My guess is that Lieutenant Commander and Mrs. Chandler didn't even thing about their response to the attack. They acted on instinct. From: Public Works Officer (Yard)
Date: 15 December 1941
Subject: Report of Air Raid
"Lieut. Comdr. W.D. Chandler (CEC), USN. This officer (who occupies government quarters at No. 402 Kuahua Island, near a wharf) with the sole medical assistance of one corpsman, established a field hospital in his quarters, where for a period of approximately two hours he and his wife, Mrs. W.D. Chandler, received and gave first aid treatment to about 100 enlisted personnel from USS Oklahoma and USS West Virginia, many of whom were severely shocked or had sustained burns and some serious injuries."
During the lull between the first and second attack, 19-year-old Kathy Cooper walked out to her parents’ backyard—the setting for her wedding, just four months before. While she was out there, a seaman, who “wasn’t a day over 18” came up to the house. He as shaking all over and she invited him into the house to give him a chance to pull himself together. But, even as she did, “I worried about taking a man from his duty station that it might be considered a form of treason.”
Kathy also thought of another kind of “treason.” During the attack, Kathy watched the planes flow so low she could see the goggled faces of the pilots. “We’ll all be killed!” she said. At 19, Kathy was not ready to die, nor to be a widow. Her husband, Bud, was an officer on the submarine Solace that was out to sea. She was sure Bud was safe, but in retrospect, her reaction makes her smile. I thought, “I”ll be killed and Bud will get married again!”
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