Honoring the Survivors' Legacy - Attacks on Oahu (Part 3) Published Dec. 5, 2011 By Jessie Higa HQ/PACAF PA JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii -- I arrived at Hickam early December, 1939. Construction of the base was still under way. The housing areas for Officers and NCOs were complete and the rest of us were in 4 man tents. Some months later the enlisted barracks were completed and all moved in there except personnel assigned to the 58th Bomb squadron (A-20 aircraft). I was initially assigned to a headquarters squadron (I do not remember its' numerical designation). A great disappointment since I had hoped to be involved in aircraft maintenance or operations and the headquarters squadron did not operate any aircraft. Ultimately, I was transferred to the 58th after completing a base school in armament. The armament of the A-20 was very minimal and my duty consisted mostly of maintaining machine guns. At this time, it became known that the Hawaiian Air Depot was in need of employees and that if one was given a job offer by the depot, he would be honorably discharged at the convenience of the government to accept the civilian position. I followed that path. Shortly after I started working as a civilian at Hickam Field, I received an invitation from a staff sergeant in the 58th to have breakfast with him and his wife on Sunday, December the 7th. I was in his quarters when the attack began. We had just sat down for breakfast when we heard explosions and we walked out into the front yard which was near the old Hickam front gate. We thought it odd they were conducting maneuvers on a Sunday and walked back into the house and very shortly thereafter heard a very large explosion (presumably the Arizona)? We ran back into the yard and saw a plane right overhead at tree top level with a clearly marked Rising Sun on the side! It was obvious we were being attacked! The sergeant immediately departed for the squadron's aircraft area. His wife received telephone advice to exit the base. She was very upset and asked me to drive her off base which I agreed to do. At the gate, the sentry refused my exit. I returned to the south end of the hanger line where the depot shops were located. A few other civilians were there when I arrived. An officer came by and we asked if there was any way that we could be helpful. Since the supply warehouses had not been damaged at that time, he directed us to the removal of high value items, such as, engines, large airframe components, etc. These items were scattered around the base which we continued to do for the rest of the day. Shortly thereafter I along with a number of others were detailed to work at the Naval Air Station on Ford Island. My best guess is we worked there for about six weeks, each day taking a launch across Pearl Harbor where we witnessed the horrible damage to our people and ships. However, when we first walked into the shops on Ford Island it was like nothing had happened as they had not been touched and we were able to go right to work. I was sent back to Hickam Field when a shipment of P-40s arrived and needed to be made ready to fly. Since all of the hangars were severely damaged, the aircraft were parked all over the base, usually under a tree, and that was where the work was done. It didn't require a lot since most of the work involved the removal of anticorrosion products that had been applied as protection from sea spray. We understood that the craft were shipped on the open decks of the ships that carried them. I don't know if that was true. I worked at Hickam Field throughout the war and met my future wife, Minsy Hawaiiloa Wailehua, there and both my children, Fred R. Brown and Shirley Brown Sweigart were born in Hawaii. I returned to the mainland with my family to take a job at McClellan Field in Sacramento in April, 1949. I retired from the US government civil service in 1975. I don't know how or why it happened, but some years later, I received a certificate, dated 18 May 1948, and entitled "Commendation for Meritorious Civilian Service". Regards, C Fred Brown (Jessie Higa research files 2011) Photos courtesy of http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation