A teenager grows up the hard way

James "Jim" Stansell was almost ready for war by the age of seventeen. At sixteen, he had joined the Civilian Conservation Corps, a junior version of the WP A. He was, in a sense, like a junior member of the army, as the CCC was paid for and administered by the army. The young men involved wore army uniforms and had drill sergeants. So, at age seventeen, in 1940, it was natural for Stansell to join the armed forces. He chose the navy and, by January of 1941, was enlisted.

Because of his experience in the CCC, Stansell didn't need much training. "I had to learn how to tie a few knots and keep [my] mouth shut," he remembers with a smile.
And so this native Montana boy was sent down to San Diego for boot camp, where he learned how to operate ships. He was then transported onto a tanker and traveled /Tom California to his ship, the U.S.S. Hull, in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He would spend a total of about three and one half years on the Hull.

During his last times in the CCC, people were suspecting that there was going to be a war. By the time Stansell joined the Navy, there was hardly any question about it, and by the time he reached Pearl Harbor, people knew that war was only a matter of time. But, Stansell said, they "had no idea it would happen the way it did."

A day that will live in infamy

Stansell arrived in Pearl Harbor in February of 1941. It was almost a year later when, on December 7th, he was getting ready to go to church on the Hull. He and his crewmates had just come in from a mission at sea and had tied up to a larger ship, the U.S.S. Dobbin, who gave their ship energy. As Stansell was sitting there, preparing for church, someone came down and informed him that they were being invaded.

Immediately, Stansell ran up to the Hull's deck. The first thing he saw was a Japanese plane, so close that he could see the pilot's face. The aircrafts, he remembers, were everywhere. As soon as the attack had started, the Dobbin cut the Hull off/Tom power, leaving Stansell (a sight-setter, at the time) and the rest of the crew useless; without power, they couldn't work any of their power guns. In Stansell's words, he had plenty of time to "look around".

And he saw everything on that day that has truly lived in infamy. Being somewhat close to the U.S.S. Arizona, he saw it blow up. He saw the U.S.S. Utah roll over, the Nevada sink and run aground, and the floating dry-dock blow up - all before smoke clouded his vision. Stansell, a seventeen year-old boy, found himself in the midst of one of the most deadly battles in American history, ships exploding on either side of him. He was, to put it simply, scared to death.

The Hull itself saw a bit of action. When ships were hit, many times personnel fell or jumped into the water. From there, they swam to other ships in hope of finding safety. The Hull received some sailors /Tom the U.S.S. Oklahoma. As well, even though the Hull was a smaller, lesser target for the Japanese, it was still threatened by torpedoes and bombs. It was positioned just off of the north end of the airstrip, so when the Japanese pilots made their runs, they pulled out of their dives right over the Hull. Anything that was left was dropped onto the ship.

The Dobbin, next to the Hull, was hit. The Hull itself was hit as well, under the stern, damaging its rudder.

Finally, the element of shock began to wear off and the ships began to pull themselves together. The Hull got its firepower back and then jetted out of Pearl Harbor onto offshore patrol, searching for whatever could be seen. By that time, it was already late afternoon. While on patrol, the Hull could hear the Army/EMP communications. Everything was a chaotic mess. Every Japanese seen (as there were many in Hawaii at the time) was suddenly a spy. The entire time, the Army and Navy were expecting to be invaded again by the Japanese, after the initial attack. As we know, they weren't.

During the night, Stansell and the others on the Hull saw some mysterious lights in the water. They cruised around them and waited until daylight when they discovered a Japanese fishing boat that had been fueling a small Japanese submarine. The sub escaped, but the others and the fishing boat were turned over to the Harbor Patrol.

In the morning, the Hull returned to Pearl Harbor, and again, tied onto the Dobbin. That was when the real damage was realized - the sunk and capsized ships, the bombed buildings, the flooded dry-dock which held two battleships and one destroyer, all of which were on fire. By this time, there were many American planes returning /Tom their patrols, but the Navy, including Stansell and his crewmates, the Army, and the Marines were so spooked by the attack that they began firing at the American planes.

"I am well"

Eventually, order began reclaim its reign. Over 2400 were killed in Pearl Harbor that day, some of whom Stansell personally knew. However, no one was allowed to phone or write home to assure loved ones of their health, so families waited anxiously for any other word of their sons' welfare - most likely, the absence of their name on a list.
Until the lists came out, they only knew that their sons were in Pearl Harbor and that some two thousand men had died there.

As he found out later, Stansell's name appeared on a casualty list by mistake. The list was sent back to his hometown and it was a whole two weeks before the truth became known. At that point, cards were given out where one would simply check off a box corresponding to their condition ("I am well"; "I am injured") and sign their name.
Stansell checked the "I am well" box, signed the card, and it was sent to his home, much to the amazement and relief of his family.

Although the memories still have the power to bring Stansell and his fellow survivors to tears, he doesn't allow ideas of what could have been haunt him. Of course, he has heard the stories about how people supposedly knew about the attack but what, he argues, can you do about it now?

The Hull was repaired and, with its crew, sent by an Admiral Kimmell (who was in charge of the Pacific Fleet) to raid the Marshall and Gilbert islands, with both aircraft and surface fire. About one day's distance ITom the islands, the ships found out that Kimmell's loyalty was being seriously questioned. The ships returned to Pearl Harbor and Kimmell was relieved of his duties, although he was never charged.

"You never get used to it"

Among other things, Stansell, with the Hull, was part of the American/Australian Anzac forces. He was in the Coral Sea Battle, from March until August of 1942. After that, the Hull and its crew returned to San Francisco, where they were outfitted with 20mm antiaircraft guns. They then returned to the South Pacific and joined in the invasion of Guada1canal. For three or four weeks, Stansell screen transports, under air attack the entire time. At the end of the first week, in the Battle of Savo Island, four American cruisers were lost in one night. The Hull somehow survived, although it had been right in the middle. .

Stansell also assisted the Marines by shelling the beaches. At one point, the Japanese and Americans were on either side ofa river, fifty feet away ITom the Hull. Stansell and his crewmates then "cleaned out" the area for them. Along with that, Stansell helped to ferry the wounded Marines to hospitals, still under air attack the entire time. "You never [get used to it], you never do," states Stansell with certainly, "They might try to portray that in the movies, but you never do, never get used to it."

After numerous other missions, Stansell eventually ended up back in Pearl Harbor, where he was transferred off the Hull. This was in 1943 or early 1944. (Interestingly enough, the Hull actually did not survive every battle. On Christmas of 1944, the ship capsized and went down in a typhoon. 140 men were lost at sea.) Stansell then went to a tanker, which he didn't enjoy. He asked for a transfer and was assigned to auxiliary mine sweeps. After three days in one invasion, he went to work for the famous Sea-Bees. There, he worked on an airstrip for twenty-one days. He was then given a choice: if he wanted to go back to his ship or to the States for a new assignment. He chose the latter.

Stansell was sent to amphibious training school in Coronado, San Diego, California. While training there, the war in Germany ended. Because of that, the base he was training at was ended, as well. Once again, Stansell was shipped back to Pearl Harbor to be an amphibious replacement. However, he and two other men were taken to Wiani, Hawaii, to relieve three other officers. He was in Wiani when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan. Like the rest of the world, Stansell and most of the Hawaii staff had no idea about the attack. "The only word we got was that they dropped a bomb on Hiroshima and that Japan was thinking about surrender," remembers Stansell.

Echoes of the war

The war ended soon afterward. After serving nine months in command of discharge in Bremerton, Stansell himself was finally discharged. By this time he was only twenty-one, yet had seen more than most people would ever care to. "There isn't a man in war," he says, "That [war] doesn't change his perspective on life. . . It's like you grew up awful fast; never had time to be a kid." Stansell returned home to a 26 below zero temperature, a stark contrast to the tropics he had become used to. All the men he had known were mostly gone and there was no industry in his Montana town; only the copper mines.

Today, James Stansell enjoys woodworking and lives in a small house with his wife, Arlene, in Bellingham, Washington. He is one of eight Pearl Harbor survivors in that town. He is the president of the North Cascades chapter of Pearl Harbor survivors, which meets often in Whidbey Island. There, the survivors meet and recall the events of that fateful morning. However, their story cannot be kept inside their small circle - the survivors are passing away at a rate of300 a month and they cannot afford to inwardly wither. No; their story must be told to the world, if not to learn from it, to at least respect what December 7th is all about.

Stansell understands that wars happen, although he wants the youth of today to "make sure there aren't any more". Still, he realizes that if there are other nations, there will be conflicts. If finding yourself in a war, he advises, "Make sure you win it . . . Do the best you can; be all you can be." There may not be a man out there with more experience to back that up. Stansell was forced to see the world in all its horror at the young age of seventeen, something he has not, to this day, let go.