Coast veteran recalls 'date which will live in infamy'

When the USS Balch returned to Pearl Harbor early on the morning of Dec. 8, 1941, Marvin Westcott at first couldn't see the extent of the damage. But as the crew pulled into the inner port, everything became visible.

"You know, those battleships, they were the kings of the Navy," the Gulfport resident said. "Here they were turned over, on fire, burning. And the bodies in the water."

After 26 years in the Navy and service in multiple wars, Westcott still clearly remembers that moment. And what came after.

The Dec. 7, 1941, surprise attack on the base in Hawaii claimed the lives of more than 2,000 Americans and left more than 1,100 wounded.

Two battleships were destroyed, two were sunk and recovered, and three were damaged. Eleven other ships were damaged and more than 180 aircraft destroyed.

The "date which will live in infamy" also directly led to the country's involvement in World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt would declare war the next day.

And its effects were felt directly in Mississippi as well. In the men that served at Pearl Harbor who would eventually retire to the Coast. In the seven Mississippians who died aboard the USS Arizona during the attack. And in the creation of the Seabees, now so integral to South Mississippi's military community.

The USS Balch was out on a secret mission when the attack occurred, Westcott said. It returned to get fuel and extra ammunition -- wartime levels of ammunition. Westcott recalled a headline he had seen about the "Impregnable Pearl Harbor."

They left, came back, picked up extra personnel, some from now-sunken ships, then went out again, Westcott said.

"You see the sight of those battleships. Here the Japanese were so far ahead of us," he said. "After that, we sure increased our carriers and nobody could challenge us."

He added, "It wasn't a surprise attack, it was a sneak attack. We weren't at war."

After Pearl Harbor, the USS Balch participated in the bombardment of the Marshall Islands in February 1942.

During that operation, Westcott remembered being told not to worry about aircraft. But he looked up and saw two splashes -- rockets fired from the sky.

He remembers the captain telling him, "I'm not going to sit here and be fired on and not fire back."

At one point the crew fired at aircraft without hitting them because they hadn't been trained to.

"We sure learned after that," Westcott said.

The crew was involved in other operations, including the decisive Battle of Midway. Westcott's crew helped rescue 545 survivors of the USS Yorktown.

"That was our D-Day," Westcott said. "That was the turning point of their war. The turning point of our war was Midway."

Westcott joined the Navy in 1940, when he was 17 years old. He served for 26 years, including during Korea and Vietnam, though WWII was the only action he saw, he said.

The Pearl Harbor attack also led to the creation of a new unit of the Navy.

The Navy had been using civilian contractors to built bases in the Pacific region. When the war started, that was no longer permissible.

On Dec. 28, 1941, Rear Admiral Ben Moreell requested permission to create units that could support Navy operations, build and maintain bases and defend themselves if attacked -- the Naval Construction Battalions. On Jan. 5, 1942, that permission was granted.

Today there are almost 14,000 active and reserve Seabees. The first of them arrived in Gulfport in 1942 and more than 4,000 are stationed there today.

This story was originally published December 6, 2015 at 9:31 PM with the headline "Coast veteran recalls 'date which will live in infamy' ."