Crucible of a Generation
Page 36
wild.” Elmer Combs, the booking steward at Central Emergency Hospital, said
that the institution could not begin to handle the f low of accident victims caused
by the presumed air raid. The thrusting beams of searchlights against the night
sky had formed a fitting background for this agitated response. There were some,
however who maintained their sang-froid. “We haven’t received any official
reports of enemy planes or bombs,” a police official with a taste for irony said,
“but the first we would know about that would be when they were dropped.” 14
In the absence of any recent air-raid alert, New York City issued stringent
blackout rules in the event they should be needed. In addition to shutting off all
exterior lights and screening all interior lights, the authorities urged people to stay
at home and keep off the streets. They advised motorists to pull over to the side
of the highway, to extinguish all lights, close the car, and seek shelter. Pedestrians
were told not to attempt to cross a street and to proceed to and remain at a safe
place. Meanwhile, the city’s radio stations engaged to reserve time daily for dis-
semination of air-raid information. 15
224 First Week at War: December 8–13, 1941
The Commander-in-Chief: Press Support
Amid these excitements the press rallied to the support of the Administration.
The Washington Post thanked heaven that appropriate defense plans had been
prepared:
To whom is the credit due for this policy? To nobody but our President.
This country, now that it is confronted by the stark facts, has reason to
be grateful to the President for his prescience. He saw the war coming
FIGURE 20.2 See color plate section.
Courtesy of Northwestern University Library World War II poster collection, Pr32.409:Am3.
Saturday, December 13, 1941 225
long before it came in 1939. He foresaw the time when Japan would
carry out the obligations of the Axis Compact. As a result this nation is
ready as never before to meet the mighty shock of the Japanese attack. 16
The Chicago Sun agreed: there had come to pass all that the President had fore-
seen and feared and worked against, all that other men had refused to hear.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch was succinct and grammatically pure: “It’s we or
they!” it said. And, according to The Des Moines Register : “It’s not going to be a picnic.” 17
America at War: Moral Questions
Support for the President showed how keenly he was attuned to the thoughts and
feelings of the American people and how ably he could communicate their own
thoughts and feelings to them. In this period of extreme crisis he found time to
write this letter to the American Bible Society:
I am certain that the American Bible Society, with unfaltering spirit, will
continue its great work of making the word of God available to all people,
even those in the uttermost ends of the earth.
And as Universal Bible Sunday approaches, let us pray God to hasten
the day when acceptance of His word will change the hearts and minds of
men and make the kingdom of this world in truth and fact the Kingdom
of God. 18
Further evidence of the solemn response of the American people was to be
found in the sermons to be preached on Sunday, December 14, in New York.
They were concerned to emphasize the churches’ responsibility to keep American
morals high. In a more practical vein, one clergyman was to preach on “How to
Behave in an Air Raid.” Other sermon topics were: “Keep Calm, Pray, Work,”
“Watch Ye, Stand Fast, Be Strong,” and in a gentler sensibility: “We still believe in
Christmas.” 19
It was not only the President and the clergy who were sensitive to the moral
issues the war might raise. The Oregonian editorialized that indiscriminate bombing by the Japanese would be indecisive. On the other hand, indiscriminate
bombing of the great cities of Japan, Tokyo, Kobe, and others could easily be
decisive. The Japanese, The Oregonian said, had already demonstrated that they
had no scruples against indiscriminate attacks on civilian populations. They had
abundantly proved it in China:
But their intelligence department is well acquainted with American repug-
nance for that kind of warfare. They will try to defeat us with our own
conscience if they can do it. And our own Army and Navy will have to
decide very soon whether that is to be permitted. 20
226 First Week at War: December 8–13, 1941
This was prescient, and the answer would one day be found in the ruins of
Germany and Japan, especially at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Diversions
In the world of culture, results were announced of the latest sales at Parke-Bernet
Galleries. A Degas pastel “Danseuses dans les Coulisses,” which got the highest
bid, was sold to the Gallery of Modern Art in New York for $2,400. Modigliani’s
“Portrait of Madame Hebuterne” was knocked down at $925, an advance over
the $575 commanded by Derain’s “Woman In Green Dress.” Other sales noted
were Vlaminck’s “Claire de Lune” at $550, a Renoir lithograph “Enfants Jouant
a La Balle,” $400, and an 1820 Georgian inlaid mahogany sideboard at $280. 21
Lecture platforms offered a blend of high culture and current affairs. At New
York’s Town Hall, J. Allen’s topic was to be “My Trouble with Hitler.” Varian
Fry, U.S. Consul in Marseilles, led the discussion at a Foreign Policy Association
Meeting. His vital role in assisting victims of Nazism to escape its clutches was
not yet known. The Union for Democratic Action held a luncheon in honor of
labor leader Walter Reuther. “Leonardo Da Vinci, Man of the Renaissance” was
the subject of a talk by H. H. Arnason at the Frick Collection, while natives of
Quakerdom celebrated at the Pennsylvania Society Dinner at the Waldorf. 22
An editorial writer at the Chicago Tribune displayed rare cultural knowledge in observing that Britain’s Order of the Garter had been withdrawn from sometime
member Emperor Hirohito. The caption of the editorial, “Getting Hirtie’s Gar-
ter,” echoed the title of a popular 1921 comedy, Getting Gertie’s Garter. 23
*
Of all the shining stars of sport in the twenties and the thirties, the brightest was
Babe Ruth, icon of the national game. He was shown in a photograph in The
New York Times in his oft-played role of inspiration for American youth, this time among pediatric patients at the New York Hospital for Joint Diseases. 24
America at War: A Desire to Serve
But the dominant concern of the American people was the war and their desire
to serve, both as civilians and in the armed forces. In New York City the Civil
Defense Volunteer Office was swamped with men and women who wanted to
know how they could best serve their country. Perhaps it was the first air-raid
alarm that had precipitated the stampede. At any rate, the prospective volun-
teers found themselves at offices lacking trained personnel, basic equipment, and
funds. The mission of the Office was to act as a clearinghouse for 10,000 volun-
teer slots that would be available in the Civil Defense system. The first task was
to assemble and train interviewers to make the requisite assign
ments. It would
take two weeks, the Office estimated, to get the whole operation up and run-
ning smoothly. 25
Saturday, December 13, 1941 227
It was a familiar sight—the long lines in front of recruiting-station doors. The
same rush occurred at many military installations where former and discharged
soldiers urgently sought reenlistment. Whether on foot or by wheel, on they came,
men who had been discharged because of age, medical condition or dependency.
One of these was William H. Selby, recently discharged from the 114th Infantry
because of defective hearing. The sergeant, thirty-two and married, had spent the
last twelve years as a postman in West Collingswood, New Jersey. His old unit had
been training in South Carolina. Selby drove from his home to South Carolina
to plead his case with the regimental executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Phillip
Boone. That officer was unable to accommodate him, so Selby drove back to his
New Jersey home having used his vacation for the trip.
He then wrote to the President asking his help in reenlistment. “I guess the
President never got to see my letters,” he said. “I don’t think they got past his sec-
retary or I’d have heard from him and not from them.” The sergeant was insistent:
“I’ll come back as a private. I expect that. I don’t care about the rank. My hearing
ain’t too bad. It ain’t bad at all.” Having failed in his quest with the regimental
executive officer and the President, Selby turned to the regimental chaplain for
support. A crowd of his former buddies agreed that he was “a swell guy” who
ought to be given a waiver. One hopes that it was granted. 26
At Fort Devens, Massachusetts, the 16,000 men of the First Division, the Big
Red One, were awaiting orders for transfer, quite possibly to locations outside the
continental United States. This is the division that would spearhead America’s
attacks on North Africa and Sicily in 1942–43 and in Normandy in 1944. One
thought was foremost in the minds of the soldiers of the First, the topic of all
discussions, enshrouded in the intrigue of the unknown. “Where do we go from
here boys, where do we go from here?”
Notes
1.
Oregonian , December 13, 1941, 1
2.
New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
3.
Los Angeles Times , December 13, 1941, 1
4.
Oregonian , December 13, 1941, 1
5.
New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
6.
Houston Chronicle , December 13, 1941, 1
7.
New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
8.
New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
9.
New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
10. Houston Chronicle , December 13, 1941, 1
11. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
12. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 8
13. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 1
14. Los Angeles Times , December 13, 1941, 1
15. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 12
16. Los Angeles Times , December 13, 1941, 1
17. Los Angeles Times , December 13, 1941, 2/4
18. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 17
228 First Week at War: December 8–13, 1941
19. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 17
20. Oregonian , December 13, 1941, 8
21. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 19
22. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 19
23. Chicago Tribune , December 13, 1941, 12
24. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 11
25. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 12
26. New York Times , December 13, 1941, 16
PART V
First Sunday at War
December 14, 1941
21
ALL IN IT TOGETHER
FIGURE 21.1 See color plate section.
Courtesy of Northwestern University Library World War II poster collection, T1.107:W37/4.
232 First Sunday at War: December 14, 1941
What Did We Know?
A week after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor the American public still
knew very little about the extent of the damage and losses. The Navy had released
reports of major damage to two battleships, the USS Oklahoma and the USS West Virginia , and the loss of a destroyer and a minesweeper. The Japanese had claimed the sinking of the battleship Arizona and severe damage to eight ships. The President had warned that U.S. outposts at Midway and Wake Island would probably
fall and that there had been heavy loss of life on Oahu. But, he said, the govern-
ment would release news only when it could be confirmed and never when it
would aid the enemy.
Perhaps it was the lack of knowledge that gave rise, in the week following the
attack, to a strangely positive outlook. The Marines were still holding out on Wake
and Midway, a gallant struggle to which the public thrilled. From the Halls of
Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli, it was said that perhaps no Marines had ever
fought a tougher fight than the “battered stubborn” men of Wake. Under steady
air and naval attack they had fought continuously, even in the knowledge that
there was no hope of reinforcement and that in the end they would be crushed by
the overwhelming weight of the enemy forces. Indeed, it was perhaps the hope-
lessness of their endeavor that cast a brilliant light on fighting qualities from which
the whole nation gained a surge of inspiration.
Reports from the Philippines were almost uniformly upbeat. The Sunday
papers carried the story of the Philippine Army wiping out Japanese forces that
had gained a foothold in western Luzon. A communiqué from General Douglas
MacArthur, categorized as terse and undramatic, reported the mopping-up opera-
tions in the Lingayan area had been concluded. This report was embellished in
the Los Angeles Times as an American victory that “sent the Japs into headlong retreat.” This was consonant with reports in the Los Angeles Times that the Japanese landing parties had been driven back into the sea in the Lingayan area; indeed
that the hard-bitten defenders of the Philippines “had struck a telling blow at
Nippon” by chopping off and wiping out a seaborne enemy spearhead thrust
ashore north of Manila.
The same paper offered a colorful tale of hundreds of Japanese paratroopers
swooping down in the mountains of north central Luzon a hundred miles north
of Manila. They were aided, it was reported, by land troops from an unknown
source. All this was reported on his return to Manila by a proclaimed eye witness,
Francisco Villasuera, a civilian technician who had accompanied the troops to
install communication facilities. He offered colorful details. Many of the para-
chutists, he said, were killed while dangling from their parachutes; some carried
small tanks of gasoline, presumably to start fires.
The encounter was said to have lasted for several hours. The Philippine troops
fought “vigorously, bravely and well,” in hand-to-hand combat in which only a
few shots were fired. What should have alerted any informed reader to question
this stirring report was the finale—that, outnumbered, the Japanese had finally
All in It Together 233
surrendered. Americans, civilians, and military alike, wo
uld soon learn what any
knowledgeable observer of Japanese culture and history already knew—Japanese
troops do not surrender.
After these glowing reports, the War Department communiqué was surpris-
ingly uninformative. It said the Japanese ground activity on Luzon was sporadic
and unimportant. 1 What was active was the air war. On Saturday, U.S. fliers had
“smashed hard” at Japanese raids on Manila.
2 Together with antiaircraft bar-
rages, they had forced the enemy fliers, flying in tight formation, to overshoot or
undershoot their targets. But there was a cost on the ground, some 75 dead, 300
wounded and extensive wreckage in an area of three miles around Nichols Air
Field. 3 Many U.S. fliers were cited for their gallantry and for their success in the defense of the Pearl Harbor attack. Lts. Kenneth Taylor of Hominy, Oklahoma,
and George Welch of Wilmington, Delaware, had attacked a formation of six
enemy planes; each shot down two. Not content with this bravura entry into
aerial combat, Lt. Welch took off again, engaged two Japanese fighters and “with
maneuvers worthy of a veteran fighter” shot both of them down.
Again and again there were reports of fighting against the odds. Lt. Gordon
Sterling of West Hartford, Connecticut, did not hesitate to take on another forma-
tion of six Japanese fighters and destroyed one of them. Lt. Phillip Rasmussen of
Boston, Massachusetts, provided a spectacular show for spectators at Scofield Bar-
racks, who watched the duel between the American and his foe, climaxed by the
fiery descent in flaming wreckage of the enemy plane.
Favorable news came from Batavia, the capital of the Netherlands East Indies.
One of its navy’s submarines had sunk four Japanese transports off the coast of
Thailand, leaving some 4,000 Japanese soldiers to die in shark-infested waters.
The Netherlands Navy further reported liquidating a Japanese settlement on the
east coast of Borneo, interning the settlers. The capital city was arming the Staat-
wach, the City Guards, against enemy parachutists and fifth columnists. 4
Japanese forces were on the attack at other key points. The British were por-
trayed as resolutely holding their ground and battling the invaders to a standstill
in northern Malaya. British antiaircraft batteries and aircraft were credited with