It is still the first day of war... A cook from the 20th Pursuit Squadron, Private Harry Seiff, was the first soldier at Clark Field to hear of the attack on Pearl Harbor, in this case from a commercial radio broadcast. Rumors like that spread very quickly. At the same time, the signals section of MacArthur's headquarters had picked up the signal from Pearl Harbor and informed General Sutherland. Either way, Sutherland telephoned MacArthur at his palatial penthouse on top of the Manila Hotel at about 3:30 am. MacArthur's response was said to be incredulous: "Pearl Harbor! Pearl Harbor! It should be our strongest point!" At 5:30 am came the first orders from Washington in response to Pearl Harbor, in the form of a radiogram from General George C. Marshall, US Army Chief of Staff. It read: HOSTILITIES BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES ... HAVE COMMENCED ... CARRY OUT TASKS ASSIGNED IN RAINBOW FIVE ... As a reminder, under Rainbow 5: "In the event of hostilities, the defending air forces were to carry out air raids against Japanese forces and installations within tactical operating radius of available bases." Gen. Brereton tryied many times to get permission to perform in sense of Rainbow 5 from Mc Arthur but got no answer. A little before 8:00 am, the Iba radar informed the Aircraft Warning Service at Nielson Field that at least 30 Japanese aircraft were flying south over Luzon, apparently headed for Clark Field. The warning service teletyped that information to the Clark Field headquarters of the 24th Pursuit Group. The B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 19th Bombardment Group, sitting at Clark Field, were immediately ordered into the air; they might not be bombing anything, but at least they would not be caught on the ground. In the meantime, MacArthur's headquarters finally received confirmation of the attacks on Baguio and Tuguegarao and the second air attack on Davao City. Evidently considering these the "first overt act," at 10:14 am General MacArthur himself apparently called Brereton and authorized strikes on Formosa. While all this was going on, the Warhawks and Flying Fortresses that had been hurriedly ordered to take off from Clark Field were running out of fuel and had to land. The 17th and 20th Pursuit Squadrons and the 19th Bomb Group had flown back to Clark. The pilots went to lunch while their aircraft were fueled and serviced. At about the same time, a Manila radio broadcast had just reported that Clark Field was being bombed by the Japanese. In the mess hall at Clark Field, the report brought laughter. They were still laughing at 12:35 pm, when a member of the 20th Pursuit on the ground at Clark Field saw coming out of the northwest "two perfect V [sic] of Vs, totaling 53 twin-engine bombers," one behind the other, heading straight for them. "Good God Almighty – yonder they come!" Upon seeing the aircraft, Sergeant Bill King fired his pistol three times into the air as a warning, then rushed to phone the 20th Pursuit operations room, where Major Grover was located. King told the man who answered, First Lieutenant Benny Putnam, to sound the air raid alarm. Upon hearing the message, Grover, who seems to have been in something of a daze, was skeptical, asking, "How does he know they are Japanese planes?" Overhearing the question, King yelled into the phone at Putnam, "We don't have so goddamn many!" Only now did the air raid sirens sound. Only now was First Lieutenant Joseph Moore, head of the 20th Pursuit, able to order the red warning flags signaling INTERCEPT raised. Only now did the 18 P-40B Warhawks (do you see the difference to the E?) of the 20th Pursuit jump into their cockpits and desperately start taxiing down the runways of Clark Field. It was too late. Some managed to get airborne. To be continued...