Family Still Fighting Pearl Harbor Shame Dad Was Blamed, Demoted As Navy Commander-In-Chief

Edward Kimmel sits in his den - he calls it his “war room” - surrounded by paintings of battleships, World War II posters, oceanographic charts, and volume after volume on Pearl Harbor. Here, he wages the skirmishes of his decade-old war with history.

Fifty-six years ago today, Kimmel’s father was commander-in-chief of the U.S. Naval Fleet when Japanese bombs rained down on Pearl Harbor. He later was accused of being ill-prepared for the raid that killed more than 2,400 people - the scapegoat who humiliated a nation.

Forced to retire, demoted from a four-star to a two-star admiral, Husband E. Kimmel also blamed himself for the disaster - until he learned, in 1944, that senior naval and government officials may have known in advance of the impending attack, but never warned him. “He changed from a very dejected, downtrodden man into a fighting tiger,” Edward Kimmel said.

Husband Kimmel spent the next 24 years fighting to be exonerated and restored to the rank of four-star admiral, but he died without success, leaving his sons to carry on his fight.

One of his three sons, Tom - like his father, a retired admiral - died earlier this year at age 82, after dedicating the later years of his life almost exclusively to the family plight. The eldest son, Manning, died in 1944 while commanding a submarine off the Philippine coast.

Now Edward, 72, the youngest, is the family patriarch and carrier of the torch. And the man everyone calls “Ned” has gathered what he considers powerful new ammunition.

Based on information in recent books and articles, including a forthcoming book by a writer in Illinois, Kimmel believes President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other top officials knew the Japanese were bound for Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. But they did nothing to warn Adm. Husband Kimmel or his counterpart in the Army, Gen. Walter C. Short, who was also demoted.

Two books published in 1995, recent historical papers and articles, and a book by writer Gregory Douglas due out early next year, all indicate that U.S. officials had knowledge of the attack from intercepted and decoded Japanese messages. A chapter in Douglas’ new book describes how Germany intercepted a Nov. 26, 1941, radio-telephone message from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Roosevelt, warning of the Japanese attack.

Although an archivist in Washington has questioned the authenticity of Douglas’ documentation, even if such findings are true, the problem for Ned Kimmel is: To absolve his father would require the U.S. government to acknowledge that Roosevelt let Pearl Harbor happen.

Douglas agreed that his information may not help Kimmel in his quest. “Governments do not ever admit to mistakes,” he said. “It isn’t the truth that matters, it’s perception.”

So the odds remain stacked against Ned Kimmel - and he knows it. Even though the government recently softened its stance and now maintains that blame for Pearl Harbor must be “broadly shared,” Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton have all denied Kimmel family requests to posthumously restore their father’s rank and completely exonerate him.

Late last month, Kimmel got another coldwater splash of bad news: Defense Secretary William Cohen denied the most recent call for exoneration of Husband Kimmel, who Cohen said “remain(s) accountable” for his actions 56 years ago.