Great Falls Naval vets recount their experiences at Pearl Harbor

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Justin Brockhoff
  • 341st Space Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  Thursday marks the 65th anniversary of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, officially bringing the United States into World War II. Two Great Falls residents, retired Commander J.D. Hodapp, Jr. and retired Chief Petty Officer Tom Parr, are no strangers to the events of Dec. 7, 1941. Both men were stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attacks.

There are currently fewer than 40 survivors of the attacks living in Montana and only a handful living in Great Falls. Many survivors can recount their stories as if it happened yesterday. At the time of the attacks, Commander Hodapp was the first lieutenant aboard the destroyer USS Farragut and Chief Parr a corpsman aboard the hospital ship USS Solace.

The attacks on Pearl Harbor began at 7:53 a.m., Hawaiian time.

"Church services were going on when it began," recalled Chief Parr, who spent 20 years in the Navy prior to working another 18 years in Malmstrom's supply shop. "We were all excited for the three-day weekend and then we saw the USS Raleigh tip into the harbor. We immediately knew what was happening."

As a Navy corpsman, the Chief was responsible for providing combat medical support to troops. He acquired his medical skills at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, Calif., a year before the attacks.

"We had so many people coming in so fast," Chief Parr said. "We went through more emergency surgeries than I could've imagined. Once it started it just didn't stop ... we worked all day and all night trying to save people."

"I was at home when the attacks began," added Commander Hodapp, who graduated from the Naval Academy two years prior in June, 1939. "My wife and I had thrown a luau for friends the night before. The next morning a buddy called me four minutes after the attack began. The harbor was ablaze when I got there. It's almost impossible to put my feelings into words. It was terrible."

During the course of the attacks, Commander Hodapp's ship had moved out of the harbor to safety after sustaining machine-gun fire. Instead, he boarded the USS Chew, still in civilian clothes. That night, he stood watch on the ship, still wearing his 'civvies.'
"That was the only time in my entire career, that I stood a watch in anything but a uniform," he added. "It was one of the few times I wasn't able to have dinner with my wife prior to the watch as well."

Meanwhile, the commander's wife, Clare, was doing her own part to help victims of the attacks. Clare was the assistant superintendent at the Kapiolani Maternity Hospital, responsible for making sure hospital operations ran smoothly. At the time of the attacks, the superintendent was away from the island, which put Clare in charge of the entire hospital.

"She became very busy, very fast," said Commander Hodapp. "At the time there was a glass ceiling on the roof of the building so women could look up at the sky as they delivered their children. While the attacks were going on, my wife and a few other nurses ran house-to-house, gathering paint in order to black out the windows."

Ninety minutes after it began, the attack was over.

As a result of the attacks, eight ships were destroyed and nine others were severely damaged, more than 180 aircraft were destroyed and another 155 damaged. More than 1,175 people were wounded and 2,403 Americans lost their lives, including 68 civilians.
The following day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress, calling December 7, "a date which will live in infamy," during his famous speech. Congress officially declared war on Japan with a single dissenting vote. The president signed the declaration the same day.

"I'm very proud of my service to the country," said Chief Parr, who also served at Iwo Jima and was washed overboard from his ship during the famous battle. "We lost a lot of good men at Pearl and at Iwo Jima. It was all about your buddies and those guys working next to you. I'd do it all over again ... my entire career."

"I was privileged to see so much growth and history of the U.S. Navy," added Commander Hodapp, whose father was also an accomplished Navy officer. "I want people to look back and remember what happened ... I want them to remember all of those men and women that took part. We all gave, some gave all."