In honor of Pearl Harbor Day, my wife thinks about her Dad, Lynn H. Davis. His ship, the USS Astoria, was stationed there, before we entered WWII. By a lucky twist of fate, the Astoria was ordered out to sea early that morning (pre-dawn), for patrol duty north of the islands and was over 100 miles out to sea when the attack started.
Below is a photo of the Astoria's survivors some time after the Guadalcanal campaign:
My father-in-law is in the back row, the sixth man from the left. And, by the looks of it, they took this picture on another New Orleans Class Heavy Cruiser. I can tell by the guns. Three of the 7 New Orleans Class cruisers were lost at Savo Island.
Update (12-9-13): FYI, after much debate among the Davis family, it was determined that my father-in-law is actually the 4th from the left in the middle row.
JT