"They're Killing my Boys" is a detailed combat narrative of the 7 December 1941 Japanese attacks on Hickam Field--then one of two major U.S. Army airfields on the island of O'ahu. Since the field served as a base for long-range bombers, the Japanese military desired to put Hickam out of action to prevent U.S. forces from searching for and attacking their carrier force. Typically, military historians tend to focus on the destruction sustained by the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Although the loss of life at Hickam Field was less than that sustained by the Pacific Fleet, the attacks on the former location caused destruction and mayhem that was disastrous and wrenching. This work describes actions in the air and on the ground at the deepest practical personal and tactical level, from both the American and Japanese perspectives. Such a synthesis is possible only by pursuing every conceivable source of American documents, reminiscences, interviews, and photographs. This accumulation of data and information makes possible an intricate and highly-integrated story that is unparalleled. The interwoven nature of the narratives of both sides provides a deep understanding of the events at Hickam Field that has been impossible to present heretofore.

Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

Published by Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9328 for the Pacific Air Forces Office of History, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

The story of two men who are usually given only one or two lines in most books but were truly American heroes and who, unlike many on that fateful morning, were not asleep.' - Donald M. Goldstein, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, University of Pittsburgh and co-author of 'At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, ' 'God's Samuai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor' and 'Dec. 7, 1941: The Day the Japanese Attacked Pearl Harbor.' 'Meek begins his story a week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and presents the two pilots as ... young officers who had the 'chutzpah' to act on their own ... ' - Dr. George M. Watson Jr., Senior Historian, Air Force Historical Studies. ' ... 'The Other Pearl Harbor, the Army Air Corps & its Heroes on Dec. 7, 1941, ' makes up a good bit for the poor coverage the Army personnel and facilities have been given before.' - Col. Gail Halvorsen USAF Ret., Famed 'Candy Bomber' of the Berlin Airlift. 'Through seventy years what happened to the Army Air Corps during the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor ... mostly disappeared. But Author John Martin Meek ... puts it into perspective with the Navy's vast and tragic losses.' - Astronaut/Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford USAF Ret. WERE OUR TWO MILITARY LEADERS AT PEARL HARBOR LEFT OUT OF THE LOOP? 'Smoking Guns' May Answer the Question For seventy years there has been the question about why our military in Hawaii was not prepared and on alert when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. Both Army Lt. Gen. Walter Short and Navy Vice Adm. Husband Kimmel had publicly boasted they could protect Hawaii from an aerial attack. Author John Martin Meek in ten years of research has found several 'smoking guns' showing their strategies deeply flawed, not operative and numerous warning signs of a possible Japanese attack ignored."