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Chapter I
Preamble: Authority for the Army Pearl Harbor Board and its action 
taken.

This Board was appointed pursuant to the provisions of Public Law 339, 
78th Congress, approved 13 June 1944, by Letter Order A.G.O. 8 July 1944 
(AGPO-A-A 210.311 (24 Jun 44)) as amended by Letter Order A.G.O. 11 July 
1944 (AGPO-A-A 210.311 (10 Jun 44)) and Letter A.G.O. 22 August 1944 
(AGPO-A-A 248.7 (2 Aug 44)), and as supplemented by Supplemental Letter 
Order A.G.O. 22 July 1944 (AGPO-A-A 210.311 (21 July 44)) which order 
made reference to a memorandum for The Judge Advocate General of 12 July 
1944 -- Subject: Report of House Military Affairs Committee dated 14 
June 1944 alleging neglect and misconduct of Colonel Theodore Wyman, 
Jr., and others concerning Hawaiian and Canadian Defense Projects, and 
which was signed by Robert P. Patterson, Acting Secretary of War. This 
supplemental order directed the Board to consider the phase of the 
report which related to the Pearl Harbor disaster. [1]

Composition of the board:

Lt. Gen. George Grunert, 01534, USA
Maj. Gen. Henry D. Russell, 0212769, USA
Maj. Gen. Walter H. Frank, 02871, USA
Col. Charles W. West, 012774, JAGD, Recorder (without vote)
Col. Harry A. Toulmin, 0205520, AC, Executive Officer (without vote)
Maj. Henry C. Clausen, 0907613, JAGD, Assistant Recorder (without vote)


Footnotes:
[1] See copies of orders and memorandum, Exhibits 65 to 69, inclusive

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The Board interpreted these orders and the memorandum referred to as 
confining its investigation to the Pearl Harbor disaster.

The Board convened 20 July 1944 and was in continuous session from 24 
July 1944 to 20 October 1944.  It held hearings twice in Washington, 
D.C.; twice in San Francisco, California; and in Hawaii.  It has heard a 
total of 151 witnesses and has interviewed many additional potential 
witnesses whom it found did not have any pertinent information.  There 
has been no available document, witness, suggestion or lead which 
promised any materiality that has not been carefully investigated by 
this Board.  Every witness has been invited to give, in addition to his 
testimony, any suggestions, opinions, leads to evidence, or any other 
information that might possibly be pertinent.  It has been our purpose, 
and we believe we have effected it, to explore every available piece of 
information on this subject.  We have not had the opportunity, nor the 
organization, to comb personally and exhaustively the official files, 
but we have called for the pertinent letters, documents, and memoranda.  
We believe that practically all of them have been secured, although we 
have found a few files from which important and vital papers are 
missing.  In many instances we found these documents elsewhere or were 
able to prove them through copies in other hands.

This Board has been without power of subpoena, but in no instance has 
its invitation to appear and testify been ignored.

In view of the fact that the War Department appointed this

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Board, under Joint Resolution of Congress, [1] to examine the Army's 
part in the Pearl Harbor disaster because Congress desired, as appears 
from the legislative history of the Joint Resolution, a more thorough 
study, it has been necessary to examine the records of the Roberts 
Commission and the Roberts Report in the light of the new testimony 
adduced by this Board, new witnesses, and new documents; and to set 
forth wherein the Board's findings are in harmony with the Roberts 
Report; or, if in conflict, are correct and supported by fuller 
evidence.

The Board has made, therefore, a careful review of the record and 
exhibits of the Roberts Commission.  This Board has been materially 
helped and enlightened by the Report and Record

Footnotes:

[1] Public Law 339 -- 78th Congress, Chapter 247 -- 2nd Session, S.J. 
Res. 133, Joint Resolution: To extend the statute of limitation in 
certain cases.

"*Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,* That effective as of December 
7, 1943, all statutes, resolutions, laws, articles, and regulations, 
affecting the possible prosecution of any person or persons, military or 
civil, connected with the Pearl Harbor catastrophe of December 7, 1941, 
or involved in any other possible or apparent dereliction of duty, or 
crime or offense against the United States, that operate to prevent the 
court martial, prosecution, trial or punishment of any person or persons 
in military or civil capacity, involved in any matter in connection with 
the Pearl Harbor catastrophe of December 7, 1941, or involved in any 
other possible or apparent dereliction of duty, or crime or offense 
against the United States, are hereby extended for a further period of 
six months, in addition to the extension provided for in Public Law 208, 
Seventy-eighth Congress.

"Sec. 2.  The Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy are 
severally directed to proceed forthwith with an investigation into the 
facts surrounding the catastrophe described in section 1 above, and to 
commence such proceedings against such persons as the facts may justify.

"Approved June 13, 1944."

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of the Roberts Commission.  We append to this report a section 
indicating the additional information and documents which have been made 
available as a result of our extended investigation, and which probably 
did not come to the attention of the Roberts Commission; or, at least, 
were not mentioned in either the testimony, documents or report of the 
Roberts Commission.

We have been greatly aided by the Interim Report, Committee of Military 
Affairs, House of Representatives, Seventy-eighth Congress, 2nd Session, 
pursuant to H. Res. 30, A Resolution Authorizing the Committee on 
Military Affairs and the Committee on Naval Affairs to Study the 
Progress of the National War Effort, and the committee's records, 
counsel, and investigation, with particular reference to the activities 
of Colonel Theodore Wyman, Jr., Hans Wilhelm Rohl, the Hawaiian 
Constructors, and others, as such activities had a bearing upon the 
Pearl Harbor disaster and what led up to it.  We have been aided by the 
testimony of counsel from that committee and the complete record of the 
investigation of that committee on this subject and its exhibits.  We 
have also heard testimony and investigated reports and reviewed 
affidavits of additional affiants, whose testimony came to light, or 
documents were discovered, after the conclusion of the investigation of 
the Committee on Military Affairs, as indicated in its Interim Report.  
We have also been aided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the 
Department of Justice, and the Report of the Tenney Committee in 
California.

We transmit with this report the record of testimony of the witnesses 
consisting of 41 volumes and 70 exhibits.  In the appendix to this 
report is a tabulation in detail of the 

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witnesses who testified and a list of the exhibits.

In order to facilitate the examination of the Board's record by the War 
Department and by any others who may have occasion to review the record 
and exhibits, we append to this report and make a part of it extensive 
analysis of the testimony of every witness, indexing each statement by 
reference to the record, and with cross references of those statements 
to different parts of the record where similar or different statements 
on the same subject were made by other witnesses.  We have also added 
cross references to the same subject matter in the record of the Roberts 
Commission or the exhibits presented before that commission.  It is, 
therefore, possible for anyone reviewing this report to have a complete 
and, we believe, exhaustive analysis of every phase of the Pearl Harbor 
matters, so that any part of the situation can be easily and promptly 
reviewed.

In formulating this report the Board has been conscious of the deep 
spiritual and moral obligation, as well as its professional and 
patriotic duty, to present an impartial and judicial investigation and 
report.  This we have earnestly endeavored to do, and have spared no 
pains or effort to that end.  With that spirit animating our actions, we 
have deemed it helpful and wise to present the state of mind and the 
background against which the events of the drama of Pearl Harbor could 
be adequately judged; and to sketch in retrospection the events and the 
knowledge of such events of each of the principal actors on the scene, 
so that their actions might be more fully understood and justly 
evaluated

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and judged.  At no time, however, has the Board acted as a court. [1]

This is necessary because we are now passing upon the matter several 
years after the event.  We have endeavored to effect this reconstruction 
to some degree in the second chapter entitled, "Background".  The same 
considerations have been evaluated in the succeeding chapters, as this 
background affected the events and actions of those involved in the 
matters of consideration.  In so doing, we hope we have avoided the 
human failing so aptly pointed out by St. Paul of "forgetting those 
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are 
before."

In Chapter III we have presented the story of Pearl Harbor.  This is a 
running chronological story of events that took place leading up to the 
Pearl Harbor attack and through that fateful day and for a short period 
thereafter, so far as subsequent events reflected upon the conditions 
previously existing.  We have discussed in this Chapter III the 
arguments for and against each principal proposition, have examined all 
of the representations and defenses of General Short and others involved 
in this matter.  We have endeavored to state the surrounding facts and 
circumstance, the background, the considerations and factors which 
influenced each principal officer or official in the execution of his 
duties.

Footnotes:

[1]  Whenever any interested witness raised a question of proof that had 
not been previously discussed, or fully examined, or any newspaper 
report raising any question came to our attention, we endeavored to get 
an answer so that the whole truth would be known once and for all.

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Therefor, whoever reads this report will have before him all of the 
considerations for and against any proposition, all facts, any defense 
or any claim put forward by those interested, and answers to such 
questions of import to the services and to the public, in order to have 
the foundation for an impartial judgment.

In Chapter IV we continue the story in so far as it pertains to 
Washington.  In Chapter V we relate the story concerning the Pre-Pearl 
Harbor construction activities and in Chapter VI come to Conclusions.

The Board was after facts; and the surrounding conditions, background, 
and atmosphere which influenced the actors in this drama and brought 
them to their fateful decisions.  This we believe we secured 
successfully from military and naval personnel of widely varying ranks; 
from civilians of varied stations in life; and from official and other 
contemporaneous publications.  The range of witnesses ran from men in 
the ranks to Generals and Admirals, and from the humblest in civil life 
to United States Senators and the President's Cabinet. [1] Each witness 
was invited, additionally, to express freely his views and opinions on 
the record, and to submit any facts or leads to the discoveries of facts 
which might be helpful to this Board.

We set out with no thesis to prove, nor person to convict.  Our approach 
has been, we hope, diligently and completely factual; and also equally 
impartial.  Our conclusions are those compelled by the clear weight of 
the evidence from the facts set forth in the record.

Footnotes:

[1] Whenever there was a shadow or shade of a doubt, we resolved it in 
favor of running down the suggestion and introducing proof, if it had 
any suspicion of materiality.

Page maintained by Larry W. Jewell, lwjewell@omni.cc.purdue.edu. Created: 12/12/96 Updated: 12/12/96