Oral History Interview with Roland Eberhardt, December 6, 2001

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an interview with Roland Eberhardt. Eberhardt joined the Navy in 1937, and attended a watertender school in Philadelphia. He served as chief watertender aboard the USS Nevada (BB-36). Eberhardt was aboard the ship while it was docked in Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. He provides vivid details of his experiences through that fateful day, and the grounding of their ship. He was then assigned to the USS San Francisco (CA-38) for the remainder of the war. Later in December of 1941 they reinforced Wake Island. In August of 1942 they participated in the Battle of Savo Island, off Guadalcanal. They patrolled around the Aleutian Islands, Attu and Kiska, to keep the Japanese from reinforcing their bases. From there they went through the Marshall Islands in 1943 and the Mariana Islands in 1944. Eberhardt was then sent to Oil Burning School in Philadelphia, and then assigned to a base in Salamaua, Papua New Guinea. He was discharged in October of 1945