The 35th Infantry at Pearl Harbor

From Pearl Harbor to Deployment to Guadalcanal
Following the formation of the 25th Infantry Division on the 1st of October, 1941, the 35th Infantry continued its assignment on Oahu at Schofield Barracks. With the new Division barely ten weeks old, it became one of the first units to be embroiled in what was to become the second world war following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The men at Pearl Harbor had been caught completely off guard. Coming on a bright, beautiful Sunday morning, many were still in bed, off post or just continuing with business as usual for a Sunday morning when the attack by the Japanese began.
	Bunting relaxes on his bunk in the Hawaii barracks near Wheeler Field in 1941. The soldiers kept themselves amused by having their pictures taken with Bunting’s cardboard cutout of the "Chesterfield Girl."
I’d better take some cover Don Bunting was 23 years old, stationed as a truck driver with the 35th Infantry. His barracks were close to Wheeler Field, one of the two main airfields near Pearl Harbor. The memories of those days are still vivid. Bunting can even remember the breakfast he was eating on Dec. 7, when the explosions began. "I was having some pancakes, and then when the shots began, I figured it was just a 21-gun salute or something," Bunting said. "I didn’t think anything more about it, so I finished my breakfast. But when I walked outside, I saw the Japanese Zero planes fly by, and I could see the tracer fire hitting Wheeler Field."
	With no weapons and still not sure what was happening, Bunting got on his bicycle and headed for the airfield. When he arrived, he found that over 130 planes had already been destroyed by the Japanese. Only five brand-new P-40s remained, less than 40 feet away from Bunting Then another Zero came diving in, opening fire. Just that quickly, the remaining five planes were in flames.
"When I saw that happen, I said to myself, ‘I’d better take some cover,’" Bunting recalled. "I could have thrown a baseball and hit that plane. I was that close." Bunting jumped onto his bicycle and rode as fast as he could to the barracks. He needed his gun. In the days after the attack, there was an atmosphere of shock in Pearl Harbor. Jones recalled riding around the harbor in a boat, taking in the damage. Ships were still burning. Bodies of his crew mates were being removed from the water. Bunting went to bed expecting a second attack to come any minute. He wrote in his journal on Dec. 8, "Slept in own bunk last night with my rifle in my right hand, ready to go." Yet there was another change as well: How people in Hawaii treated members of the military after the attack. "On December. 6, nobody who saw us in the street talked to us," Bunting said. "We were dogs. On December 8, we were heroes. People looked at us very differently." Bunting went to Guadalcanal. Back in Marshalltown, his sister recognized him on a newsreel about the war when she went to see a movie. "She stood up in the theatre and said, ‘That’s my brother,’" Bunting recalled. "Later, the projectionist gave her a piece of the film that had me on it." (1)
Attack on Wheeler Field and Schofield Barracks December 7, 1941
Once it was realized what was happening, the men of the 35th, along with the rest of the 25th Division, hurried to defend their barracks. Though the main target of the Japanese was Wheeler Field and its planes, there were accounts of the barracks at Schofield being strafed as planes passed overhead. Joseph Kretzman, a corporal in the 35th Regiment, contended that two Japanese fighter planes strafed the street along the parade grounds near his barracks. Maj. Gen. Maxwell Murray, commander of the 25th, in testimony before the Roberts Commission about two weeks later, testified that "the machine gun strafing was heavy," and American machine gunners on the roofs "were getting some strafing."
Troops manned defensive positions around Oahu after the attack
Once the bombing had ended, the men of the division evacuated the wounded and relocated the civilians caught in the devastation. Pre-planned positions were manned in anticipation of an all out Japanese attack. Homes were searched for short wave radios. Throughout the summer of 1942, the 25th continued its vigilance, guarding against the anticipated ground invasion. The American defeat of the Japanese navy at Midway, however, eased the fear of such an invasion. Elements of the division participated in various training maneuvers, including jungle and amphibious exercises.
Conducting maneuvers on the Waikane Trail 1942	When the threat of attack diminished, American leaders eager to retake the Pacific began planning a limited offensive, and Guadalcanal became the first objective. In early July 1942 the Japanese captured the island of Guadalcanal and began constructing an airfield with an eye towards advancing further south. On 7 August 1942 U.S. marines stormed ashore, beginning the battle to capture the island and protect the allied communications with Australia. The fighting on Guadalcanal raged on for months, with the Japanese and Americans both struggling to commit additional troops. Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins, commander of the 25th Infantry Division, received notice that his division would be shipped overseas in mid-October. The division, broken up into three separate regimental combat teams (RCTs), built around the 27th, 35th and 161st Infantry, for the coming mission, departed Hawaii at the end of November.
1. Don Bunting's account of the events that transpired at Schofield Barracks were contained in an article published in the Times Republican, June 2001, Marshalltown ,Iowa, authored by Rob Merritt