Nebraskan Sailor Helped Rescue Pearl Harbor Men in the Water-- Part 1

From the December 9, 2015, Omaha.com "Nebraskan, 92, who helped rescue Pearl harbor survivors is haunted by memory of sailors drowning in oil" by Jeff Bahr.

Melvin "Bud" Kennedy found himself on a forty-foot launch that fateful day along with three others.  It became their mission all day and into the night when it was too dark to continue to rescue as many from the burning and oily water as possible.  He remembered that by then "we were just black as tar."

Veteran of six years in the Navy, Mr. Kennedy enlisted in Omaha in 1940 and was discharged in Philadelphia in November 1946.  He served on the repair ship USS Regal and the destroyer USS Clark during the war.

Actually, the actual name of his first ship is the USS Rigel and it was a destroyer tender.The ship was at Pearl Harbor that day but without armament as it was being converted to a destroyer tender.  It received slight damage.  The Clark wasn't.

Much of his duty was with lifeboats, but his battle station was one of a four-man crew on a four-barrel 37 mm anti-aircraft gun in front of the Clark;s bridge.  His station consisted of a trainer (who aimed the gun) , two loaders and he was the pointer.

--GreGen