Kermit Tyler - Dismissed Pearl Harbor Attack

On December 7, 1941 Kermit Tyler was an army lieutenant on a temporary assignment at a radar facility at Fort Shafter in Hawaii. Two Army privates brought to his attention a large cluster of objects on a radar screen. He quickly dismissed their concern by indicating that it was a group of American planes flying in from San Francisco. It turned out to be the first wave of 180 Japanese bombers on their way to attack the U.S. naval fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Tyler, 96, died on January 23, 2010 at his home in San Diego, California. He had suffered from two strokes in recent years.


After the attack, he was cleared by military and congressional inquiries in his role that day. There had been a group of American B-17's scheduled to land at Hickman Field.

He later flew combat mission in the South Pacific during the war. He stayed in the military, retiring in 1961 as a lieutenant colonel. He later became a real estate investor.