70 years later

Local man, 88, recalls Japan’s surprise attack

Paul Stroud with a painting of the destroyer, USS Ralph Talbot. Del Norte Triplicate/Rick Postal

That notion inspired a 17-year-old Stroud to join the Navy in 1941.

Eleven months later, he found himself staring at Pearl Harbor in flames. Wednesday marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack, which began as Stroud was standing aboard the USS Ralph Talbot, a destroyer moored in the harbor.

“Three torpedo planes came right alongside of me, just high enough to get over the ships,” Stroud recalled Sunday. He saw planes and hangars ablaze less than a half-mile away at Ford Island Naval Air Station, which had already been bombed when Stroud  grasped what was happening.  The attack on Ford Island took out 33 planes.

Stroud said he dashed down to the main deck, looked into the mess hall and shouted, “‘Somebody is bombing the hell out of us!’”

He grabbed a knife from the galley and slashed the straps securing canvas over the number one 5-inch gun — Stroud’s battle station.

“We were firing in four minutes — that’s not bad,” Stroud said.

One of the torpedo planes that flew past Stroud struck the USS Raleigh, causing the light cruiser to sink, even though its main deck remained above water.

“The Raleigh was sitting on the bottom but they fired all the way through the battle,” Stroud said.

Paul Stroud’s Navy service photo.

USS Ralph Talbot crewmembers shot hundreds of rounds at the Japanese planes. They maintained fire for almost an hour while the vessel tried to build up enough steam to leave the harbor.

Stroud’s battle station duty during the fight was as a “hot shellman” or “caseman.”  His job was to get rid of the ejected empty powder cartridges, which flew out of the gun hot enough to cause third-degree burns.

The destroyer was under way at 9 a.m., cruising a narrow channel to sea. During its escape,  Japanese pilots dropped bombs in the channel ahead of the ship, some hitting less than 100 yards away.

The destroyer made it out of the harbor undamaged around 9:30 a.m. and started patrolling for enemy submarines. It stayed out at sea for almost a week, eventually returning for supplies.

People often ask Stroud why the experience doesn’t seem to bother him much. He says that his distance from the damage makes it easier.

“The guys that really took the beating are the guys that were in the harbor on those battleships,” Stroud said. “They had to see it.  They had to do it, and I tip my hat off to all of them.”

After the attack, Stroud and the USS Ralph Talbot embarked on various missions, operating with carrier task forces for some of the early raids on Japanese bases in the Central Pacific, including Marshall, Gilbert, Wake and Marcus islands.

The Talbot saw heavy combat during the Guadalcanal campaign, which it reached in August 1942. After taking friendly fire from another American destroyer and a hard shelling from a Japanese cruiser, the Talbot came close to sinking. The ship lost 12 crew members, including its doctor. Improvised repairs were made, such as using mattresses to plug holes in the ship, and it retreated to the United States.

Stroud feels lucky that he avoided hand-to-hand combat and did not have to see the faces of his enemies.

“Our battles were long distance and we didn’t have to see what was on the other end of those shells,” Stroud said. “But I hope that every one that we fired hit the target.”

He credits his survival to God’s grace.

“He spared me for whatever reason from having to see that, and I think he protected me all through the war,” Stroud said.

After the war, Stroud left the military and eventually started work in the oil industry.

 “I didn’t want to make a career out of the Navy. I just went over there to fight a war,” Stroud said.

After a friend took Stroud and his wife around Del Norte County, the couple decided they would eventually retire here.

His faith called him to retire from the oil industry and pursue a life in the ministry — specifically jail ministry, because “that’s where the sinners are,” he said.

He spent 15 years ministering to inmates at the Del Norte County Jail.

The Strouds have lived in Crescent City for 25 years, and they just celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary.

Stroud and other living crew members have reunions frequently, and he plans on using this anniversary to remember those who died on Dec. 7, 1941:

“It’s a time to remember the friends and young people that died for no reason.”

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