Philco Radio, 1941
Although I was only five years old at the time, I well remember the announcement that came over our big old Philco radio on the afternoon of December 7, 1941: “We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin. The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by air.”
It was a Sunday, a little after five o’clock in the evening. My dad was listening to “Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air” while my mom was getting dinner ready in the kitchen. I was “coloring” – a quiet activity that I was encouraged to follow when the adults were otherwise occupied.
I doubt that the words meant much to me, but the reactions of my parents made those historic moments ever memorable. They stood by the radio giving their full attention to the news reports that were crackling over the air. Every now and then, mom scurried out to the kitchen to check on progress and, eventually, we ate in the living room right in front of the radio! Unheard of!
After that followed the years of rationing books and war bonds, of blackouts and neighborhood air raid wardens, and of two pairs of ‘sensible’ shoes a year for kids, one pair for adults. The beaches along the Pacific were blocked off with huge rolls of barbed wire and angry looking warning signs.
My mom went to work as a pipe-fitter’s helper at the General Engineering Shipyards in Alameda. My friends and I collected tinfoil from cigarette wrappers and sticks of gum, rolled it into tennis ball sized spheres and turned it in for the war effort. We sang songs like “When the Lights Go On Again” and “The White Cliffs of Dover.” We grew Victory Gardens and we were proud of our patriotism.
It seems to me that we’ve been at war of one kind or another ever since. Sometimes the wars have been called “Police Actions.” More recently I’ve noticed that the campaigns have names like “Operation Restore Hope” and “Operation Just Cause” – I think of them as camouflaged names so we can pretend they aren’t about killing but, after all is said and done, a war is a war no matter what it is called.
Patriotism began to fade with the Viet Nam war. These days we talk about supporting our troops but there is no “war effort” mentioned. Clearly, we have become numbed to world wars and to our participation in them. It’s hard now to imagine the impact of that long-ago radio announcement that disrupted the programming that day and changed our lives forever.
Thank you for sharing your memories, Sydney. I think that although we seem to have found wars to get involved with since WWII, none have so directly impacted Americans as it did. The previous administration wanted to keep us happy as cows or as you’ve said, “Look over there!” so that we wouldn’t pay attention. You are spot on about our being numbed. Personally, I think it would have been better if there would have been some sort of “war effort” following 9-11, but then we might have been paying attention to Iraq and figured out that it had nothing to do with the attack on NY.