“…a date which will live in infamy…”
President Franklin Roosevelt opened his speech requesting a
declaration of war vote from Congress against the Empire of Japan with those
words, words more closely associated with FDR than any others he had ever
spoken during his tenure as President.
Roosevelt made that speech before Congress on December 8,
1941, the day after Japan’s infamous attack against military installations on the
island of Oahu…an attack that had been predicted by at least one officer in the
United States Navy as early as the end of March, 1941.
That officer’s name was then-Captain Ellis Zacharias, a man
who knew of whence he spoke.
Zacharias, you see, had twice been posted as Naval Attache
in Japan during his two tours of service as an intelligence officer; during his
time there, Zacharias developed numerous contacts within the Japanese military
and intelligence community, most of whom regarded the young officer with great
respect for having learned their native language and becoming fluent in it.
Captain Zacharias, a skilled poker player, had on occasion played cards with
the man who would one day conceive and develop attack plans for Pearl Harbor.
That Japanese officer was Isoroku Yamamoto, a man who would
become the Empire’s most beloved war hero.
Captain Zacharias also tasked himself with learning as much
as he could about Japanese culture and its military mindset, a project that
would culminate in a meeting with Admiral Husband Kimmel, Commander-in-Chief of
the United States Navy’s Pacific Fleet, a full nine months prior to the
unannounced attack that would have completely decimated America’s Pacific sea
power had the aircraft carriers Lexington,
Enterprise and Saratoga been in port.
During that meeting, Captain Zacharias told Kimmel that
rising tensions between the United States and the expansionist Japanese Empire
would precipitate a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor “…on a weekend, probably on
a Sunday morning…” by using carrier-based aircraft positioned north of the
Hawaiian Islands because of the prevailing winds. Zacharias expanded on his
theory by telling CINCPAC Kimmel that the attack could be prevented by
conducting daily patrols using aircraft and fleet vessels out to a distance of
500 miles from the islands; Kimmel’s response that it would be an impossible
task due to manpower and resource limitations caused Zacharias to respond: “Well,
Admiral, you’d better get them because that is what is coming.”
Nine months later, as Captain Zacharias steamed into Pearl
Harbor as commander of the heavy cruiser USS
Salt Lake City the day after the attack, the profound destruction that
greeted him was no surprise. In addition to Admiral Kimmel, Zacharias had also
warned a staff member of then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Harold Stark in
November, 1941, that an attack on Pearl Harbor was imminent. However, based on
Zacharias’ perceived maverick attitude amongst naval hierarchy, his warnings
fell on deaf ears.
Ellis Zacharias would go on to earn commendations and battle
stars for the ships he commanded during the war, in part prompting his
promotion to Rear Admiral upon his retirement from the Navy in 1946. His
aspiration to the office of Director of Naval Intelligence, however, was never
met, having been passed over for that position due in part to his ‘loose cannon’
reputation amongst Navy brass because of, among other things, the revelation of
warnings he’d issued prior to December 7th, 1941.
As in the business world, you can’t make your superiors look
inept and expect a promotion.
Ellis Zacharias died in West Springfield, New Hampshire, due
to complications after suffering a heart attack, on June 27, 1961. He is
interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
Rear Admiral Ellis Zacharias
No comments:
Post a Comment