ll; was made of many days。
But December 7; 1941; was not just any day。
Americans would remember it
Epilogue
On the afternoon after the attack…in response to a radio request for help from all able…bodied men…Ed and Hully Burroughs were issued Springfield rifles and dispatched to patrol the waterfront in a civilian guard; helping to dig slit trenches along the shore。
With the help of his friend Colonel Kendall Fielder; Burroughs earned the distinction of being the oldest American correspondent to cover the Second World War; making three trips to Pacific war zones。 He was vocal in his support for Hawaii's Japanese…Americans; though his stereotypical; propagandist portrayal of 〃Japs〃 in his WWII novel; Tarzan and the Foreign Legion; rivaled that of the Germans in Tarzan the Untamed。
Colonel Fielder also became known for championing the rights of Japanese…Americans; possibly he'd been touched in some private way by the deaths of his son and his son's nisei fiancee。 At any rate; largely due to the efforts of Fielder and a few others…including FBI agent Adam Sterling…99 percent of Hawaii's 160;000 Japanese…Americans remained free; unlike the widespread mainland interments。
Shortly after Pearl Harbor; Burroughs turned his hand to mystery writing; even briefly converting Tar…zan into a detective; though without particular success; including a wild crime story entitled 〃More Fun! More People Killed!〃 that The Saturday Evening Post turned down。
After suffering several heart attacks; Edgar Rice Burroughs died in bed; on March 19; 1950; slumping over the funny papers; which were open to 'Tarzan。〃
Ed Burroughs was very proud of his son Hully; who a few weeks after the Pearl Harbor raid enlisted in the Army Air Corps at Hickam Field; First Lieutenant Hul…bert Burroughs went on to be a distinguished aerial bat photographer。 Toward the end of the war; Hully married Marion Thrasher; after his father's death; he took the reins of ERB; Inc。; working with his brother John Coleman Burroughs to effectively administer the legacy of Edgar Rice Burroughs。
Otto Kuhn and his wife were arrested at a beach house; and imprisoned at the Sand Island Detention Center; Tadeo Yoshikawa (alias Tadashi Morimura) was transported to an interment camp in Arizona and; in August 1942; exchanged for American diplomats held in Japan。
Kuhn and Yoshikawa were two of only a dozen individuals determined to have actively engaged in prewar espionage in Hawaii; grocer Tosbio Harada was another。 All of them had been sent to Hawaii under false names and/or pretenses; none were representatives of any local fifth column of Japanese…Americans。 No such fifth column was ever shown to exist。
Sam Fujimoto fought with the celebrated all…Japanese 442nd Regimental bat Team; and later graduated from Yale Law School; being a successful Honolulu attorney。
Harry Kamana and a smaller version of his band toured the Pacific Theater for the USO。
After the war; Detective John Jardine was instrumental in the cleaning up of police corruption on Oahu; he retired in 1968; died a year later; widely regarded as the finest homicide detective Oahu had ever known。
Both Admiral Kimmel and General Short were forced to retire and a hurried government report in January 1942 branded them with 〃dereliction of duty。〃 Though a later report absolved them of this charge; the stigma remains; and Admiral Kimmel's son Edward has made a concerted effort to have his father and General Short advanced on the retired lists to their highest wartime ranks of four…star admiral and three…star general。
General Short in his later years spent much time on his garden; cultivating flowers; not actively seeking rehabilitation of his reputation; he died in 1949。 Admiral Kimmel…though on December 7; 1941; he seemed to blame himself; at least in part…spent the rest of his life trying to restore his good name; dying of a heart attack in 1968。
The exact circumstances of the attack on Pearl
Harbor; and the reasons for the success of that attack; remain the subject of controversy and debate; involving Congress; the president and media coverage; even sixty years after the fact。
What did the Washington High mand know concerning Japanese intentions and military targets prior to the raid; and why did Washington fail to pass along this information to Kimmel and Short? If the general and admiral had been privy to this information; would they have taken more seriously the Mori message and other evidence of espionage the FBI agent and the creator of Tarzan brought to their attention; the Saturday evening before that fateful Sunday morning?
This Pearl Harbor mystery remains unsolved。
A Tip of the Panama
This book is a bination of the factual and the fanciful。 Details herein of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor…including espionage mat led up to that attack…are largely factual; although the murder case is a fictional one; and I make no claim; large or small; for this novel as any kind of definitive account of this pivotal event in our history。 Any blame for historical and/or geographical inaccuracies is my own; reflecting; I hope; the limitations of conflicting source material。
Like my previous 〃disaster mysteries;〃 The Titanic Murders (1999) and The Hindenburg Murders (2000); this novel features a real…life writer as amateur detective。 Edgar Rice Burroughs was a great childhood favorite of mine; I was an avid reader of both the Tarzan tales and ERB's science fiction; well into my teens。 The narrative technique of separating two protagonists and following the adventures of each in alternating chapters…used in this book…is one I learned from Burroughs。 Tarzan the Untamed; incidentally; was my favorite of the novels…and the controversy over that 〃anti…German〃 title is accurately reported herein。
Burroughs and his son Hulbert were indeed present on Oahu…and living at the Niumalu Hotel…on December 7; 1941; they were; in fact; playing tennis when the bombing began。 My fictionalized portrayal of them is based largely upon two wonderful biographies: the massive; seminal Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan (1975) by Irwin Forges; and a book I found as pulsively readable as any Burroughs novel; Tarzan Forever (1999) by John Tali…aferro。 Also helpful were the early Burroughs biographies; The Big Swingers (1967) by Robert W。 Fenton; and Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure (1965) by Richard A。 Lupoff。 So was Tarzan of the Movies (1968) by Gabe Esso。
A number of characters in The Pearl Harbor Murders are historical figures and appear under their real names; including (of course) General Short and Admiral Kimmel。 Colonel Kendall Fielder existed; but the character Bill Fielder is fictional; grocer Yoshio Harada existed; but Pearl Harada is fictional。 Adam Sterling is a posite of several FBI agents; one of whom lived at the Niumalu and was friendly with Ed Burroughs。 The Kuhns; Colonel Teske (name changed); Tadeo Yoshikawa (a。k。a。 Tadashi Morimura); Fred Bivens; George Elliot; Joe Lockard; William Outerbridge; the Morton family; Nagao Kita; and John Jardine are historical figures; Dan Pressman; Jack Stanton; Sam Fu…jimoto; Terry Mizuha; Frank Kaupiko; and Harry
Kamana are not; although most have real…life counterparts。 Marjorie Petty did visit Oahu shortly before the attack; but (to my knowledge) never dated Hully Burroughs; as a buff of pinup art and artists; I couldn't resist noting the presence in Honolulu of this real; live Petty Girl。
Despite the use of real names and an underlying basis in history; these are all characters in a novel; fictionalized and doing the author's bidding。
My fact…based novels about fictional 1930s/'40s…era Chicago private detective Nathan Heller have required extensive research not unlike what was required here。 As usual; my Heller research assistant; George Hagenauer; provided valuable input and came up with research materials on both Pearl Harbor and Edgar Rice Burroughs。
Many books on both Hawaii and the Pearl Harbor attack were consulted; but none was more valuable than Pearl Harbor Ghosts (1991) by Thurston Clarke。 Mr。 Clarke's wonderful book is a vivid picture of Honolulu in 1941 filtered through a modem p