Dec. 7, 1941, was a day of unity for Kern County and the nation
| Sunday, Dec 06 2009 10:43 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Dec 06 2009 10:45 PM
Pearl Harbor Day observances
9:55 a.m. at Union Cemetery, 730 Potomac Ave. 371-0555.
12:15 p.m. at the Kern Veterans Memorial, 601 Truxtun Ave., in front of the Amtrak rail station. 371-0555.
In 1941, Bakersfield was just beginning to get its head above water from the lean years of the Great Depression. Jobs in the private sector were beginning to appear, and business was improving. At times, my family even had a little extra spending money.
Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 -- that date of infamy, as President Roosevelt declared it -- is vividly remembered by all who lived in Bakersfield at that time, due in part because of the anxiety and fear over of the news reports about a possible Japanese military invasion of the West Coast. News flashes popped up on the radio stations telling of Japanese aircraft attacking oil refineries along the Pacific Coast and enemy ships sighted near Santa Barbara. Those reports later proved to be false, but the fear they created at the time was overwhelming.
My family and I had attended church that morning. About noon, when the Pearl Harbor attack was announced on the radio, all our neighbors began milling around in the yards and streets. Everyone was frightened. I was 10 years and remember my amazement at all the neighbors talking among themselves because many weren't even acquainted with one another. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought about the personal bonding of a town and a nation into a unified force with only one objective: to fight for our freedom. No matter what your age or who you were that day, your life was never again the same.
Daily life changed immediately. I remember going Christmas shopping with my family downtown a week later. The usual happy mood of Yuletide seemed to be gone. Everything was so quiet.
On Monday, our teachers at Mount Vernon School explained the tragic events to the students. The schools were used to teach everyone about civil defense and generally educate the public about the home-front war. The safest downtown basements and structures were posted with air raid shelter signs. Buckets of sand were placed on roofs of buildings like the Fox Theater and Padre Hotel to extinguish incendiary bombs in case of an air raid. More than 2,000 volunteers manned 80 air raid spotter towers, which were hastily built throughout the county.
All city and county governments were converted to wartime status, which called for scores of new boards and agencies to be formed. In a short time, volunteers by the thousands began war duties in Bakersfield and Kern County. Air raid wardens, block wardens, airplane spotters, draft boards, ration board workers -- the list of necessary wartime civilian duties was endless and our citizens gladly lined up to fill those positions.
Rationing of most everything began in a short time. It was difficult at first to completely reorganize our everyday lives, but in time it became our new way of living as we did our part to aid in the war effort and protect our country and our way of life. Gas rationing stamps, food stamps, meat stamps and tokens, shoe stamps and sugar stamps were all necessary when you went shopping. Most drivers were allotted four gallons of gas a week on their "A" ration stamp, and the national speed limit was 35 miles per hour.
Military and private guards were immediately placed on all vital oil and gas pipelines and railroad bridges and tunnels throughout the county to guard against sabotage. Men and women lined up at the local military induction centers to enlist. Scrap drives began in Bakersfield to gather metals and rubber.
Street dances were regularly held downtown to sell war bonds or gather scrap materials. One street dance was held at the Garces Circle, featuring the Minter Field Air Corps Band. It was attended by more than 4,000 people and lasted until after midnight. Admission was a piece of scrap metal, and 13 tons was collected. A big war bond rally and dance was held at Chester and 19th Street featuring Hollywood stars and radio personalities. Thousands attended the all-day show, which produced hundreds of thousands in war bond sales.
Bakersfield women joined the military and nurses corps and thousands of other women filled jobs vacated by men going into the military. Service station attendants, railroad workers, welders, mechanics, machine shops, they could handle any job.
Schoolteachers and students all helped harvest the farm crops of Kern County when the manpower shortage was so critical. School districts even bused teachers and students from the schools to the fields two or three days a week to save the crops from ruin. Everyone felt they were helping the war effort a small amount.
Yes I will never forget Dec. 7, 1941, that day when I saw our community beginning to unite.
