National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day: Lloyd O. Johnson Papers, Manuscript Collection #677-021

Staff Pick: National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
Staff Person: Patrick Cash
Collection: U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation Collection: Lloyd O. Johnson Papers, Manuscript Collection #677-021

As our nation pauses to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the faculty and staff of Joyner Library Special Collections wish to join our fellow citizens in a moment of remembrance and solitude for all of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation that day.

Timeline of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Written from memory by Lloyd O. Johnson.

Lieutenant Commander Lloyd O. Johnson, Supply Corps, United States Navy.

Lloyd O. Johnson began his distinguished career with the United States Navy at the age of 22 in 1928. In the early years of his service, Johnson was assigned to the USS Henderson (1928-1932) and served with the Third Battleship Division (1932-1936) before being assigned to the USS Whitney in 1939. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the USS Whitney was one of the 102 ships stationed in Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii when the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service launched a surprise attack on the American naval base. The Lloyd O. Johnson Papers include many narratives that recall the events of that morning including Johnson’s own firsthand account of his experiences, as well as those of his crewmates and fellow sailors, from both during and after the attack. Included in these materials is a copy

 of Johnson’s 1983 manuscript Recollections & Memories of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, several hand-drawn maps of the naval base that detail the positions of the American ships at the time of the attack, and a timeline of Japanese troop movement and the attack that was constructed by Johnson himself. The USS Whitney was one of the few ships that escaped damage during the Japanese attack and it remained in service until it was decommissioned in October 1946. Johnson served in the Navy throughout World War II and eventually retired as a lieutenant commander of the Supply Corps in 1961.

Handrawn maps showing the movement of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and the location of the United States Naval Ships that were docked at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

One particularly interesting item found in the collection is the transcript of a speech given by Mrs. Lee Johnson, Lloyd Johnson’s wife, on the 42nd anniversary of the attack in December 1983. In her speech, Mrs. Johnson recounts her experiences and fear of not knowing if her husband and other family members and friends had survived the attack. Mrs. Johnson also bravely explains how the events that happened that morning impacted her, both emotionally and physically, in the days and years that followed.