Youngstown Vindicator (September 4, 1945)
Enlisted men saw war coming; Jap ships tailed Yanks
SPOKANE, Washington (AP) – A discharged Navy veteran said his transport ship was followed by Japanese warships in the Pacific in October 1941, and declared “the enlisted men knew war was coming. Why not the higher ups?”
Derrel Dirks of Spokane, who received a medical discharge from the Navy two weeks ago, said official reports on the Pearl Harbor disaster failed to answer questions he and other enlisted men had been asking since December 7, 1941.
He said:
In November 1941, our ship passed through a Jap battle fleet between Guam and Wake. It was a big fleet and the boys were worried plenty.
On the night of November 28, 1941, we were between San Pedro and Pearl Harbor. An American destroyer signaled us that three Jap submarines were in the vicinity The executive officer told us to turn off the lights.
Off Formosa in October 1941, we were picked up by two Jap destroyers. They followed us to Chingwangtao, a North China port, and patrolled outside the harbor until we left. We picked up the Marine garrisons from Tientsin and Peiping on that trip.
On the way back to Shanghai the enlisted men aboard ship were making bets in which theater they would be when war broke out. They were that sure there would be war.
As for the air attack on Pearl Harbor, my ship, long before the war, had taken part in maneuvers simulating just such an attack.