When the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, Baker 3rd Class
Dale Augerson had just put a batch of apple pies in the oven aboard the battleship USS West Virginia. The battleship was moored at “Battleship Row,†together with most of the fleet’s other capital ships.-
“I was in the kitchen baking apple pies when the Japanese arrived,†said Augerson, “The chocolate cakes were already done for the weekend. The announcement came over the PA system: ‘Fire and Rescue report to Ford Island.’ That’s where the Japanese first hit.
“Then came the second announcement: ‘General Quarters!’ Machine gun bullets were ricocheting off the decks of the West Virginia from the enemy fighters flying overhead.
“My battle station was five decks below the main deck. I handled the 5-inch shells and put them on the hoist for the main amidships guns.â€
As Augerson tried to reach his battle station, he was stopped. The West Virginia had already been hit by a torpedo or two and was listing by 30 degrees. It was impossible for Augerson to reach his battle station, so he, along with hundreds of other sailors, were ordered to the far side of the battleship to help offset the ship’s list.-
Before the battle was over, the West Virginia took five torpedoes in her port side and two hits from armor-piercing bombs, which caused extensive damage to the battleship.
During the heat of battle, Capt. Mervyn Bennion, skipper of the West Virginia, was badly injured by shrapnel from bomb fragments while on the bridge. He died from his wounds a short time later.-
Mess Attendant 2nd Class Doris Miller was standing beside the captain when he went down. He helped move the wounded officer to a safer place. The mess attendant then got behind a .50-caliber machine gun and did his best to hold off the attacking enemy planes.-
Miller was awarded the Navy Cross by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz aboard the USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor on May 27, 1942. Later in the war, Miller died at sea when the carrier he was transferred to, USS Lissome Bay, was torpedoed and sank.-
Doris Miller
Augerson didn’t know Miller well, but he recalled “he was one of the mess boys aboard ship.â€
Continued Augerson, “I was moving below trying to reach the ship’s undamaged side when the West Virginia was hit by a 1,500-pound bomb. A buddy of mine was above in the Issue Room, where we keep the flour and sugar, when the bomb hit. He was disintegrated.-
USS West Virginia BB-48 (foreground) and USS Tennessee BB-43 just after the Japanese attack.
“I was about 12 feet below him on a lower deck and approximately 30 feet away from him. The concussion from the bomb knocked me out for 12 hours,†he said. “When I woke up I was on Red Hill in the hospital.
Augerson spent 10 days in the hospital recovering before he reported to the Receiving Barracks at Pearl Harbor, where he found his chief, his immediate superior aboard the West Virginia.
“By then the chief and his crew were serving 25,000 people a day at the Receiving Barracks. I became one of the bakers at the barracks,†he said.- Months later, Augerson went back to sea aboard the USS Windham Bay.- Late in the war, Augerson was transferred to a troop transport, the Gen. N.B. Stewart.-
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