Dec. 7, 2008 Everett (Wa) Herald. Justin Arnold did one of the better and more complete reports on the Pearl Harbor commemoration two months ago. Excellent job!
Harold Shimer, then 20, got a rude awakening on the cruiser USS Helena. A torpedo passed under another ship and hit his. Cecil Calavan said he saw the Helena get hit and said, "She must have jumped ten feet out of the water."
Shimer was hurled from his bunk as General Quarters sounded. he got up and ran topside just as the last of the first Japanese wave left. The torpedo had killed twenty men, and he was reported as one of them. He had been scheduled to work that morning, but, as for a favor to a friend, he had swapped shifts so his friend could go to church later in the day. His friend died in the torpedo blast.
The Helena was short on men, so he worked manning an ammunition locker for the anti-aircraft batteries. Because of their efforts, he believes his ship saved the USS Pennsylvania.
The Greatest Generation.
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