From Forward Kentucky: Pearl Harbor and The Beast
![Tornado destruction in Mayfield (photo by Berry Craig); Japanese bombing destruction at Wheeler Army Airfield (photo from U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command [Public domain])](/sites/default/files/styles/image_media_xxl_2x/public/2022-12/pearlharbormayfield.jpg.webp?itok=2tsZb2mX)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Lewis belonged to URW/USW Local 665 at the old General Tire plant in Mayfield.
By BERRY CRAIG
Tommy Lewis of Mayfield found it hard to talk about December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Hawaii and bombed the U.S. into World War II.
“They didn’t prepare us for that,” said Lewis, then a 20-year-old army private based at Schofield Barracks, 16 miles inland from the focus of the surprise air raid: destroying the Pacific Fleet moored in Pearl Harbor on the south side of Oahu.
But Japanese warplanes also targeted military airfields on the island, including Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii’s main fighter base, which adjoined Schofield Barracks.