77 years ago today, December 7, 1941. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and brought the United States fully into World War 2.
Day of Infamy
- Thread starter meanstreak
- Start date
77 years ago today, December 7, 1941, my father responded to alarms at the US Coast Guard Academy. He was issued an '03 Springfield to patrol the campus until further information came from the Pacific.
One year of school was cut off of those classes for early deployment.
One year of school was cut off of those classes for early deployment.
About 10 years I started transcribing the letters my Dad wrote from the US Coast Guard Academy to share w/ my sisters. I didn't get thru all of them. I did not get to this letter below, but I present it now in remembrance of Pearl Harbor Day.
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Dec 9, ‘41
Dear Folks,
Please excuse the pencil but I haven’t time for a pen. Well, it seems like the lids blown off at last. We had sort of been expecting it up here but not quite so soon as this. The situation around the New London Area is quite serious at present.
All academy routine has been changed a good deal as a result of all of this. We have been told that we are all to be issued line rifles in place of drill rifles in a day or two. Classes were entirely suspended this afternoon as a result of air raid precautions invoked when enemy ships were sighted in the Boston and New York Areas.
Special lookouts and wardens have been placed. Our battalion has been, or rather, will be this week, reorganized into machine gun companies. All cadets have been instructed to read carefully several chapters in the Navy Landing Force Manual pertaining to outposts, marching, combat principles of rifle platoons and combat signals, tactics of the rifle battalion, defense and attack of cities, riot drill and natural disasters.
Unofficially we have been informed that no leave will be given this year and that we will be graduated early. To me this can mean but one thing – all this talk of an all-out war isn’t just a lot of hot air.
At any rate, I don’t want you to do any worrying about me. I feel quite capable of taking care of myself. I sincerely hope that I do have a chance to go over and help lick that nation of yellow little rats. So far it seems that they have the upper hand but obviously that is to be expected as the element of surprise was all theirs. However, as that particular advantage has ended, things might soon shape up in our favor. However, Dad + Mom, undue optimism is definitely not the thing to have right now. We feel here, and I know most people in the upper military and Naval circles feel the same way, that this isn’t going to be any one year affair – at least it will take about 3 or four and it seems to me that the sooner the masses of population understand then the more quickly the country can adapt itself to a wartime complex of economies and regulations.
Things are evolving rather rapidly in the Pacific, and now the Atlantic. So let me say again that I want no undue worry about me no matter how soon or late I have the privilege of seeing some action.
Well, love to all.
Lovingly
Al
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Cadet Alvin …………..
United States Coast Guard Academy
New London, Connecticut
United States Coast Guard Academy
New London, Connecticut
Dec 9, ‘41
Dear Folks,
Please excuse the pencil but I haven’t time for a pen. Well, it seems like the lids blown off at last. We had sort of been expecting it up here but not quite so soon as this. The situation around the New London Area is quite serious at present.
All academy routine has been changed a good deal as a result of all of this. We have been told that we are all to be issued line rifles in place of drill rifles in a day or two. Classes were entirely suspended this afternoon as a result of air raid precautions invoked when enemy ships were sighted in the Boston and New York Areas.
Special lookouts and wardens have been placed. Our battalion has been, or rather, will be this week, reorganized into machine gun companies. All cadets have been instructed to read carefully several chapters in the Navy Landing Force Manual pertaining to outposts, marching, combat principles of rifle platoons and combat signals, tactics of the rifle battalion, defense and attack of cities, riot drill and natural disasters.
Unofficially we have been informed that no leave will be given this year and that we will be graduated early. To me this can mean but one thing – all this talk of an all-out war isn’t just a lot of hot air.
At any rate, I don’t want you to do any worrying about me. I feel quite capable of taking care of myself. I sincerely hope that I do have a chance to go over and help lick that nation of yellow little rats. So far it seems that they have the upper hand but obviously that is to be expected as the element of surprise was all theirs. However, as that particular advantage has ended, things might soon shape up in our favor. However, Dad + Mom, undue optimism is definitely not the thing to have right now. We feel here, and I know most people in the upper military and Naval circles feel the same way, that this isn’t going to be any one year affair – at least it will take about 3 or four and it seems to me that the sooner the masses of population understand then the more quickly the country can adapt itself to a wartime complex of economies and regulations.
Things are evolving rather rapidly in the Pacific, and now the Atlantic. So let me say again that I want no undue worry about me no matter how soon or late I have the privilege of seeing some action.
Well, love to all.
Lovingly
Al
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Thanks Scoop, and a salute to your dad. There's a reason they are the greatest generation.
Scoop that was pretty nice. I don't have any such thing remaining from my folks. I have an old ditty bag with my dad's military records in it, all of his ribbons and medals, some Air Force brass, and a handful of photographs.
There was a photograph of my dad in his uniform from the Air Force NCO Academy, but somehow a lot of that stuff disappeared when my sister took charge of the house.
But I have one thing that does mean a lot to me and that is an Old worn-out Saint Christopher medal that my dad wore everyday of his life that I can remember. It was so old that at some point in the 70s his mom got him a new one and that is the one I buried with him. I found this one on a bead chain, stuck to his dog tags with black tape. I do not think he had worn it since he retired.
My grandfather gave it to my father when he left New York for the South Pacific. He had already sent my uncles John and Bob off to the Army, and dad was his third son to join the war.
It has been around the world, and it reminds me of this when I look at its worn-out inscriptions.
There was a photograph of my dad in his uniform from the Air Force NCO Academy, but somehow a lot of that stuff disappeared when my sister took charge of the house.
But I have one thing that does mean a lot to me and that is an Old worn-out Saint Christopher medal that my dad wore everyday of his life that I can remember. It was so old that at some point in the 70s his mom got him a new one and that is the one I buried with him. I found this one on a bead chain, stuck to his dog tags with black tape. I do not think he had worn it since he retired.
My grandfather gave it to my father when he left New York for the South Pacific. He had already sent my uncles John and Bob off to the Army, and dad was his third son to join the war.
It has been around the world, and it reminds me of this when I look at its worn-out inscriptions.