"The Captain and the crew opened up the orders and we found out we were going to Japan." - Signalman Second Class Paul Meunier
As fighting was intensifying across Europe and Asia in the late 1930's, Paul Meunier wasn't willing to watch events pass by. He recalled, "Upon graduation from high school, I wanted to get away from home...so I decided
Hitler was the biggest thing in the world as a danger, and I and a friend signed up to enlist." After completing boot camp at Great Lakes, he and his friend were given assignments. Meunier remembered that moment with a smile, and recalled, "… he was going to PT boats and I was going to the USS Hornet. The Hornet was brand new and getting ready for a shakedown cruise." The USS Hornet CV 8 was the newest carrier on the line and departed the East Coast for San Francisco.
Meunier recalled the moment when he witnessed 16 B-25 bombers being loaded onto the Hornet and Col. Jimmy Doolittle overseeing the affair. After the Hornet departed San Francisco, he fondly remembered the moment a plane dropped sealed orders on the deck, "The Captain and the crew opened up the orders and we found out we were going to Japan." Sailing closer and closer to the target, Meunier shared that, "We got within 600-650 miles or less...I was on the bridge at the time and (our escorts) fired 595 rounds of ammunition in 5 or 6 minutes... they say it was a Japanese picket boat." One by one he watched from the signal bridge as each plane took off from the deck of the Hornet, bound to attack Japan, months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Meunier paused for a moment, remembering the scene of bombers lifting off, "They took off beautifully and circled around and grouped up." After Doolittle and his Raiders left the deck of the Hornet, the ship returned to battle the Japanese Navy. Meunier shared his memories of the turning point of the Pacific War, the Battle of Midway and the USS Hornet's contributions to that American Victory in early June of 1942. As Japanese planes approached, he remarked, "Those Japanese planes came over there and I thought boy are we in for it now and they went for the USS Yorktown, and that was the end of the Yorktown." His interview continues with the Hornet's service after Midway.
The United States Navy Memorial honors USS Hornet CV 8 Veteran 
Paul Meunier, featured within a new series titled, Tales from the Navy Log, Story of the Month. Each month, this series honors a Veteran's story recorded by the Tales From the Navy Log Program at the Navy Memorial. To learn more about his story, you can view the first and second part of his experience on the Tales From the Navy Log Archive.
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