78 Years Later: Gentrix Badoux's Story of the Pearl Harbour Attack - Research Paper

Introduction

Seventy-eight years and two months down the line, American society can not forget the events on that fateful Sunday (Mohan 13). 7 December 1941 is the date of the Pearl Harbour attack (Martinez 34), and Gentrix remembers the happenings of this day like it was yesterday. Then a youthful and ambitious soldier, Gentrix Badoux, had much promise and a formidable career ahead of him in the American Navy. Little did he know that the Japanese had an astounding surprise that will curtail his progression in the armed forces.

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Gentrix Badoux was assigned Arizona, a magnificent battleship that would be his harbour during the war. In preparation for the journey to Hawaii, Gentrix lived in Montana; as he packed his Navy uniform in his blue traveling bag, he was feeling nervous as if going to war for the first time. He arrived at the train station on time, and the beautiful, smiling train ticket attendant gave him his boarding pass.

The train smelled musty, rusty, and old. Small compartments were lined out with beds and tables and small desks for passengers. Each passenger had his and her compartment. Mr Badoux, pleased to call him that, laid out his bag in one of the chambers and went out in search of something to eat. From previous travels, he knew that the train had an eatery. At the little diner, he placed his order and was served with delicious pizza, pepperoni to taste. Later on, he went to his small compartment and laid down to rest.

Through the lighting streaming through the window, Gentrix woke up the following day, feeling much rejuvenated and ready for the task ahead. As there was nothing much to be done, he forced himself back to sleep. He desired to reserve all the energies he could master, knowing full well that once on duty, rest will be a thing of the past. But that is the thing with the army, sleep in an involuntarily foregone pleasure. All the rest, he could master that day would serve as the last pieces of slumber he would come to have the rest of his life. His sleeping patterns would be disparaged by the Japanese in a manner only he knows best, having insomnias and periodic panic attacks in remembrance for the events of that fateful day.

The following day with the sun spilling through the window, heating the new day that was to come, Gentrix woke up with a starter. At that point out of nowhere, there was a shock from the train. He got knocked off the ground as the train had come to a halt. At last! He was in Hawaii. The station was near the ships, so he bounced on one that was red and blue with two decks and started cruising the blue sea on his approach to Hawaii. The water was a decent bright blue with relatively few waves, so it was anything but complicated to see fish that were close to the surface. He arrived quickly after what appeared to be a continual length of time and strolled onto the sandy seashores to Pearl Harbor, which was around a brief walk.

At last, at Pearl Harbour, he went to the war room and was questioned on the guidelines of the harbour then later sent to his war vessel. Immediately he sighted the warship, Arizona, his jaw dropped. He was astonished at the excellence and size of the boat. That warship could weigh at least 10 tonnes. As he strolled up the precarious and restricted strides, close to the deck of the ship, his heart was pulsating quicker and quicker. Individuals were spread about doing different activities around the raft. The Captain of the boat showed him to his doled out lodge, and he unloaded personal items and put them in the dressers that were in the room. The room was a little bit better than the compartments on the train.

The next day he strolled around the deck and made acquaintances with fellow Navy officers. He met a person named Greg Jones, and they became dear companions. Greg was a rancher, from Kansas, who needed a new position and to begin another life. He was solid with enormous ears, which were, in general, stand out in contrast to everything else. Greg was an extremely dependable individual and accepted his position truly, so now and again, it was challenging to play around with him.

It was the evening of 6 December 1941, the D-day to Japanese invasion (Martinez 52), and Gentrix was completing his cooking obligations; his service for the Navy was in the kitchen. He would have the option to turn in for some essential rest. He washed the dishes and cleaned the tables. At that point, he went to his bed space to rest for the evening. He put on his blue nightwear and moved into the bed. When his head hit the cushion, he was sleeping soundly, recharging himself with vitality for the following day.

Now comes 7 December 1941, and it was 7:53. In the first part of the day, he got stirred by a huge accident and a clatter of the vessel (Martinez 54). He hurried out of his bed, got dressed, and ran out onto the deck to perceive what was going on. At the point when he jumped, before him, the scene at sight was appalling. Noticeable all around flying overhead were Japanese military aircraft (Morton 56), and they were dropping bombs out of their planes and onto the war vessels in the harbour.

Numerous individuals on the deck were shouting and running all over. The stampede was because a few bombs had hit the ship. Gentrix was terrified. He glanced around into the harbour and saw different ships ablaze and individuals similarly as scared as him hopping over the edge into the port. He did not have a clue what to accomplish without precedent for his life, and the dread began to overwhelm him as he just stood petrified.

An ever-increasing number of Japanese planes were zooming through the air as time passed, dropping hot terminating bombs down on the warships underneath. Their boat was hit with a whirlwind of explosions in quick succession. Huge fragments of wood flew through the air. Very quickly, the reasonable blue water from the harbour surged on the deck of the boat. He was terrified of the sound of death that was hitting all around him. The idea of death had never entered his brain; however, it was turning into a reality. At that point, he decided and recognized what he needed to do. He got a running head start and jumped from the deck of the vessel and plunged into the water of Pearl Harbor.

At the point when the water hit him, Gentrix felt coolness against his body. He swam to the surface and looked around him. Arizona was sinking into the profundities of the harbour, vessels were ablaze with individuals bouncing over the edge, and more than 200 Japanese planes were flying overhead (Mohan 23). He internally contemplated what a debacle as he swam to the shoreline and looked again into the harbour waters. He saw three different boats beginning to sink to the seafloor, and he realized he needed to escape the open so as not to get hit. He stumbled into the seashore into the thick backwoods of Hawaii and covered up there until the strike was finished.

When he did not hear additional planes overhead, he ventured out away from any confining influence and began to stroll back warily to the harbour. Steadily he crouched, still being wary of any moving objects in case a missile was still en route. While walking, he saw a thick smoke covering the sky, making it look extraordinarily dim and grimy. He realized that the fallout would have been terrible; however, nothing readied him for what he was going to see. The Japanese had struck hard, sending the harbour in disarray and total confusion.

A considerable lot of people simply needed to return home to their families and let them realize that they were alive. The scene was excessively destructive, and vast numbers of people at the harbour were in no attempt to help with the cleanup (Martinez 36). When help showed up, the incoming transported the survivors back to California and away from the deplorable scene.

Back in California, Gentrix read the following day's paper. On the first page, there was an image of a sinking warship (Martinez 54), and the inscription underneath read; "At 7:53 on 7 December 1941 Japanese planes assaulted Pearl Harbor. They harmed eight warships, sinking four of them. Numerous individuals on the boats did not have a lot of time to respond to the circumstance, so they passed on the boats. Others passed on while attempting to spare themselves by hopping off the pontoons into the harbour waters. The all-out setbacks were more than 2,000 Americans dead and a large number injured. This day will consistently be recalled in American history."

After perusing the article, Gentrix plunked down on a seat and began to cry. He considered each one of those guiltless individuals that kicked the bucket attempting to secure their nation, a large number of whom were his companions. A lot of outrage gushed inside him at the Japanese of why they would do this. Did they despise the American this seriously? What did they, the Americans, do to them that could have caused them to do such? He may never know the legitimate purpose of the assault; however, that day at Pearl Harbor is still continually solidified into his mind until the day he will pass on.

Works Cited

Martinez, Maximino Arguelles. Red Army Order of Battle in WWII, June to December 1941: FRONTOVIK 01 07 Red Army order of battle in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. Vol. 1941. Maximino Arguelles, 2018.

Mohan, Braj. "A Demonstration of the Discourse Dissection Model (DDM) with an analysis of FD Roosevelt's "Pearl Harbour address to the nation"." SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 13.1 (2016).

Morton, Leith. "Japanese literature and the Fifteen Years War (1931-1945)." Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature (2016): 125.