In August of 1940, upon hearing FDR talk of starting a draft, Henry Swyers of Brockay, NY, decided to enlist in the United States Navy. He didn't want to become, as he put it, “just another GI”. He was sworn into the Navy at Pittsburgh, PA and assigned to the Naval Training Station at Newport, Rhode Island. Swyers went on to serve aboard the USS Patterson, (a 'Can' or destroyer) carrying depth charges.

By November of 1941 tensions between Japan and the United States were extremely high. The American public had not yet been convinced of the need for war. They didn't want to send troops to Europe. Roosevelt knew that Japan had to throw the first punch before there would be much public support for entering the war. Diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Japan turned very sour during the last part of November of 1941. Intercepted Japanese messages pointed towards a declaration of war and a terrific attack on the U.S. on December 8th, 1941 - December 7th Hawaii time.

Almost 60 years later, after watching a documentary on television, Henry Swyers, Chief Petty Officer USN 1940-1946, wrote to his son (Leadville, CO City Councilman Joe Swyers): "Saw on T.V. the other day that Washington, D.C. had notice from the Dutch, in Java, and other code breakers that the Japs were going to hit Pearl on the 7th. The boys in Frisco tracked the fleet right across the Pacific. They think Roosevelt wanted it to happen so he could get in the war. They didn’t let the boys at Pearl in on the dope." The Japanese ships had taken 10 days to cross the ocean and come within striking range, and no one in Hawaii was aware of the impending danger. The letter to Henry’s son Joe takes on particular significance when one remembers that Henry was "one of the boys at Pearl."

(pictured at left: Battleship Row during the attack on Pearl Harbor)

On Friday, Dec. 5, 1941, the USS Patterson had been assigned to patrol the outside harbor with a fleet of ships that had been docking at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In his journal from his enlisted days, Swyers recounts the following, “... We have been out with the fleet and patrolling outside the harbor until the battleships and cruisers get in port.”

The USS Patterson traveled around Ford Island, a large island directly in the center of the harbor. She settled in at the innermost end. Later that night Swyers writes, “These cans don’t rate worth a dam. We have been getting sub contacts in the area with some other cans. They signaled in to the control tower for permission to drop depth charges. No permission granted and they are not our subs. In port P.M.”

Indeed if Hawaii had received a warning from Washington that suspicions of a Japanese attack were high, the sighting of these subs would have been a sure sign of impending attack. Curiously, no intelligence information had reached Pearl Harbor.

The next day Swyers reports that he had his "Capt. inspection" and then had time off for liberty on shore. Roosevelt had recently ordered most of the older ships in the fleet over to Pearl Harbor, and on December 6, 1941 they had arrived in port and were moored in the harbor.

Swyers wrote in his journal that evening, "There was such a crowd at the landing." He also commented, "The place is such a mad house when the fleet gets in." On the eve of the "day that will live in infamy" almost everyone stationed in Pearl Harbor was enjoying their time ashore and didn’t know that, for many, this would be their last Saturday night on Earth.

The next morning the Condor reported seeing a sub, but it disappeared mysteriously. Two hours later the Ward sank it, but word never arrived at Pearl Harbor alerting the base to this development.

Here is a first hand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor as witnessed and recorded by Swyers -
(pictured at right: the USS Arizona going down.)

12/7/41 Had chow and sacked out. The G.Q. sounded and they called away the Fire and Rescue Party. Headed topside to lower the boat. When I got on topside a Jap plane flew over real low with one of our Cruiser Scout Planes on his tail trying to shoot him down. I didn’t wait to see if he made it. They were cutting the awning off the #4 gun. Ford Island and Battleship row is a mess of fire and explosions. Headed for my gun station, the #2 gun upper handling room. Met the Exec. Officer heading aft? The fellows on the gun are hollering for more ammunition but none is coming up from the lower handling room. Our .50 cal are firing forward. We finally got some ammunition and the boys are using it up. The attack started about 0800. The Henley and The Ralph Talbot are tied up to our port side. We have our boiler partly tore down. The Henley got out about 0830. We had a short lull and took our empty powder cases and threw them over the side. Things don’t look so good from here. The Ralph Talbot got away and we finally got underway. Another raid came over and banging away again. We are tied up to a bouy about 2000 yds from Ford Island. Our gun got a direct hit on a plane and Shatz on one of the forward .50 cal got a plane. We had a close bomb hit in the water. Going out of harbor and passed the Nevada, she is beached alongside the channel. We went out without the Capt. and some of the crew. The Capt. came out in a whale boat. A can reported sinking a sub in the harbor. The Utah is bottom side up at her dock. The Nevada, she beached herself along the channel. She has her bow on land and after end low in the water.

(At left: the view from outside a hangar during the attack on Pearl Harbor)


About 1000 and mustered the Crew. There are still A.A. bursts [Anti-Aircraft fire] over the harbor. Everyone standing around not saying much. The Utah was bottom up alongside Ford Island. The Clipper landed at Pearl City in all that mess.

About 1200 and have the Detroit, Phoenix, and a bunch of cans heading west.

2100 to 2400 We have joined the Enterprise and task force. We have the Enterprise, 4 cruisers, and 20 cans. The news don’t sound too good for our side.

_________________________________________________________

The attack on Pearl Harbor had succeeded and on December 8, 1941, FDR got his wish: the United States Congress declared war on Japan. U.S. involvement in WWII had officially begun. Swyers wrote the following in his journal that day:

"Most of our planes were caught on the ground. All wagons sunk or damaged... All our ammunition was in the lower handling room and I heard they had to saw some locks off to get them open. Heard we lost over 2000 men. Should have been a little more alert with sub contacts in the outer harbor on the 5th. Somebody screwed up for sure."

Somebody did screw up, Swyers was correct. However, it would be over 50 years later that he would find out it had been his own Commander-in-Chief, FDR, who had allowed the atttack on Pearl Harbor to happen without warning his own citizens and soldiers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was willing to sacrifice the lives of his own men to anger the public enough to get public support to enter the war. His perfidy was aided and abetted by some of the military’s top officials, who helped keep the warnings a secret.

(Pictured at right: the USS Tennessee alongside the sunken USS West Virginia. The picture was taken from the capsized hull of the Oklahoma on December 10, 1941.)

By using a build-up of ships in Pearl Harbor as bait for the Japanese and preventing the notification of those in Hawaii about the Japanese fleet that was approaching, FDR caused the deaths of thousands of brave Americans. He is responsible for the suffering of countless American widows and children and mothers and fathers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was guilty of cooperating with the enemy. Let this serve as proof to all American citizens who are in doubt. This can happen in America. It already has.

Of the troops stationed at Pearl Harbor on the 7th, the Navy suffered 2,117 killed, 960 missing, and 876 wounded men. The Army’s casualty toll was 226 men killed, and 396 wounded. 354 Japanese aircraft bombed and raided Pearl Harbor that morning, and the people of America believed that no one saw it coming.

The fine men and women who died at Pearl Harbor died as a result of a treasonous and deliberate act carried out by their own elected and appointed leaders. For 60 years our government has refused to acknowledge FDR's role in the cold-blooded murder of these American patriots. Despite recent reports of this information in the mass media, the majority of children and adults in America still do not know the truth about Pearl Harbor.

Why aren’t our children learning the truth of the matter in our schools? Why is Roosevelt still regarded as a hero and a great man? Why does no one speak out against his treasonous actions against the United States, our Constitution, and our troops?

The brave men and women who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor must be remembered. Their story must be told, for they truly were martyrs for freedom, sacrificed at the hands of a traitor. Their story and the role of FDR in their deaths must become common knowledge. America must say, "Never again!"

As Libertarian Councilman Joe Swyers, son of Chief Petty Officer Henry Swyers said of these true patriots, "They were sacrificed by a politician. They were used as bait. It is not just the betrayal by their Commander in Chief. It is also over fifty years of silence, voluntary or enforced, by those who knew. Enough time [has passed] that most of those to whom it happened are no longer able to protest. Roosevelt’s 'day that will live in infamy' will now and forever mean something very different."

We Will Remember Pearl Harbor

My deepest thanks to Henry Swyers and his son Joe Swyers for providing me copies of the journal and the picture of Henry in uniform. The pictures of Pearl Harbor were obtained at the U.S. Navy web site. I am grateful for their assistance.
Michelle Konieczny

(The poster to the right was designed by Allen Sandburg and issued in 1942. The poster features a quotation from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address: "we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain...")