A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.
— Joseph Campbell

Brig. Gen. James Vande Hey, a survivor of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Jan. 2, 2010 at age 93.

A Lakeway resident since 1971, Vande Hey was a new second lieutenant fresh out of flight school and stationed at Wheeler Field when the Japanese attacked the U.S. Fleet docked at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The day that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said would “live in infamy” started out normally enough. Yet by mid-day, Vande Hey’s life would be changed forever.
“I happened to be there,” Vande Hey said, delivering the keynote address during the 2006 Pearl Harbor Day ceremony at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg.
Initially, he thought the planes might be a prank.
“It had not been uncommon for the Navy to fly over the Air Force base on weekends and put bags of flour on the [bomb] carriage,” Vande Hey recalled. “They would buzz the field and drop those bags of flour. The next weekend, we would return the favor.”
But it was no prank as the attacking planes came in two waves. The first bombs were dropped at 7:53 a.m., the second wave came at 8:55 a.m. By 9:55 a.m., it was all over. Behind them they left chaos, 2,403 dead, 188 destroyed planes and a crippled Pacific Fleet that included eight damaged or destroyed battleships.
Vande Hey recalled how the Japanese planes swooped down on Wheeler Field, which was a center for fighter operations in Hawaii. Dive bombers seemed to appear out of nowhere. Violent explosions upended the parked planes, and buildings began to burn.He and some of his fellow soldiers found refuge on the used car lot at Wheeler Field.
“We dove underneath the used cars as if that was all the protection we needed,” he mused. “When the bombing would let up, we would peer out like a bunch of gophers and see what we could see.”
One thing he saw made an indelible mark on him.
“When the tempo slowed up, we saw this 1920s airplane strafing the area,” Vande Hey said. “When he saw us, he put the gun down, stood up and saluted us. I have never forgotten that picture.”
And Vande Hey returned “the favor.”
“When I led the first long range fighter sweep over Tokyo, when I saw those bombs drop, all I could do is salute,” he said.
As a Pearl Harbor survivor, Vande Hey was often asked to share his memories of that fateful day.
“I was asked to talk to the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Texas and give them a feel for what happened at Pearl Harbor,” Vande Hey said. “I gave them the usual talk. When I finished, I took questions. One young woman asked me: ‘Gen. Vande Hey, do you hold it against the Japanese for what they did to us at Wheeler Field and Pearl Harbor?’ I said, ‘No, I don’t. But I don’t buy their products.’ It brought the crowd down and ended my speech.”
After Pearl Harbor, Vande Hey served as a fighter pilot, squadron operations officer, fighter squadron commander, and group fighter operations officer with duty in the Central Pacific at Midway Island, Canton Island, Baker Island, Marshall and Gilbert Island, Guam, Saipan and Iwo Jima. Flying P-40, 47, 70 and 51 aircraft. He accumulated an astonishing 262 combat missions and 615 combat hours. According to Air Force records, Vande Hey destroyed four Japanese aircraft, and is credited with one probable kill.
There were several stops along the way after World War II. In 1949, he worked in the Pentagon and then shipped off to the Philippines as air attache until 1956.
In the late 1950s, he was a faculty member at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., until 1961.
He served as vice commander of the Washington Air Defense Sector, Fort Lee Air Force Station, Fort Lee, Va., according to Air Force records, and also served as deputy commander of the 86th Air Division. He commanded the 7030th Combat Support Wing and Ramstein Air Base, in 1965, later taking command of the 86th Air Division and Allied Sector III in 1966.
As a command pilot, he clocked more than 4,000 hours. His decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Distinguished Unit Badge, Outstanding Unit Award with oak leaf cluster, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with seven battle stars, World War II Victory Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Philippine Aviation Badge (wings), and the Air Force Longevity Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters. He was authorized to wear the Missile Badge.
A Wisconsin native, he and his wife Jean retired to Lakeway in 1971. He is survived by three sons, his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
In his later years, Vande Hey recalled the moments of humanity that slipped through the cracks of war.
“There were times when a pilot would bail out into the water and instead of strafing him, they would let us pick him up,” he said. “But they didn’t throw a life raft to him.”
Vande Hey and his old squadron from the war would reunite on Pearl Harbor Day when possible. He said the occasions were often a picture of reconciliation as Japanese pilots joined the reunion in the years after World War II.
“It shows that time can heal a lot of wounds,” Vande Hey said. “Yes, I fought in the war. I was at Guam, Iwo Jima — everywhere — and I still don’t have ill will toward the Japanese. They did exactly what their bosses said. We did too. We also did unforgivable things, but that is war.”