Case 6 shows through documents, diary entries, and photographs, how the news
of Pearl Harbor spread throughout the Navy and the United States in the hours
and days after the attack; it explores the reactions of the men as they began
to absorb the meaning of the attack for themselves, their ships, and the
United States. Telegrams reaching as far away as Bermuda that morning tell
the story of how the news spread. Particularly affecting are the accounts of
the men aboard the naval task force that had been escorting the aircraft
carrier USS Enterprise, which had been delivering supplies to Wake Island,
far to the West in the Pacific Ocean. They had been scheduled to arrive back
at Pearl Harbor on the evening of December 6th, but had slowed down due to
bad weather. When they arrived at Pearl Harbor, on the evening of December
7th, it was to witness the harbor ablaze with sinking and sunken ships, with
the bodies of their dead comrades floating in the sea. Diaries and oral
histories of men from the destroyers USS Maury and USS Hopkins, and the USS Flusser as well as those on the Enterprise itself are here. Perhaps the
greatest shock hit the naval aviators from the Enterprise, many of whom were
shot down and killed by American anti-aircraft men, trigger-happy after the
events of the day.
