LAKEPORT — Dec. 7, 1941 — “a date that will live in infamy,” said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt after the surprize attack by the Japanese empire on the U.S. Territory of Hawaii, the attack that propelled the United States into World War II. The date now lives in memory. It is commemorated annually by the Pearl Harbor Survivors Chapter 23 North of Lake and Mendocino Counties.
This year”s memorial will again take place Thursday at Library Park beginning at 9:30 a.m. and running to approximately 10:15 a.m. The military ceremonies will commemorate the memory of that day, of those who survived and those who did not. A special invitation has been made to survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack and those who wish to meet and talk with them.
On Dec. 6, 1941, 132 million Americans were readying for the Christmas holidays, singing “God Bless America,” and “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” attending “Gone With the Wind,” “Stagecoach,” and “The Wizard of Oz” (for the first time). The economy was improving slowly and retailers were optimistic. Relatives and strangers were sheltering refugees fleeing Josef Stalin”s Soviet purges and Adolf Hitler”s Nazi emperialistic ethnic cleansing throughout Europe; many of their children were anticipating St. Nicholas coming to fill their stockings with his helper, Black Peter. The United States” three aircraft carriers were far out at sea from the Pacific Fleet base in Oahu, Hawaii. In Lake County, the weather was crisp and frosty, but holding fair.
On the morning of Dec. 7 (Hawaii time), two waves of the 1st Air Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft and submarines launched a sneak attack on the island where much of the Pacific Fleet lay. By the end of day, four battleships were sunk, four damaged, three destroyers were sunk, three cruisers damaged, two other ships sunk, 188 planes destroyed and another 155 planes were damaged all but 35 on the ground. Of the dead, 2,403 American servicemen and women and 68 civilians were counted, another 1,143 service personnel wounded and 35 civilians wounded. The Nevada was beached to prevent blocking the harbor”s exit, but the Arizona went down with 1,102 hands on board. The Arizona still sits submerged in the harbor as a memorial to the dead. An often overlooked loss, was the sinking of a merchant ship Cynthia Olson off the coast of San Francisco by a Japanese sub; the liner Lurline received the distress call, but all 35 hands were lost before rescue. The following day, both houses of Congress declared war against the Empire of Japan, with only one abstention, and joined the Allies. Germany and Italy thereupon declared war on the United States. Military historians now tell us that the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor was only a diversion thought to occupy the United States” attention while the Empire invaded the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. The world indeed changed on Dec. 7, 1941.
The survivors ask that we remember.
Following the memorial commemoration there will be a Survivor”s Luncheon at Anthony”s A Tasteful Affair at 2509 Lakeshore Blvd. The no host bar will begin at 2 p.m. and lunch follows at 2:30 p.m. Reservations are requested.
For more information on the Pear Harbor Survivors of Lake and Mendocino Counties, contact Janeane Bogner at 998-3280. For the Survivors” Luncheon, call 263-2955.
