Local Pearl Harbor Survivor Passes Away in 2012-- Part 2: No Walk-In Freezer for Me and Staining the Uniforms

Fred Westford's commanding officer ordered the mess hall men to take cover in a large walk-in freezer.  Fred said, "I don't know about you, but I'm from North Dakota and I didn't come to Hawaii to freeze to death in a walk-in freezer.'

Instead, he ducked under a nearby steel table.

After the initial attack, his unit was ordered to boil a solution of strong coffee and tea and then the enlisted men were ordered to bring their white uniforms to the mess hall where they were placed in the solution.  It had been determined that the white uniforms made the men "sitting ducks" should the Japanese return.

The base shot down one Japanese Zero and the pilot was killed.  Eighteen military and two citizens were killed in the attack at his station.

Afterwards, a memorial was placed at the Japanese crash site, but there was nothing for the twenty Americans who were killed.  In the late 1970s, Fred Westford and several other Kaneohe survivors formed a group called the Kanoehe Klippers and raised funds for a stone memorial.

He was a long-time resident of Bremerton and died at age 92.

--GreGen