Navy Yard Broadcast from Pearl Harbor: Part 4

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

NAVY YARD BROADCAST FROM PEARL HARBOR: Part 4

This is the final of four parts of a radio broadcast aired from Pearl Harbor, March 18, 1942. The first part, an interview with Albert Briskay, a civilian worker dealing with submarine repair, was posted on December 7, 2009. The final part will be posted March 18, 2011. Links to previous posts are listed at the end of this post.

To view photo illustration,click on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncholland/3899210556/in/photostream/

 WAHL: Got a little Irish blood in me, myself. Happy to meet you, Mr. Milsop. When did you come over to this country?

MILSOP: You mean to Hawaii?

WAHL: Well, yes….but I meant the United States mainland.

MILSOP: I settled in Patterson, New Jersey, in 1897 and came to Hawaii last month. Was transferred here from the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn.  My family, my wife and three children, are still in Patterson.

WAHL: You have three children, eh?

MILSOP: Yes, two boys—one 35, practicing law, and another 28, who’s a commercial artist. My only daughter is a secretary in the Wright Aeronautical Plant. She’s 24.

WAHL: Mr. Milsop, one of the stock questions in these parts is “What was your first impression of the Islands?”

MILSOP: Are you asking me?

WAHL: Sure, would you care to tell us. You give us the truth, and we’ll take the consequences.

MILSOP: Well, now, I marveled most at the even climate. I like this balmy weather. And everything seems to be so colorful here. When I left New York, it was plenty cold. Freezing, in fact.

WAHL: Mr. Milsop, right here I’d like to ask you just what your reaction has been to our nightly blackouts and gasoline rationing?

MILSOP: Well, I guess it would spoil Hawaii for

Navy Yard Broadcast from Pearl Harbor: Part 3

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

NAVY YARD BROADCAST FROM PEARL HARBOR: Part 3

This is the third of four parts of a radio broadcast aired from Pearl Harbor, March 18, 1942. The first part, an interview with Albert Briskay, a civilian worker dealing with submarine repair, was posted on December 7, 2009. The final part will be posted March 18, 2011. Links to previous and following posts are listed at the end of this post.

To view photo illustration,click on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncholland/3899210556/in/photostream/

WAHL: You know, Captain Swain, I was just thinking, in the days of King Kamehameha, the harbor here must have been surrounded by tropical jungle and rolling fields of sugar cane. This world-famous drydock, for instance, the site of our broadcast, is a far cry from Hawaii of half a century ago!

SWAIN: As a matter of fact, Jim, this isn’t the original drydock. The first one started in 1909. The floor under the graving dock was of volcanic rock and coral, and after four years of hard work and plenty of sweat in building it, it collapsed before it was used. That was really the first Pearl Harbor tragedy. Francis Smith—“Drydock” Smith they called him—was the engineer in charge…one of the best in the country. The dock and cofferdam were built, the water pumped out, and the bottom deepened. But, the bottom wasn’t stapled (illegible word) (crossed off: would rise or fall, depending on how much water was pumped). So, they drove concrete piling into the bottom of the harbor. Everything appeared alright, but suddenly one day the crib timbers cracked, the concrete blocks on the bottom were forced up and the cofferdam, built to hold back the sea, collapsed.

WAHL: Yes, and the old Hawaiians said it was all because the

Navy Yard Broadcast from Pearl Harbor: Part 2

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

NAVY YARD BROADCAST FROM PEARL HARBOR: Part 2

This is the second of four parts of a radio broadcast aired from Pearl Harbor, aired March 18, 1942. The first part, an interview with Albert Briskay, a civilian worker dealing with submarine repair, was posted on December 7, 2009 (Pearl Harbor: A 1942 Radio Broadcast Script ). The third part will be posted December 7, 2010, and the final part will be posted March 18, 2011.

 To view photo illustration,click on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncholland/3899210556/in/photostream/

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NAVY YARD BROADCAST

KGU to NBC

1100-1115  –  Wednesday, March 18, 1942

WAHL: Remember Pearl Harbor? This broadcast comes to you from the pulsating heart of that gigantic mid-Pacific naval base, 2200 miles west and south of San Francisco. Until three months ago, Pearl Harbor was just a name! Today it is a legend…..the place where our war began. Here are all the complex activities that comprise a naval base.

And there are men – thousands of them – civilian workers- who ready the ships for new jobs at sea when they come in from scouring the seventy million square miles of this Pacific battle front. For every man at sea there must be many ashore – just as every plane in the air needs ground crews to service it.

Today we are speaking to you from one of Pearl Harbor’s biggest servicing centers – from the edge of one of the great drydocks. Listen a minute to the sound and the fury of Pearl Harbor at work!

SOUND   UP AND HOLD FIVE TO TEN SECONDS

WAHL: This is Jim Wahl, speaking for KGU and the National Broadcasting Company. Today we’re going to try and give you a brief picture of some of the men at Pearl Harbor and of the jobs they do. We’re fortunate in having as our guide Captain Charles D. Swain, production officer of this Navy Yard. Captain, I’m a Grade A landlubber