A Day Which Will Live In Infamy

I was 9 1/2 years old seventy years ago, and if you want to know what it was like for kids in San Francisco during the war, feel free to ask.Some memories:On the morning of Dec. 8, several neighbors loaded their cars with valued possesions and food. Fearing an immediate invasion they planned to head for the Sierras. At our elementary school that same day most boys were frustrated the were no "japs" to beat up for the sneak attack.An older cousin with the last name Sokolow (a nice Russian surname) went to his bank to withdraw some money, and he was refused because his name sounded "Japanese."Chinese Americans began to wear pins with crossed U.S. and Chinese flags so they would not be harrassed for being Japanese.

I am curious - I know that there was some concern about a Japanese bombing run on the West Coast and that the U.S. had anti-aircraft guns in certain locations, but how real was the preparation?  As a child, did you have to do drills where you ran for cover?  Did you fear an imminent invasion from the sky?

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, theonly preparations I was aware of were film and media propaganda. After Pearl Harbor, there were anti-aircraft preparations at the Presidio. I learned to "spot" enemy and our own aircraft.My parents and most others we knew were calm, so abject fear did not overwhelm us. We did have air raid drills at our neighborhood school, and the teachers walked us out in groups to let us disperse for home, but I do not remember any air raid shelters. For a short time there were blackouts at night. My future wife's German Jewish family in L.A., who had escaped Nazi German in 1938, had a 6PM curfew. In SF, some Italians had their radios confiscated. After a while we did not fear any Japanese bombing raids. My friends and I used to carry our toy guns to Golden Gate Park and look for defensive positions  we saw in films like Wake Island and pretend to hold off the "Japs."The schools kept us busy aside from learning with organized paper, tinfoil, and war bond drives.Of course we had gas, sugar, coffee, butter, and  other items rationed. I suspect my mother served horsemeat steaks during the war. I had giant theater of war maps in my bedroom with flags of all warring nations that I glued to pins. I followed the news each day and moved the pins accordingly. A great way to learn geography.Looking back, I would say that after the initial shock of the attack, our lives were fairly normal except for the minor inconveniences of  rationing.No civilian autos were produced during the war.One more thing, buttons replaced zippers to save the metal for the war effort, and in junior high, we played "Jack the Ripper" -- a quick swipe of the hand could flip away the buttons on a victim's fly.

Keeping busy — that was said later about the paper drives too. Of course we did not know about any Japanese superbomber. Biggest worry was “loose lips sinking ships” and of course those who had loved ones in the service.You might be interested in the now forgotten amazing Homer Lea whose book The Valor of Ignorance, published in 1908, that predicted inevitable war between the USA and Japan now that we had taken the Philippines, which they coveted. He even illustrated it with maps showing the ideal places for Japanese troops to land for invasion in California, Hawaii, and the Philippines. The Japanese taught his book at their military academies and followed his suggested route when they invaded the Philippines in 1941.

Lea's books were required reading also for the British and German general staffs — but not in the USA. He also consulted on German and British maneuvers in 1910. Forgot to mention he kicked out of Stanford for agitiating on behalf of Chinese who wanted to end the Manchu Dynasty and have a republic. He was the only Caucasian present at the inauguration of Sun Yat Sen and earlier led a contingent of Chinese republicans with the international army that lifted the siege of Peking vs. the Boxers.