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I had specific questions to ask Ed since I had worked at base public affairs at Barbers Point Naval Air Station in Hawaii, and had written about the attack numerous times.
Back then on Dec. 7 at 8 a.m., I would walk to the end of our street and sit on the beach at the entrance to Pearl Harbor where I could hear taps floating across the water. It was there, one foot deep I found the legendary thick layer of oil and soot stained sand. It was like I had personally touched the attack on Pearl Harbor that day. I’ll never forget it.
And I’ll never forget talking with Ed Malan. Last week I wrote about his memories of the attack on Pearl Harbor, but Ed’s story didn’t stop when the attack was over. After all World War II had begun for America and Ed was right in the middle of it.
The dry docks at Pearl Harbor were pretty much undamaged after the attack so work began immediately to get damaged ships to sea. Ed’s ship, USS Preble DM 20, left Pearl Harbor at the end of the month. That DM was navy shorthand for Destroyer Minelayer. It was an old WWI era destroyer with four stacks that had been re-purposed.
As Ed’s ship left the harbor, they passed the twisted burned superstructure of the USS Arizona, and other ships that had been sunk or damaged. Ed said that it was sobering.
At first they guarded the mouth of the harbor. At that time there was a huge metal submarine net that stretched across the harbor entrance. It was similar to chain mail with links two feet across. The net wall would be opened by a tug to let friendly ships pass. The Preble patrolled off shore to protect this operation.
After a couple of months the Preble went up the island chain to put mines around French Frigate Shoals, a collection of tiny islands on an atoll northwest of Hawaii. Ed also got to see some of Kodiak Island near Alaska and Midway Island, where they also set mines.
As Ed explained, mining ships worked in the darkness of the night, so there wasn’t much to see during the actual mine setting.
Even when not laying mines, a ship at sea during a war has no running lights. They didn’t want to attract attention from enemy planes or submarines, so there are no lights at all on the outside of a ship.
“You talk about dark. It gets so dark that you can almost feel it,” he said, comparing walking the deck in such darkness as almost an out-of-body experience.
Luckily for Ed the crew got to go ashore at Midway Island for three memorable sunny days. Midway was a paradise.
“I’ve never seen whiter sand,” he said.
Midway was a small flat island with few trees and no facilities to mention, but the sailors were quite amused by antics of the crazy goony birds. It was a pleasant shore leave with nothing to do, but enjoy the beach. I think it was the last real break they had for awhile.
The crew was shocked when they got back to Pearl Harbor and learned that the Japanese had attacked Midway right after they left and a terrible battle was going on at the paradise they had just enjoyed.
Ed spent much of the next two years working below decks as a machinist mate. They didn’t get much liberty or get ashore that often. At every port there were black outs because even the civilian lights at night had been turned off on the islands of the Pacific.
Credit: Chris Stewart
Credit: Chris Stewart
Another of his strong memories came after they set mines before the battle of Peleliu Island in Palau. From the deck of his ship, Ed got to see a full naval bombardment. The full angry force of five U.S. battleships and four heavy cruisers were focused on the Japanese held island of Peleliu as they pounded it with 16- and 14-inch shells.
The bombardment stopped only to let the carrier airplanes attack, then resumed again. This went on for three days solid. It hurt his ear drums and he found himself almost feeling bad for any human who had been on the island, even if it was the enemy.
“I didn’t particularly hate the Japanese,” said Ed.
There were Japanese Americans on his crew, good fellow sailors, he said, and he couldn’t hate them as a people. He just didn’t like the enemy.
One night when his destroyer was in port in on a South Pacific Island, Ed was working below decks. He heard a couple of thumps and a lot of commotion above. When he climbed the ladder onto the deck he was amazed by the brightness. The lights of the port and the town were all lit. That’s when he knew the war was over. There would be no more black outs.
Ed became a civilian after the war, married, worked and lived in the Miami Valley area. The war seemed very much in his past until this spring when he had the opportunity to take an Honor Flight to see the World War II memorial in Washington, DC.
Now very active with local veterans groups, Ed has the support and respect of everyone he meets. This year alone he has spent time with the cadets of the Tecumseh High School AF Junior ROTC. He thoroughly enjoyed the Thanksgiving dinner for veterans at the Medway VFW Post 9684. He has been in parades and at festivals.
This last September, Ed got to fulfill a lifelong dream and return to Pearl Harbor. The flight was paid for by fundraisers by the Patriot Pin Ups and donations of friends and admiring fellow Americans. He was accompanied by Terri Lynn, a friend who looks out for him and his art teacher.
Ed was surprise at how much Pearl Harbor had changed.
“Where are all the ships now?” Ed asked me since I’d lived there.
He remembered Pearl Harbor as being full of gray ships moored side by side with white wooden buildings and bustling with activity. Liberty launches manned by sailors in white crisscrossed the harbor on business.
However, today the harbor is beautiful and some areas are tree lined. Ford Island is no longer an airbase. There aren’t nearly as many ships stationed here as during the war. He particularly missed the imposing row of battleships, which have all been retired. He also missed seeing the traditional white sailors’ uniforms with the “Dixie cup” hat.
Ed was quite the celebrity at the National Park center. There aren’t many survivors visiting any more. He got a special tour of the museum and the rangers all wanted photos with him before he took the launch out to the memorial.
The last time Ed had seen the USS Arizona it was still a charred, twisted wreck. But today, 75 years later, it lies mostly just beneath the surface and a beautiful white memorial has been erected over it. A wall bears the names of all who perished aboard.
Ed leaned over the rail and looked at the remains of the ship a few feet under the clear water.
“It was a weird feeling to look at it,” he said quietly.
Over this year Ed Malan has performed an important patriotic duty sharing his memories. He has reminded us that the Pearl Harbor attack was real and not just some black-and-white photo in the history book. The attack was on people just like us and young sailors like Ed on a peaceful morning on American soil.
He has reminded us that although 75 years seems like a long time ago, in some ways it was just last week.
And Ed wants us to remember that the freedom we enjoy today was not free.
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