At sea, the day began aboard the aircraft carrier Enterprise at first light when she sent off her compliment of Marine fighter planes, the Grumman F4U's. Soon after, at 06:15, two planes departed for Ford Island in order to land a member of Halsey's staff. Twelve minutes later (the carrier was now heading back to Pearl Harbor), the other aircraft of Scouting Six departed for the naval base. During the next hour, Halsey shaved and put on a fresh uniform in his flag quarters; he was still there at 07:55 when Lieutenant H. Douglas Moulton, his flag secretary, answered the phone from the Radio Room: Pearl Harbor was under air attack! Halsey jumped to his feet in dismay.
Meanwhile, the planes of Scouting Six had started to arrive over Pearl Harbor. One of these was Ensign Manuel Gonzales. In the carrier's Radio Room where Commander Charles Fox was on duty, the frantic voice of the pilot was distinctly heard: Don't shoot! Don't shoot! This is an American Plane!" There was no further communication from Gonzales; nor was there any in due course from eleven other planes of the squadron.
A heavy cruiser, New Orleans, was moored in the Southeast Loch of the Navy Yard. Her only casualties were sustained when a fragmentation bomb dropped nearby and shrapnel raked her topsides. The story of the cruiser's fight is told by Presbyterian Chaplain, Lieutenant Commander Howell Forgy, whose legendary conduct during the battle inspired the popular war song, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition." When the attack opened, Forgy was in his quarters thinking about the sermon he was scheduled to deliver. He had decided on "We Reach Forward," based on Paul's words, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching unto those things which are before."
--S.E. Smith
From: The United States Navy in World War II
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