Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2012: Retired Air Force Chief Warrant Officer Jay C. Groff Jr.

On Dec. 3, 2012, Retired Air Force Chief War­rant Offi­cer Jay C. Groff Jr. entered AMVETS National Head­quar­ters in Lan­ham, Md., and viewed the orig­i­nal seg­ment of the USS Ari­zona Memo­r­ial Wall. As a Pearl Har­bor sur­vivor, Groff’s con­nec­tion to the USS Ari­zona Memo­r­ial dif­fers from the major­ity of other individuals.

Groff, enlisted in the Army Air Corps after grad­u­at­ing from high school in May 1940. Arriv­ing at his first duty sta­tion at Hickam Field in Oahu, Hawaii, Groff was assigned to the crash boat sec­tion aboard the base. Mem­bers of his sec­tion were respon­si­ble for res­cu­ing downed avi­a­tors, tow tar­gets and patrol ranges through­out Hawaii. On Dec. 7, 1941, Groff’s world was changed as the Japan­ese launched an attack on Pearl Harbor.

“On that day I decided to stay in bed a lit­tle bit longer. Shortly before 7 o’clock I heard an explo­sion out­side of the win­dow,” recalls Groff. “It was real close. I got up and looked out of the win­dow. I was up on the third floor and at eye level here comes a Japan­ese plane right across our view.” Rac­ing out of his bar­racks, Groff even­tu­ally made his way to the boathouse. Once there, he helped defend an Amer­i­can B-17, which was attempt­ing to land on the tar­mac, approx­i­mately 150 yards away from Groff’s loca­tion. For the entirety of the attack on Pearl Har­bor, Groff con­tin­ued to defend fel­low mil­i­tary per­son­nel and supplies.

“For weeks after that, we would man gun posi­tions through­out the night right on the beach at the edge of Pearl Har­bor,” said Groff. “It [Dec. 7] changed my life forever.

After Pearl Har­bor, Groff con­tin­ued his mil­i­tary career for a total of 30 years. He became a Boatmaster-Marine Super­in­ten­dent and served at Brook­ley Field, John­ston Island and Hamil­ton Air Force Base. Trans­fer­ring to an admin­is­tra­tive posi­tion after the Air Force retired crash boats, he has served in Izmir, Turkey and at the Pen­ta­gon in Arling­ton, Va., where he worked for the Sec­re­tary of the Air Force.

Groff cur­rently is the hon­orary cam­paign chair­man for AMVETS’ USS Ari­zona For­ever Fund. This pro­gram pro­vides funds for AMVETS to restore the USS Ari­zona Memo­r­ial Wall. AMVETS has been closely con­nected with the USS Ari­zona Memo­r­ial since after World War II when PNC Harold T. Berc worked with Pres­i­dent Eisen­hower to estab­lish a memo­r­ial for the 1,102 crew­men interred on-site.

“The memo­r­ial recalls Decem­ber 7 and the attack on the United States,” said Groff of the USS Ari­zona Memo­r­ial Wall. “The memo­r­ial is for those men who sac­ri­ficed their lives that day.”

To help AMVETS with the restora­tion and upkeep of the USS Ari­zona Memo­r­ial Wall, please donate today at: https://www.transactionserver1.com/Default.aspx?tsid=650

100 per­cent of dona­tions will go directly to the USS Ari­zona For­ever Fund.