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‘Pearl Harbor’
plan for carrier
stirs skirmish

Using the USS Lexington
to portray a Japanese carrier
is called 'a disservice'

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

While the producers of the $130 million movie of the Pearl Harbor attack finish the battle scenes here, a minor skirmish looms over use of a decommissioned U.S. aircraft carrier as the Japanese launch platform for the surprise airstrike.

Harry P. Ogg, past president for five years of the Corpus Christi chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, is incensed that the USS Lexington, decommissioned in 1991 and now a floating museum in Corpus Christi Bay, will be used as a Japanese carrier.

"I think it's a disservice to the many men who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor, Corregidor, Iwo Jima, Midway, Coral Sea and other battles," said Ogg, 77, who was stationed on the oiler Neosho on Dec. 7, 1941.

"You can't have a Japanese war flag flying on a U.S. warship."

But Sandi McNorton, spokeswoman for the museum, said: "The controversy is overstated. That portrayal as a Japanese warship will be a minor role."

She said Texas museum officials are negotiating with Disney, producers of "Pearl Harbor," and intend to go ahead with the filming.

"The only problem now is the shooting schedule. The producers want to shoot in July, which is our peak visitor season ... and we are not going to close the museum in the peak of our season for eight to 10 days."

"We want to be a part of the movie," McNorton said."We believe it is an excellent movie, and it makes sense for us to be a part of it."

She added that this would not be the first time the Lexington would be used to portray a Japanese warship.

When the Lexington was on active duty, it portrayed Japanese and American carriers in the 1976 film "Midway," she said.

In the current Disney production, the Lexington also will serve as the set for the carrier Hornet, the launch pad for Doolittle's B-25 bombing raid on Tokyo in 1942.

The picture's lead actors -- Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett -- are picked to lead the retaliatory Tokyo bombing mission. The active-duty carrier USS Constellation will be used to actually launch B-25 bombers for the movie.

Garlen Eslick, 77, said Ogg may be the only really vocal member in his Corpus Christi chapter to feel so strongly.

"I have mixed feelings," said Eslick, one of 32 seamen who survived the sinking of the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor. "I would not oppose it being used as a Japanese carrier if all else failed, but I wouldn't like to see them do it. I still carry a lot of animosity."

"Although, since its opening, over 2.5 million people have visited the Lexington," museum director Rocco Montesano said, "a movie such as 'Pearl Harbor' can reach that many people in a single weekend."

"If this movie can help make a new generation aware of the heroism and sacrifice of those who served their country on 'a date which will live in infamy,' then it will help the Lexington achieve one of its primary missions," he said.

But Ogg added: "It's a money thing, but they forget how many people have lost their lives. ... Too many people died at Pearl Harbor."