“This remembrance ceremony has a long history of being held in the State Capitol and this is our first time back here for this event since the COVID-19 pandemic,” opened Stamatopoulos. “One of the biggest changes you can’t help but notice is the small number of seats those Pennsylvanians who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor are now occupying. We are honored to have Richard Shimmel with us today. Please join me in a moment of applause to show our gratitude for his service.”
Richard Schimmel is an Allentown native and entered the Army in 1940 and was assigned to the 580th Signal Aircraft Warning Service on Oahu, Hawaii. The fifth of eight children of an encyclopedia salesman, he liked to read about far-flung places, which led to a conversation with an Army recruiter.
Schimmel arrived on Oahu at the end of the year and trained at Schofield Barracks. He worked as a plotter and switchboard operator at an information center at Fort Shafter, just east of Pearl Harbor, communicating with Oahu’s five newly built mobile radar stations. He also helped install the mobile radar stations that would bring in the information.
The 19-year-old private first-class and his Army friends learned the ropes of radar over the next few months, but because leaders were worried they would wear the equipment out, they were only allowed to use it a few hours a day. No one was scheduled to be working at the Opana Radar Station in northeast Oahu the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, but by happenstance, two technicians were.
He was the fifth person to know about the report of the airplanes coming. From his vantage point, he could see all of Pearl Harbor. Initially, his group thought the planes were on maneuvers, dropping smoke bombs. But when somebody turned on a radio, to the only station in Honolulu, they heard that this was no maneuver. Pearl Harbor was under attack.
A few months after the attack, Schimmel helped set up a radar information center on Maui and several other Pacific islands. Later, he endured six months on the island Kanton, 1,900 miles southwest of Hawaii, where he survived three bombings by the Japanese. He rose to the rank of staff sergeant and racked up 56 months overseas before the war ended in 1945. Schimmel left the Army soon after. He’s lived in West Allentown, Pennsylvania, since 1973.
The attack on Pearl Harbor showcased the resiliency and commitment of the American people and our Navy. Fifteen Sailors were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions that day. American technological skill raised and repaired 13 ships following the attack. Each of those ships rising to fight again. On October 2, 1942, Naval Supply Depot Pearl Harbor, the predecessor to NAVSUP’s Fleet Logistics Center there today, was born and its value became immediately apparent as it supplied our Allies every need. Those days were Naval Supply Depot Pearl Harbor’s finest hour and Admiral Nimitz would later refer to it as “the secret weapon of the Pacific.”
While the background of the attack and events following are worthy of study by all, the ceremony is about continuing to remember those who gave their lives that day and those who, without any warning, became heroes that day. As the ceremony is occasion to remember, the nation is also continuing to honor a commitment to some.
Today, the Defense Prisoner of War / Missing in Action Accounting Agency continues to work diligently to identify the remains of those service members who are listed on the Walls of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
The attack on the USS Oklahoma resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen with only 35 men identified at the time. Today, the number of those identified stands at 396, with only 33 unidentified.
One of those recently accounted for was Navy Radioman 3rd Class Charles A. Montgomery from Folcroft, Pennsylvania. RM3 Montgomery was 21 years old and in the radio room on the USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island on the morning of the attack. The ship would sustain multiple torpedo hits and quickly capsize and RM3 Montgomery would perish.
RM3 Montgomery’s remains were finally identified on March 3, 2021, and just a few weeks ago on November 10 he was laid to rest in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
“The recent return of RM3 Montgomery to his family reminds us of exactly why we are gathered here today and why we must never forget the sacrifices made that day,” Stamatopoulos concluded. “May God bless our Pearl Harbor veterans and survivors, our World War II veterans and those who make up the ‘Greatest Generation’ and all those who follow in their wake to defend our nation.”
NAVSUP is headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, and employs a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 25,000 military and civilian personnel. NAVSUP and the Navy Supply Corps conduct and enable supply chain, acquisition, operational logistics and Sailor & family care activities with our mission partners to generate readiness and sustain naval forces worldwide to prevent and decisively win wars. Learn more at www.navsup.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/navsup and https://twitter.com/navsupsyscom.