Arles E. Cole was born in Porum, Oklahoma in December 1923. He grew up there. His childhood was rough. It was the Depression years [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States]. He helped his father work the small farm and keep food on the table for the family. After his brother, Jay, went into the Army, Cole looked for a way to get off the farm. With his father’s permission, he was received by the United States Navy in Tulsa, Oklahoma on his 17th birthday. He was sent to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] for training in late December 1940 and was there for three months.

Arles E. Cole was sent to San Diego [Annotator’s Note: San Diego, California] for naval aptitude testing and training. He attended four months of navigation training in San Diego. He was trained in quartermasters school to assist officers on the ship’s bridge. Once he completed all of his training, he was deployed to Pearl Harbor [Annotator’s Note: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii], arriving in August 1941. He was assigned to the newest and best battleship in the fleet, the USS West Virginia [Annotator’s Note: USS West Virginia (BB-48)]. The West Virginia was one of the nine battleships in the Pacific at the time. Battleships were the important Navy vessels before the advent and dependence on aircraft carriers. The crew trained on the ship around the Hawaiian Islands. The world conditions indicated that the United States would be drawn into the war at some point. Britain stood alone and Russian defenses were continuously overwhelmed by the Germans. What happened on 7 December 1941 [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] was not a strange thing. The West Virginia entered Pearl Harbor a day or two before the attack. The battleships were all lined up in a row. The site was referred to as Battleship Row. The Nevada, Arizona, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Maryland, and the California [Annotator’s Note: USS Nevada (BB-36), USS Arizona (BB-39), USS West Virginia (BB-48), USS Tennessee (BB-43), USS Oklahoma (BB-37), USS Maryland (BB-46), and USS California (BB-44), respectively] were lined up on Battleship Row with the Pennsylvania [Annotator’s Note: USS Pennsylvania (BB-38)] in dry dock across the harbor. The ninth battleship was in the state of Washington for R&R [Annotator's Note: rest and recuperation]. War was anticipated after the Japanese invasion of Mongolia and China and their entry into the Tripartite Agreement with Germany and Italy. That agreement had Germany focusing on Europe. Italy would concentrate on Africa. Japan’s interests were in the Pacific and Asia. Japan had built up large naval and army forces in response to this. The day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the captain of the West Virginia authorized his crew to go into Honolulu [Annotator’s Note: Honolulu, Hawaii] to buy Christmas presents for shipment home in time for pre-holiday receipt. Cole took advantage of the liberty [Annotator's Note: an authorized absence for a short period of time] and bought a series of presents. He brought all but two gifts back to the ship. Those onboard were lost during the attack. The two mailed home reached the recipients. Cole ultimately received one of those gifts, a special picture, but it was stolen from him later. He put the gifts on top of his locker in the quartermasters’ quarters in the aft end of the ship. As a quartermaster on the bridge, he was allowed to put a mat on a chart table and sleep. That was what he did the night of 6 December.

Arles E. Cole missed breakfast and woke a few minutes before eight o’clock in the morning [Annotator’s Note: Cole was a quartermaster on the USS West Virginia (BB-48) when he awoke at about the same time on the morning of 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii]. As he made his way around the navigation deck and observed the activities on the decks below, he began to hear loud noises. He saw black smoke coming from Ford Island where the battleships [Annotator’s Note: USS Nevada (BB-36), USS Arizona (BB-39), USS West Virginia (BB-48), USS Tennessee (BB-43), USS Oklahoma (BB-37), USS Maryland (BB-46), and USS California (BB-44)] were lined up along Battleship Row. The smoke came from the airfields. Four different types of Japanese planes were attacking from six different enemy carriers. Fighter planes and dive bombers destroyed all American aircraft by strafing and bombing the planes on the ground. Cole observed the red ball on the wings of the attacking aircraft. They were Japanese. A lot had been learned about the Japanese fleets. Recognizing the Japanese planes, the men knew they were at war. The crew hustled to their battle stations. Cole’s battle station was several decks below where he was located. He was assigned to Second Con which was the secondary command station to be used if the ship’s bridge was knocked out. The Tennessee was between the West Virginia and Ford Island. Oklahoma was forward of West Virginia with Maryland berthed near Ford Island next to Oklahoma. As Cole was making his way to his battle station, the torpedo bombers struck his ship. The high-level bombers would be the next wave of bombers to strike Battleship Row. Additionally, a midget submarine was used by the Japanese to attack the large American ships. The West Virginia’s hull had been torpedoed and oil formed in the water next to her. Nine torpedo bombers hit the Oklahoma. She listed port in the direction from where the torpedo bombers had launched their ordnance. West Virginia was hit by seven aerial torpedo bombers. She also started a heavy list. The Oklahoma capsized with the loss of 429 men. After righting the ship, she was ultimately lost at sea while being towed back to the States for repairs. West Virginia was also struck by two aerial bombs from the high-altitude bombers. The enemy midget submarine launched a 1000-pound torpedo that hit the West Virginia. The Ward [Annotator’s Note: USS Ward (DD-139)] had provided advance notification of the submarines outside the harbor, but one slipped through the defenses. The 1000-pound torpedo entered an existing hole already blown into the side of the West Virginia. It generated tremendous damage in doing so. The ship listed 27 degrees and the damage control officer began counter-flooding on the ship and helped right her a bit before she settled in 31 feet of water at her berth. With her aft main deck below water and superstructure on fire, the West Virginia was not able to be saved. Abandon ship was ordered.

Arles E. Cole [Annotator’s Note: a quartermaster on the USS West Virginia (BB-48) on the morning of 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Having been struck by eight torpedoes, the captain ordered the men to abandon the battleship.] witnessed the ship settling with oil emerging from her sides. The torpedo hit had knocked him to the deck and temporarily disoriented him. It was pitch black below deck. He endeavored to evacuate the ship, but the hatches were secured. He was being entombed. [Annotator’s Note: He is emotional remembering the dilemma.] Water was coming in behind him. As he progressed further, he began to see light. A hole made by a Japanese bomb that was a dud was wide enough for him to get through and escape. The strategic bombers had missed the Nevada, but hit the Arizona in the number two magazine [Annotator’s Note: USS Nevada (BB-36) and USS Arizona (BB-39), respectively]. The Arizona magazine exploded and killed 1,177 men. The bomber continued on and dropped the dud on the West Virginia and then another bomb just outboard of the ship which only caused minor damage to the ship’s thick, steel hull. The West Virginia lost 109 men during the raid. After exiting the hole to safety, Cole saw a compartment with a lot of men laying there in what had been their living quarters. The officially assigned quarters for Cole was where about 23 men were entombed and died [Annotator’s Note: On the night of 6 December 1941, Cole had opted to sleep on a chart table in the area of the ship’s bridge thus saving his life.]. Getting free of the hole and hearing a command to remove the men from the nearby damaged compartment because water was rushing in, Cole grabbed the largest man and pulled him out of the space.

Arles E. Cole [Annotator’s Note: a quartermaster on the USS West Virginia (BB-48) on the morning of 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Having been struck by eight torpedoes, the captain gave the order to abandon the battleship.] pulled a man from danger. His name was Dorie Miller [Annotator’s Note: Cook ThirdCclass Doris “Dorie” Miller]. He was a black man weighing over 200 pounds. He was a fleet champion prize fighter. He was from Waco, Texas. Miller received the Navy Cross [Annotator's Note: the Navy Cross is the second-highest award a United States sailor or Marine can receive for a heroic or meritorious deed performed in a conflict with an armed enemy] for his actions that day. Cole weighed much less than Miller, but got him to an aid station. Afterwards, Cole observed the devastation in the harbor. The Arizona [Annotator’s Note: USS Arizona (BB-39)] had exploded and was on fire. It was near the West Virginia and the Tennessee [Annotator’s Note: USS Tennessee (BB-43)]. Fiery debris, oil, and bodies were floating on the water. The harbor was in deep trouble. As a quartermaster, the flag was his responsibility so he went to the flag locker and grabbed a large ensign and flew it from the stern flagstaff of the West Virginia despite the halyard being burned. He had to skinny up the staff with the flag under his arm to deploy it. At nighttime, the flag was photographed. He was proud to do his duty and fly the ensign. [Annotator’s Note: He is emotional at the memory.] Dorie Miller became Cole’s friend. Miller was the ship captain’s orderly. Cole also worked with the captain and grew to know Miller well. After laying Miller down, Cole never saw him again. Captain Bennion [Annotator’s Note: Captain Mervyn Bennion] had gone to the bridge to get the West Virginia underway. He was killed by shrapnel from the explosions of aerial bombs on the Tennessee. Miller went to the wounded captain to carry him off the bridge, but the officer was dead. Miller went to load machine guns and fired on the enemy planes buzzing over the harbor. He knocked down two to four of the attackers. Miller would die at sea later during the assault on the Philippines [Annotator’s Note: He was killed during the Battle of Makin in the Gilbert Islands in November 1943.]

Arles E. Cole left Pearl Harbor the next morning [Annotator’s Note: Cole was a quartermaster on the USS West Virginia (BB-48) on the morning of 7 December 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. West Virginia was torpedoed and bombed multiple times and abandoned.]. He was issued a new sea bag of clothes and assigned to the minesweeper Turkey [Annotator’s Note: USS Turkey (AM-13)]. She was an old minesweeper and quite a change from the new West Virginia. The ship performed mundane duty around Pearl Harbor in rescuing men and recovering dead bodies after the attack. The ship also swept the harbor at Hilo on the Big Island. A few months later, the ship went to Pago Pago operating on clearing harbors for the shipping transports for the first 18 months. After returning to the States for leave and then additional training, in January 1944 he was ordered to a newly commissioned destroyer, the Prichett [Annotator’s Note: USS Prichett (DD-561)]. After shakedown [Annotator's Note: a cruise to evaluate the performance of a naval vessel and its crew], the ship left the States. She was part of a division of four destroyers that traveled with Bull Halsey’s [Annotator’s Note: Admiral William “Bull” Halsey, Jr.] fast carrier fleet. The other three destroyers were the Callaghan, the Morrison, and the Longshaw [Annotator’s Note: USS Callaghan (DD-792), USS Morrison (DD-560), and USS Longshaw (DD-559) respectively]. They voyaged to the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Next was Saipan, Tinian and Guam. The big bombers would fly off Tinian later. In February 1945, the destroyers were at Iwo Jima [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima; 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] and saw the flag raising. There was great loss of life on both sides before the island was secured. The Japanese had developed a suicide mentality. In April 1945, the Prichett participated in the Okinawa campaign [Annotator’s Note: the Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, 1 April to 22 June 1945; Okinawa, Japan]. During several months of picket duty, a suicide bomber hit the side of the ship. The ship was dry docked at Guam [Annotator's Note: Guam, Mariana Islands] for repairs. [Annotator’s Note: Cole displays emotion.] The chief gunner’s mate went ashore and obtained additional .50 caliber machine guns [Annotator's Note: Browning M2 .50 caliber machine gun] to protect the ship from future kamikazes. The crew knew that they were on the way to Japan. It was amazing what the United States had done. The war production of ships, tanks and planes was amazing. [Annotator’s Note: He becomes emotional.] It was not necessary because in August 1945, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, 6 and 9 August 1945]. The Prichett was on picket duty off Okinawa while the other three destroyers in the division had been knocked out of action. Prichett was hit by a second kamikaze in July 1945 on the opposite side of the ship. Shipboard repairs kept the destroyer on station. In August 1945, the ship returned to the United States. Cole was relieved. He felt at risk with all the action he had witnessed. After discharge, he returned home and married Virginia Weaver in July 1947. They were married 68 years before she died. Cole served another year during the Korean War [Annotator's Note: Korean War, 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953], but not in the war zone. He worked 35 years for the Bell Telephone Company before retiring. He finds continued interest in his story by young people today. It is important to protect the country because our intent is to help other people.