The Fires of Pearl Harbor: MM2c Martin Shew

Warriors In Their Own Words | First Person War Stories

Robert Kirk

History

4.6 • 675 Ratings

🗓️ 1 August 2024

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Machinist Mate 2nd Class Martin Shew served on the USS Arizona, a battleship that suffered insurmountable damage during the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Shew was on his way back to the Arizona when the attack began. Before he could reach the ship, a Japanese bomb detonated the ship’s magazines, causing a massive explosion on board and dealing significant damage. If Shew had been at his post at the time of the explosion, he would have been killed. Seeing that the Arizona was unsalvageable, Shrew was enlisted to help fight fires along the shore for two hours. After that, he helped carry the dead and dying to a mess hall that was being used as an emergency hospital. Editor’s Note: Shew was a Machinist Mate 2nd Class at the time of the attack. It is unclear what rank he had reached by retirement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Ken Harbaugh. If you're looking for a specific episode of Warriors in their own words,
0:05.9	or if you'd just like to browse our collection of veteran interviews, visit evergreenpodcast.com.
0:12.3	We've categorized every episode in our library by conflict, battle, branch, and much more.
0:18.8	With one click, you can find every fighter pilot, every prisoner of war,
0:23.1	every Medal of Honor recipient, and every D-Day survivor in our catalog, just to name a few.
0:29.1	Visit evergreenpodcast.com and click over to the Warriors in their own word show page to get started.
0:50.9	I'm Ken Harbaugh, host of Warriors in Their Own Words.
0:55.1	In partnership with the Honor Project, we've brought this podcast back at a time when our nation needs these stories more than ever. Warriors in their own words is our
1:00.5	attempt to present an unvarnished, unsanitized truth of what we have asked of those who defend
1:06.0	this nation. Thank you for listening, and by doing so honoring those who have served.
1:12.5	Today, we'll hear from Machinistmate Second Class Martin Shoe.
1:16.5	Shoe served on the USS, Arizona, but was not on board when the attack on Pearl Harbor began.
1:22.1	Instead, he helped fight fires on shore and relocate wounded men.
1:35.0	Thank you. fires on shore and relocate wounded men. I finished boot camp in San Diego in the latter part of 1937 and January.
1:42.0	They sent us back on boot leave after that, 30 days.
1:44.6	And then I went aboard the Arizona in January, 1938.
1:53.0	Well, the shipmates on the Arizona were really gung-hoed for the Arizona.
1:58.4	They loved it, and I did myself almost immediately on going aboard.
2:03.6	They scared me. People tried to scare me about regulations on a big ship like that because I'd
2:10.6	been told to get a destroyer or something smaller. But after boot camp and I asked for a destroyer
2:17.6	or something smaller, I got to Arizona.
2:19.9	And this kind of scared me.
	...

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