imparting to all the enthusiasm and vitality which have characterized his quarter century of devotion to his ecclesiastical vocation and to the Navy. His style is at all times easy, swift, and temperately nautical. None of the charm that pervaded the stories as told originally in the wardroom and on the veranda of the Pacific Club in Honolulu (where it was this reviewer’s great good fortune to hear many of them) has been lost in the writing.
For the lay reader the sheer story value of the thrilling adventures the Padre has known and so well portrayed should make it a best seller but for us of the services who have seen the changing panorama of Navy life in recent years it is an invaluable log of adventures in many instances paralleling our own and preserving scenes and personalities which we look back upon with the nostalgia felt for all cherished memories.
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| Chaplain William A. Maguire, retired captain of the Navy Chaplain Corps., speaker at the Woodland Hills Men's Club meeting held at the Woodland Hills Community Center. Photograph dated January 20, 1950. |
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| Front cover for Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!! music sheet. |
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