In the Pearl Harbor movie TORA! TORA! TORA!, two-time Academy Award-winner Jason Robards played Maj. Gen. Walter Short, commander of US Army forces in Hawaii.
In reality, Robards was a Navy radioman on the cruiser USS Northampton which was based at Pearl Harbor in 1941, but the cruiser was at sea during the attack and did not return until December 9. The Northampton saw combat in the invasion of Gaudalcanal, and during the Battle of Tassafaronga, the Northampton was sunk by torpedoes launched by Japanese destroyers. About 50 crewmen were killed, but Robards and the other survivors were rescued.
Robards later served on the cruiser USS Nashville which was struck by a Japanese kamikaze plane off the Philippines which killed 123 of its crew, but Robards was unscathed. While on the Nashville, read the Eugene O'Neill play "Strange Interlude" which inspired him to become an actor.
In the Pearl Harbor movie TORA! TORA! TORA!, two-time Academy Award-winner Jason Robards played Maj. Gen. Walter Short, commander of US Army forces in Hawaii.
Robards was a radioman on the cruiser USS Northampton, which was at sea during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and survived the sinking of the Northampton in the Battle of Tassafaronga.
Robards was also on the cruiser USS Nashville when it was struck by a Japanese kamikaze plane off the Philippines which killed 133 of its crew, but Robards was unscathed.
