Late in 1939 and early 1940, the Pacific Fleet battleships, cruisers, aircraft carriers, aircraft squadrons, destroyer squadrons and various fleet support units departed from the San Pedro-San Diego area to the Hawaiian Islands.

Shortly after President Franklin Roosevelt made the proclamation which alerted all military units of the United States that a limited emergency was in effect, the Pacific Fleet forces in the Hawaiian Island areas became full time operational 24 hours per day, six to seven days each week, an operation just short of war status.

Along toward the latter part of 1941, there was some relaxation of the seven day per week alert so that some of the Pacific Fleet units got into the habit of securing operations on Sunday of each week, when the battleships would be moored two abreast at the Ford Island, Pearl Harbor docking piers, cruisers anchored in the waters of Pearl Harbor, aircraft squadrons at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Ford Island; all secured except for the small number of officers and enlisted men on watch duties. Therefore, Sunday of each week became a day of rest and relaxation. Weekend liberty was granted to officers and enlisted personnel who had their families in the area. Officers and enlisted men in the various units of the fleet who were not on watch duty on a Sunday morning were permitted to be relaxed, sleep in late, late breakfast, etc.

Fleet Air Utility Aircraft Squadron One was no exception to this relaxed practice on the Sundays of the latter months of 1941.

Fleet Air Utility Aircraft Squadron One had the Fleet Air Photographic Unit under its command with some 30 to 40 Naval photographers assigned, some on temporary duty assignment and others on full time duty assignment under command of Utility Squadron One.

Utility Squadron One administrative offices, airplane hangar facilities, airplane parking-maintenance area was located on the northwest side of the U.S. Naval Air Station, Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, T.H.

The fleet air photographic laboratory was in a building on the southeast side of Ford Island, about one mile from the Utility Squadron One headquarters and about 500 feet from the Pacific Fleet battleship mooring docks.

The U.S. Naval Air Station, Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, T.H. also had a small Naval photo laboratory located in the station's administration building.

The U.S. Naval Air Station, Kaneohe, on the east side of the island of Oahu, had a small photographic laboratory which serviced the Naval patrol wing squadrons that operated from that air base.

On Sunday 7 December, 1941, these three Naval photographic laboratory facilities were closed.

The photographers assigned to the photographic laboratory units were either away from the stations on liberty or were in the barracks area of the station.

Most of the Naval photographers assigned to the Utility Squadron One command were on liberty away from the air station at Pearl Harbor.

Chief Photographer Earl Sever was in the Chief Petty Officers barracks, and about ten other Naval photographers were on the Naval Air Station, Ford Island in the area of the enlisted mens barracks or the enlisted mens mess hall when shortly before 0800 on 7 December, 1941, "all Hell broke loose": aerial bombs were dropping from Japanese bombers, torpedoes were being launched from low flying Japanese airplanes which were also doing machine gun strafing.

Explosions were taking place all over the Navy Yard, on battleships moored at the air station docks, ships at anchor in the waters of Pearl Harbor and on the airfield of the Naval Air Station, Ford Island.

Battleships, cruisers and destroyers in the Pearl Harbor area were firing their anti-aircraft guns, extremely loud noise emanated from the gunfire and bomb-torpedo explosions, and metal fragments from the anti-aircraft shells and metal parts from hit Japanese airplanes were falling all over the Naval Air Station on Ford Island and the Pearl Harbor ship anchorage areas. The Pearl Harbor area was no place that morning for man or beast.

The small group of 10 to 12 enlisted Naval photographers who had completed their breakfast that Sunday morning on Ford Island, upon hearing the explosions and seeing the diving Japanese airplanes, ran as fast as they could to the fleet air photographic laboratory to get cameras for photographing the holocaust.

The first two Naval photographers to arrive at the fleet air photographic laboratory did not have a key to the locked door of the laboratory, so they kicked the door open and entered the laboratory to get the cameras which were stored in the ready equipment area loaded with film ready for picture taking of scheduled Naval operations which were to take place on Monday December 8th.

By the time that the first two or three Naval photographers were leaving the fleet air photo lab with their loaded cameras, other Naval photographers arrived at the lab where they got busy loading film and getting cameras ready for picture taking.

The cameras being readied for picture taking were a number of aerial cameras which had film capacity from 25 up to 200 exposures. 4 x 5 Speed Graphic press type cameras were also loaded with cut sheet film and used that Sunday on Ford Island.

Navy Photographer Sutherland got a boat in which he set up his 35mm Mitchell Motion Picture Camera, so with a boat operator between 9 and 10 am on Sunday 7 December, 1941, he obtained a sizeable footage of motion pictures of the damaged and burning battleships that had been hit by the attacking Japanese airplanes.

Chief Photographer Earl Sever, the only chief photographer on the Ford Island Naval Air Station that 7th December 1941 morning, was in his bunk thinking about getting up to get his late breakfast, when the first explosions occurred from the dropping Japanese bombs.

Earl Sever got out of his bunk with lightening speed and rushed to a window to see what the explosions and loud low flying airplanes were all about. Earl had one fast look at the explosions and fires on the moored battleships, got dressed in one helluva hurry and left his barracks on the run to the Fleet Air Photographic Laboratory while exploding bombs were dropping on the nearby battleships. He arrived at the Fleet Air Photographic Laboratory about 20-25 minutes after the first Japanese bomb had exploded on one of the battleships.

Upon his arrival at the Fleet Air Photo Lab, he found that there were about six to eight Naval photgraphers out with cameras taking pictures during the latter part of the Japanese air attack.

By 9am on 7 December 1941, Chief Photographer Earl Sever USN was busy directing the efforts of other Naval photographers who had arrived at the Fleet Air Photo Lab, in the laboratory operating facilities for the loading of film, preparation of cameras (still and motion picture) for recording events of the day, processing of exposed film, printing and print drying, picture subject identification and entry in the official Naval photographic log for each photograph made by the fleet air Naval photographers during the Japanese air attack and throughout that day of infamy, when visual information was recorded of an historical event that will be remembered for centuries to come.

Around 2pm, a Naval commander with side arms arrived at the Fleet Air Photographic Laboratory, NAS, Ford Island where he was greeted by Chief Photographer Earl Sever, who wanted to know what he could do for the commander.

The armed Naval commander showed Chief Sever his identification card and informed Chief Sever that he was from the staff of the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet (Admiral Hessband Kimmel USN) and that he was there for the purpose of getting all of the photographs that the Naval photographers had made during and following the Japanese air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

Chief Photographer Earl Sever respectfully answered the commander with the statement that there were several Naval photographers out taking still photographs and 35mm motion pictures and that there was a sizable amount of exposed film in the laboratory awaiting processing and that it would be several hours before he could get all of the Naval photos that had been made that day.

The armed Naval commander remarked to Chief Sever that he had a boat waiting for him at the main dock of the Naval Air Station.

Chief Sever remarked to the commander that he should send his boat back, as it would probably be needed before the day was through.

Chief Sever explained the standard photo lab procedure that was required to properly process, identify and log in the official Naval photographic files the necessary information for all pictures that were being produced by the fleet air photographers who were operating under the commanding officer of Utility Squadron One.

The commander asked Chief Sever when he thought that all of the Naval pictures made that day would be completed for his return to the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet. Chief Sever estimated that it would be around 2 or 3am the next morning. The commander said "OK chief" I am going to the dock to release my boat. I'll be returning shortly to await the completion of the processing of the day's photographs.

The commander sent his boat back to the boat docks at the Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor and returned to the Fleet Air Photo Lab about an hour later, where he spent the rest of the afternoon and well into the night making coffee for the fleet air photographers who were quite busy processing the pictures made that day.

The fleet air photographers of Utility Squadron One, plus a few Naval photographers from the fleet air patrol wing squadrons, completed the film processing - printing - identification title information and the official log of the photos around 3am on 8 December 1941.

The commander with two bags of Naval photographs made on 7 December 1941, was taken to the U.S. Naval Air Station Ford Island Dock, where he got a boat back to his headquarters of the Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet.

Chief Photographer Roy Wayne USN who was stationed at the U.S. Naval Air Station, Kaneohe, Oahu on 7 December 1941 made some photgraphs of the damage done by the Japanese attack on that Naval air base. The photos made by Chief Wayne were not as spectacular or all inclusive as the ones made by the fleet air Naval photographers at Pearl Harbor.

Late in December 1941, Secretary of the Navy Knox and his official party arrived from Washington, D.C., and upon their departure from Pearl Harbor, returning to Washington, D.C., they brought back with them all of the photographs made by the U.S. Naval photographers who were operating out of the Fleet Air Utility Squadron One photographic laboratory and had covered and recorded the day of infamy Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The official photographs of the attack on Pearl Harbor were reviewed by the President of the United States, Secretary of State, Secretaries of the Army and Navy, Chief of Staff U.S. Army and Chief of Naval Operations.

The collection of photographs made by the Naval photographers on 7 December 1941 were classified as "Secret" and placed under the appropriate Naval officer custodian, where they were held for many months before any of the photographs were released for publication to our Nation.

By August - September 1942, the Naval photgraphers who made the 7th December Pearl Harbor photographs had all been detached from Fleet Air Utility Squadron One and were assigned to photographic duties in various Naval commands in the Pacific, mostly to the fleet aircraft carriers and the South Pacific units of the Navy and Marine Corps.