Since blasts thundered from Red Hill every morning, many people were not alarmed by the explosions heard early on Sunday, December 7,1941. One worker recognized danger and dashed for cover in the mouth of a tunnel, only to be strafed by an enemy plane. Several contractors realized the island was under attack and immediately drove to Pearl Harbor. But most Red Hill workers, safe underground, continued their tasks for several hours until a call for help came from the badly damaged Hickam Air Field. Red Hill crews set about repairing the island's water system, for geysers spouted everywhere. Down at the harbor, crews used heavy equipment to untangle wreckage and rescue those who were trapped. The Navy photograph at left shows the California, listing after two torpedo hits. Most of the smoke is coming from the Arizona. That afternoon a procession of trucks slowly carried hundreds of bodies up Red Hill, where a bulldozer and a power shovel turned over the ruddy earth. Many of those killed in the morning raid were buried in a mass grave, with seven Japanese aviators placed at one end of the trench. Fortunately the surface fuel farms remained intact, and the Japanese did not return for an expected follow-up attack. Had the fuel farms been destroyed, the Pacific Fleet would have retreated to the West Coast until the Red Hill system was completed. Courtesy of National Archives