Larry Rotchell CIVA Lieutenant Colonel (retired)

By Lieutenant Colonel (Retired)
Larry Rotchell CIVA

Over 200 Caymanian men served in both the merchant navies and in war duties focused around Trinidad in the southern Caribbean since that island was then the only source of oil for the British forces. Many died (including two of my mother-in-law’s brothers).

The names of those who died are remembered on the Seaman’s Memorial near Fort George in George Town. Very few Caymanians who served in the war are still alive today and ALL the money donated to the Poppy Appeal on the islands goes to the support of veterans of the islands.

The attack on Pearl Harbour in World War II was a watershed in the war bringing the United States (and it’s servicemen and resources) into the war.

At 755 hours on 7 December 1941, Japanese torpedo-bombers spearheaded an attack upon the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The Americans were taken by surprise, and although their aircraft carriers were fortuitously absent, the rest of the fleet was crippled.

By 0945, as the last of the Japanese planes flew north to rejoin Vice-Admiral Nagumo’s Strike Force carriers, five American battleships had been sunk and three others extensively damaged.

The Japanese had lost only 29 aircraft in an assault which dealt a tremendous blow to American pride and prestige and the Pacific War had begun.

More importantly the Pearl Harbour was the catalyst which provoked the United States into entering the Second World War – they formally declared war on Japan and on 11 December they were at war with Germany and Italy.

Japan was an expansionist, militaristic power; she had been at war with China since 1937. Denied access to strategically vital raw materials by the Western powers, who hoped to limit her military capabilities, Japan’s intention was to destroy American naval strength preparatory to the creation by conquest of a ‘Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’, centred upon Malaya, the Philippines and Dutch East Indies, from which such materials could be obtained.

It was hoped that the Allies, preoccupied with events in Europe, would accept the ‘fait accompli’ and sue for peace.

The ensuing campaign was breathtaking in its speed and effects.

On 8 December, as the Pearl Harbour attack was proceeding on the other side of the International Date Line, Japanese forces struck at Wake Island and Hong Kong (the garrisons surrendered on 23 and 24 December respectively), initiated air attacks on the Philippines and landed in both Thailand and north Malaya.

Bangkok was occupied on 9 December, and as the invaders concentrated against British positions in Malaya, other units seized the Gilbert Islands and Guam. On 10 December British Naval Force Z (the battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse) was destroyed by Japanese aircraft off the east coast of Malaya and the invasion of the Philippines began.

Six days later, landings took place in Borneo and on 22 December a large force came ashore at Lingayen Gulf to threaten Manila. Overstretched and caught by surprise, Allied units were in grave danger.

In Malaya British troops, denied air and naval support, withdrew down the peninsula to Singapore, the garrison of which surrendered on 15 February 1942. In the Philippines, American and Filipino forces under General MacArthur fared little better, holding out in the Bataan peninsula until 9 April and on the island-fortress of Corregidor until 6 May. By then the Dutch East Indies had fallen after the landings in the Celebes (11 January), Sumatra (14 February), on Timor and Bali (19/20 February) and on Java (1 March); while Burma had been invaded (15 January), initiating a British retreat which did not end until the Indian border had been reached in mid-May.

Allied naval power proved ineffective – an Anglo-Dutch force which tried to protect the East Indies was destroyed on 27 February at the battle of the Java Sea – and nothing could prevent landings in New Britain (23 January) and North-East New Guinea (8-10 March). By May 1942 an enormous empire, stretching from the Kurile Islands in the north to Rabaul (New Britain) in the South, had been carved out.

Japan’s conquests were far from secure, however. The USA was certainly not disposed to seek a negotiated peace, and early in 1942 American carrier groups began to operate in the Pacific.
On 18 April Colonel Doolittle led a bombing raid on Tokyo, using modified B-25 Mitchells flown from the carrier Hornet.

Faced with such resolve, Japanese planners instigated a second wave of attacks – towards the Aleutian Islands in the north, Midway in the centre and Port Moresby (Papua/New Guinea) and the Solomon Islands in the south – intended to form a protective barrier around their new possessions and to destroy the US Pacific Fleet.

In the south the Japanese invasion fleet destined for Port Moresby was intercepted by an American carrier task force, deployed to the Coral Sea on 4 May by Admiral Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Fleet.

Aircraft from the rival fleets clashed on 7 and 8 May in the first of the carrier battles which were to characterise the pacific War, and although the outcome of the Battle of the Coral Sea was a ‘draw’ – the American lost the carrier Lexington but destroyed its Japanese equivalent the Shoho – the invasion force did turn back.

The Japanese then attempted an overland attack on Port Moresby, sending units to seize Buna on the east coast of Papau (21/22 July) before advancing along the Kokoda Trail across the Owen Stanley Mountains. They were opposed by Australian and American troops in some of the toughest fighting of the war and were eventually halted only 30 miles from their objective, on 26 September.

Meanwhile, the assault against Midway had also been contained. Aware of Japanese intentions through the breaking of their naval codes, the Americans refused to react to an attack on the Aleutians (Attu and Kiska fell on 7 June) and concentrated their forces around Midway instead.

The Battle of Midway began at 0430 on 4 June 1942, and although at first American aircraft could make little headway, by mid-morning they had located and destroyed three Japanese carriers (Kaga, Akagi and Soryu).

The Americans subsequently lost the Yorktown, but when a fourth enemy carrier (Hiyu) was crippled, Japanese naval power had been effectively blunted. It was the turning point in the Pacific campaign.

This gave the Americans the ability to intervene in the Solomons, sending Marines to destroy an airstrip being built on Guadalcanal. They landed on 7 August to face a ferocious battle which was to continue until 9 February 1943.

Characterised by hard fighting in jungle terrain, the operation also saw a series of naval actions – Savo Island (8/9 August), Eastern Solomons (23/25 August), Cape Esperance (11/12 October), Santa Cruz (26 October), Guadalcanal (12/15 November) and Tasafaronga (30 November) – which gradually wore down Japanese strength. Once Guadalcanal was secure, plans for an Allied counter-offensive began.

Larry Rotchell served in the British Army from 1971 to 2008 in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. REME’s role is to maintain the vast majority of the British Army’s equipment and Larry’s specialty was in aviation engineering. During his service he served in the UK, Germany, Canada and Cyprus. Larry served operational tours with the United Nations in Cyprus, the British Army in Northern Ireland and served with the Royal Marines in the Falkland’s War.

He is married to Nurleen (nee Brown) and they have three adult children in the UK. On retiring from the British Army they decided to return to Nurleen’s home of the Cayman Islands. He is a member of the Cayman Islands Veteran’s Association (CIVA).