Veterans stand to be recognized during CVMS assembly

Remembering Jesse and "A date which will live in infamy"

 

Remembering Jesse and 'A date which will live in infamy'

 

Jesse Reynolds, believed to be the oldest living Pearl Harbor survivor in Missouri (99), passed away this year. At one time, he was a resident at the Missouri Veterans Home in Cameron. Jesse, who was  willing to share his story with all who would listen, was interviewed by many news outlets. 

 

To honor the shrinking number of Pearl Harbor veterans and all veterans of WWII, we would like to share Jesse's story one last time.

 

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The morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941, started off as a typical morning for twenty-two year old Navy cook, Jesse Reynolds. He had just finished cutting up 100 steaks, and decided to go up on the deck of the USS MacDonough, a destroyer anchored in Pearl Harbor.

 

“I walked out on deck and I saw three planes come around. At first they looked just like ours. I thought it was a drill. Then, I saw the torpedoes hanging on them,” said Reynolds.  

 

Moments later, Reynolds witnessed two Japanese aircraft unload torpedoes at the USS Utah and begin the assault on the Pacific Fleet. “I stood there stunned. I ran back and yelled down the hatch that we were being attacked. The guys came out of those beds like they had springs on them!” stated Reynolds.  

 

Manning his battle station, Reynolds was above the bridge and behind a five inch gun. When he turned the gun on, the power tripped off, and everything went dark. They had no electricity; no power. Three crewman, including himself, hurried to a 30 caliber machine gun that was mounted on the side of the ship.  By hand, the men frantically opened cases of ammunition, and started belting them together for the gun.  

 

Meanwhile, the Japanese surprise offensive was in full swing. “They were bombing everything. They had everything on Ford Island on fire. They shot up all the planes that were on the ground.   Battlewagons were on fire.  A thousand pound bomb went right through the deck of the Arizona, and blew that ship up. It was on fire, with black smoke rolling off.  I think there was 1700 men that were down there and never got out. Everything was destroyed,” recalled Reynolds.

 

Pretty certain that the United States would enter the war sooner or later, Reynolds had enlisted in the Navy in March of 1938. However, he never imagined that only a few years later, he would be at the center of an unprecedented attack. He witnessed first hand how astonished and unprepared his country was. “We had an obsolete fleet when the war started. Our guns couldn't even track a plane going over 200 miles per hour. We were not ready.”

 

Although unprepared for the events on that ill-fated day, Reynolds and his shipmates later learned that their efforts behind the machine gun claimed a Japanese plane that flew off toward nearby cane fields.  

 

Witnessing the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor was only the beginning of the fighting and carnage of World War II for Reynolds.  In July 1942, he was assigned to the USS Radford, and became a plank owner. “A plank owner is when you are a member of the crew of a ship that is put into commission,” explained Reynolds.

 

With Reynolds on board, the USS Radford was underway for the South Pacific. He recalls Japanese planes on a bombing mission the first night the Radford entered the Guadalcanal. However, the Navy vessel had the element of surprise ready for the Japanese in the form of radar. “We were the first ship to shoot down a Japanese plane using radar. That sure stopped the night bombing,” laughed Reynolds.

 

Nearly everyday for the next two years, the USS Radford and its crew battled the Japanese. “I didn't figure I would ever come home, because every time we had a big battle, somebody got sunk.”  

 

Reynolds recalled a particularly disturbing event that took place while in the Pacific. “At the end of the canal was an island, and it had a great big rock that must have been a quarter mile high.  At the time, we had a destroyer patrolling nearby. A couple of their Japanese bombers came up over that rock and dropped a 500 pound bomb down the smoke stack of that ship. We were sent over to pick up survivors, but there weren't any. It gives you a terrible feeling to see someone's guts floating in the water. That really gets to you,” he solemnly said.

 

There was also the night that Reynolds thought he had lived his last day on earth. “The water in the South Pacific is full of phosphorus, and anything that stirs in it will flash like a lightening bug. The battlewagon, Iowa was firing 40 millimeters at planes, and you could trace it back to the ship.  Just about that time, I looked, and here comes a torpedo right at us. You could see the trail it was making in the water. We all stood there frozen. There was nothing we could do.  I was certain that was the end for us, but the torpedo was set too deep and went under us. I had the shakes for five or ten minutes after that happened.”

 

After literally wearing the guns out, the USS Radford went stateside in 1944.  For thirteen months, Reynolds worked shore duty, which included cooking for 12,000 men per meal.

 

Reynolds was promoted to Chief of the Commissary before being transferred to the USS Haynesworth.  After months of ordering supplies, stocking them, and getting the books in order, Reynolds got word that he was going to Tokyo. He hated the thought of having to go back into battle once again.  

 

However, fate was on his side as he got word before departure that the United States had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, he heard about Nagasaki, and knew the official end of the war was near.   

 

Reynolds was discharged from the Navy in October of 1945, after having served his country for seven and a half years. “I really never expected to come home,” he said.  

 

After his discharge, Reynolds worked at Swift's Meatpacking Plant in St. Joseph, Missouri until 1948, at which time he attended mechanic school.  He then worked for eleven years for Chrysler in Parkville, Missouri before settling down in Gallatin. He owned and operated a mechanic shop until 1979. 

 

Reynolds received the lifetime achievement award during the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of Missouri convention.  

 

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