" [178] They were all ready to go into action immediately, with the
exception
that the mobile batteries did not have the ammunition. The fixed
batteries
along the seacoast, those batteries bolted down to concrete, had the
ammunition nearby. I had insisted on that with General Short in person
and
had gotten his permission to take this antiaircraft ammunition, move it
into
the seacoast gun battery positions, and have it nearby the antiaircraft
guns. It was, however, boxed up in wooden boxes and had to be taken out.
The ammunition for the mobile guns and batteries was in Aliamanu Crater,
which you may know or may not, is about a mile from Fort Shafter, up in
the
old volcano. In addition to that, the mobile batteries had to move out
from
the various posts to their field positions. They were not in field
positions. (R. 2604- 2605)

This is interesting as I knew an old gentleman, who has since passed, that
was a Pearl Harbor survivor that talked about that morning. He was assigned
to one of the truck mounted .50 cal guns and went over the road from Ft
Shafter to Hickam Field to take up a position on the perimeter of the field.
I had thought he had said that they were firing their guns when moving into
position. His unit spent some time on the perimeter of Hickam Field and then
moved on to the South Pacific.


Leanne