Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 114 Part 3.djvu/161

 PUBLIC LAW 106-398—APPENDIX 114 STAT. 1654A-119 McVay's military record should now reflect that he is exonerated for the loss of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and so many of her crew. (c) UNIT CITATION FOR FINAL CREW OF U.S.S. INDIANAPOLIS.— The Secretary of the Navy should award a Navy Unit Commendation to the U.S.S. Indianapolis (CA-35) and her final crew. SEC. 546. POSTHUMOUS ADVANCEMENT ON RETIRED LIST OF REAR ADMIRAL HUSBAND E. KIMMEL AND MAJOR GENERAL WALTER C. SHORT, SENIOR OFFICERS IN COMMAND IN HAWAII ON DECEMBER 7, 1941. (a) FINDINGS.— Congress makes the following findings: (1) The late Rear Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, while serving in the temporary grade of admiral, was the Commander in Chief of the United States Fleet and the Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet, at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, with an excellent and unassailable record throughout his career in the United States Navy before that date. (2) The late Major General Walter C. Short, while serving in the temporary grade of lieutenant general, was the Commander of the United States Army Hawaiian Department, at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, with an excellent and unassailable record throughout his career in the United States Army before that date. (3) Numerous investigations following the attack on Pearl Harbor have documented that Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Short were not provided necessary and critical intelligence that was available, that foretold of war with Japan, that warned of imminent attack, and that would have alerted them to prepare for the attack, including such essential communiques as the Japanese Pearl Harbor Bomb Plot message of September 24, 1941, and the message sent from the Imperial Japanese Foreign Ministry to the Japanese Ambassador in the United States from December 6 to 7, 1941, known as the Fourteen-Part Message. (4) On December 16, 1941, Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Short were relieved of their commands and returned to their permanent grades of rear admiral and major general, respectively. (5) Admiral William Harrison Standley, who served as a member of the investigating commission known as the Roberts Commission that accused Admiral Kimmel and Lieutenant General Short of "dereliction of duty" only six weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, later disavowed the report, maintaining that "these two officers were martyred" and "if they had been brought to trial, both would have been cleared of the charge". (6) On October 19, 1944, a Naval Court of Inquiry— (A) exonerated Admiral Kimmel on the grounds that his military decisions and the disposition of his forces at the time of the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor were proper "by virtue of the information that Admiral Kimmel had at hand which indicated neither the probability nor the imminence of an air attack on Pearl Harbor"; 79-194O-00 -6:QL3Part3

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