December 14, 2007
On December 6, 1941, Eddie Brooks was a young sailor who visited friends on the battleship Arizona for a boxing workout. Aboard the big ship, he saw Paul Neipp, who had gone to school with him in San Pedro. Their fathers had both been longshoremen, and Paul’s father had become a foreman. Eddie returned to his own ship, the Argonne, just eleven hours before Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor the next morning.
Within minutes of the attack, the Arizona was destroyed and all of Eddie’s friends were dead. Eddie joined four sailors who volunteered on a rescue launch that was the first to reach men aboard the battleship West Virginia that was in flames after being hit by six torpedoes and two bombs. They found men crying and praying on their knees. Eddie watched Japanese planes strafe sailors with machine gun fire on the West Virginia’s deck. His rescue party went below deck to help the sailors below; that’s where Eddie found a dazed man with his eyes blown out of his head, asking what had happened.
Orders to “abandon ship” soon rang out on the West Virginia, and Eddie helped load the wounded into his launch. The water around them was fouled with burning oil and filled with men who were trying to swim away to safety. Eddie’s launch swung around to rescue these men. Eddie reached for a man in the burning water, but missed him by inches as the fire rolled over the man who screamed while Eddie watched helplessly. Eddie said, “I can still hear that poor guy scream.”
The launch and crew were unloading the wounded when a Jeep pulled-up with buddies from Eddie’s old National Guard unit in San Pedro who had a disassembled Browning machine gun. They took the gun up to the barracks roof where Eddie assembled it and was about to start shooting at Japanese planes when a sergeant said, “That’s my gun Eddie, I’m gonna use it.” Eddie then picked up a Springfield rifle and fired it at the last of the Japanese planes. He felt something hit his heel, looked down, and saw a piece of jagged shrapnel that had stuck his shoe – but left him unhurt.
When the day was over, 2,403 Americans lay dead from the Pearl Harbor attack. Aboard the Argonne, the ship’s Chief Radioman brought Eddie and the other rescuers to see the ship’s Captain, suggesting that Eddie and others should receive commendations. Several officers agreed, but the Argonne’s Captain declined to recommend any citations, saying “These men did nothing more than anyone else.” Eddie wasn’t bucking for a medal, but he did note later that their Captain had no prior wartime experience.
Eddie passed away May 13, 2006. His generation will soon be gone, but his family ties to the ILWU remain. In addition to his father, Eddie’s two brothers, Frank and Walt, were both longshoremen, along with his son Robert who is a foreman, and grandchildren Robb and Jennifer who are longshoring today.