Back to all Army

Elliott, George R.

At Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941, George Elliott was looking at death as the Japanese pilot flew directly toward him but unexplainably did not fire his machine guns. Elliott says this was a frightening moment of his life that lives in his memory to this day.

His long journey to Pearl Harbor started in Maggie Valley, NC where he was born. When he was seven years old, his family moved to Reidsville where Elliott attended Reidsville schools. After he graduated from high school, he worked for Burlington Mills for a few years. He had been concerned about the growing war in Europe and, feeling he might be involved, was not too surprised to receive a draft notice in early 1941. His draftee group was one of the first to leave Reidsville for military service.

He arrived at Fort Bragg and three days later was transferred to San Diego, CA for basic training. His trip to California was unusual in that he was assigned to a Pullman sleeper, and his meals were served to him and a porter made up his bed in the morning. For a draftee, it was an unusually pleasant beginning to his Army life. It did not last however, as his 13 weeks of basic training were very rigorous.

After basic training and hearing many rumors as to where his group would be going, he ultimately was assigned to Oahu, Hawaii with the 55^th Coast Artillery. Elliott’s voyage to Hawaii was memorable as he was nearly washed overboard during a storm when a huge wave struck the ship while he was on deck. He arrived at Fort Kamehameha on Oahu in September 1941. In late September, he was moved to Fort Barrette with a Coastal Defense unit assigned to scan the sky for aircraft as well as man 16-inch guns against invading ships. Their searchlight could detect an aircraft up to 30,000 feet and with binoculars; its insignia could be identified. The guns could reach targets 30 miles away. Elliott’s primary duty was plotting where the shells fell in the ocean and reporting it to fire control for adjustments in range or bearing. .

On Friday December 5, his unit was put on alert but issued no ammunition. The alert was called off after 30 minutes with no explanation given. Ironically, at that time the attacking Japanese task force was within 1,000 miles of Pearl Harbor. On Saturday evening, he was given a pass to go to Honolulu and that evening a truck picked him up, along with others, to take them back to Ft. Barrette, arriving about 1 a.m. Sunday morning. On the way back, as they observed the Navy docks, one in the group remarked that the ships would make a dandy target as they were so brightly lit up. Another remarked that no enemy could get close enough to launch a surprise attack on the US Fleet at Pearl Harbor. In hindsight, Elliott says those were prophetic observations with only one being accurate.

On Sunday December 7, Elliott had eaten breakfast and was back in his tent when he heard gunfire and bombs exploding. He ran out and saw soldiers with steel helmets running everywhere. Japanese aircraft were flying around the docks and torpedo bombers were coming in very low to release torpedoes at the big ships tied to the docks at Ford Island. The planes were so close, Elliott could see the pilots smiling as they came roaring in to release torpedoes. Elliott saw the USS Arizona bombed as well as the explosions, which sank her.

His Commanding officer said for all troops to get under cover, as they had no ammunition with which to defend themselves. One man ran through an unopened screen door in his flight to safety. One plane came in directly at Elliott and his group. He did not fire at Elliott but fired and killed another man and injured several others. Elliott narrowly missed running into the line of fire. They reached safety in the command room for his unit and were there for two days before further orders were received.

Rumors were rampant. Elliott heard from an officer that the Japanese would be landing an invasion force the next morning. Most of the military were in a state of shock and anxiety regarding the next Japanese move against Hawaii. History tells us the Japanese made a major mistake from their perspective, in not following up the first attack with another. Elliott says blackouts began everywhere on the island on Sunday December 7 and lights did not shine at night for four years. If he had to go out at night, he had a flashlight with a 1/32 square inch hole for light to shine through. Headlights on vehicles had a very narrow slit that light could shine through to allow a person barely to see the road.

For several days after the attack, Elliott got so little sleep that he was totally exhausted. For weeks he had on his uniform 24 hours a day with full combat gear, rifle, ammunition, gas mask and steel helmet. His helmet was his pillow at night. After one duty stint, he went to an out of the way section of the command center and lay down on the concrete floor. He slept so soundly that when his next duty rotation came up 4 hours later they could not find him. He was about to be labeled “missing in action” when he was found sound asleep in the command center.

Six months after the Pearl Harbor attack, his Commanding Officer told the troops that things were no better for the defense of Hawaii than they were on December 7. The information he gave was that plans were in place for destroying all equipment, guns and material that could be of use to the Japanese and if the Japanese attacked again the unit would head for the mountains in the interior of Oahu and it would be every man for himself. That was not comforting news to Elliott.

The Japanese did not come back to Hawaii and Elliott had seen the enemy close and personally on December 7 for the first and last time. After the Battle of Midway in June 1942, which was the turning point of the war in the Pacific, conditions were better on Hawaii and more hopeful. Elliott’s remaining time in Hawaii was spent doing his work by day in the Coastal Defense unit and regularly doing guard duty at night. In early 1945, Elliott was reassigned to Miami FL and after victory in Europe was achieved, he volunteered to go to Italy with the army of occupation. This was superseded in May 1945 by assignment to an Amphibious Tank unit in preparation for the invasion of Japan. Amphibious tank personnel were coming together from all over the world preparing for the invasion.

In July 1945, Elliott and many others were surprised to be given the opportunity to be released from duty or stay in the Army. An immediate yes or no answer was required. He chose to be released and in several weeks was home, out of the Army, shortly before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

Elliott and his wife Sarah have a son and daughter and 10 grandchildren. He and his wife continue to enjoy an active life in Reidsville.

Elliott considers himself fortunate that he was not injured in the war and generally enjoyed his duty except for the deep pain of losing friends to enemy fire. After returning to Reidsville, Elliott worked briefly at American Tobacco and for local hardware stores before opening Elliott Hardware in 1958, operating that business for 30 years.

Interviewed 11/18/2003