December 1941 Read online

  DECEMBER

  1941

  31 DAYS THAT CHANGED AMERICA

  AND SAVED THE WORLD

  CRAIG SHIRLEY

  © 2011 by Craig Shirley

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

  Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011940099

  ISBN: 978-1-59555-457-4

  Printed in the United States of America

  11 12 13 14 15 QGF 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Dedicated to family and friends who chose to serve . . .

  Family

  Henry Cone: Continental Army, First Company, First Regiment, Connecticut, 1775. Served: Siege of Boston, Battle of Bunker Hill. Third Regiment, Connecticut, 1776-1783. Served: Valley Forge and the Battles of Brandywine, Monmouth, and Long Island.

  William Watkins: Continental Army, Fifth Company, Third Regiment, Connecticut, 1775. Served: Siege of Boston, Battle of Bunker Hill.

  Andrew Cone: Served in the War of 1812.

  ARM2C Ellsworth Abbott Shirley, USN, 43-45 (KIA); Cpl. Edward Cone, USAAC, 43-45 (WWII); Seaman Gilbert Abbott, USN, (WWII); Cpl. Herbert L. Cone, USA, 46-48; PFC Ronald Lee Shirley, USMC, 46-48; Airman William Mackintosh, USAF, 49-53; RI Edward Bruce Shirley, USA, 49-51; Cpl. Fred R. Mackintosh, USAR, 52-58; Daniel Jacob, USAF, 52-54/USAFR, 54-59; F2 Louis Mackintosh, USN, 61-63; Capt. Gerald E. Eckert, MD, USAR; Seaman Kyle Richard Shirley,73-74; Spc. 4 Michael L. Cone, USA, 72-75, (Vietnam); SSgt. Ronald J. Hauer, USAF, 77–81; SSgt Tracy A. Eckert, USAR, 80-04; Pvt. Timothy Naumann, USA, 97-08; Lance Cpl. Edward Nathan Shirley USMCR, 99-05 (Iraq); Sgt. Sean Naumann, USMCR, 01-09; PV2 Ryan J. Cone, USA, 04/ USANG, 10-Present (Afghanistan); HM Andrew Abbott Shirley, USN, 07-08; Cpl. Robert G. Eckert, USA, 06-10; SPC Holly F. Eckert, USA, 06-present (Afghanistan); AFC Zachary Shirley, USAF, 09-present (Afghanistan).

  Friends

  Capt. Ronald Reagan, USAR, 37-42/USA 42-45; Col. Richard Snyder, USAF, 40-65 (WWII, German POW); PFC Ralph Jefferson Turner, USA, 40-45 (WWII, Japanese POW); 2LT Robert J. Dole, USA, 42-48 (WWII); LTJG George H.W. Bush, USN, 42-45 (WWII); Sgt. Franklyn Nofziger, 42-45 (WWII); HM Paul Laxalt, USA, 42-45 (WWII); MG John Singlaub, USAF, 43-77 (WWII, Korea, Vietnam); 1LT Frank Leonard, USAAC, 43-45 (WWII, German POW); ETM2C Richard Schweiker, USN, 44-46 (WWII); Seaman Stu Spencer, USN, 45-46 (WWII); Sgt. Victor Gold, USA, 50-52; Capt. John McCain, USN, 54-81 (Vietnam War, Vietnam POW); PFC Richard Glen Banister, USAR, 57-62 (Cuban Missile Crisis); Capt. James A Baker III, USMC, 52-54/ USMCR; LCDR Frederic Johnson, USN, 55-76; Spc. 4 Fred Barnes, USA, 60-62; QM3 Robert Livingston, USN, 61-67 (Cuban Missile Crisis); Capt. Michael McShane, USAF, 66-72 (Vietnam); Cdr. Michael Phelps, USN, 66-69/MANG, 82-86; Col. Thomas A. Vaughan, USA, 68-71/ USAR 71-98 (Vietnam); 1LT George W. Bush, USAFNG, 68-74; Capt. Tom Finnigan, USAR, 71-81; Spc. 4 Kevin Kabanuk, USA, 72-74; Capt. Rick Perry, USAF, 72-77; Col. Robert Rowland, USMC, 73-98; LC Kyle T. Fugate, USA, 86-09 (Afghanistan); LCDR Frank Lavin, USNR, 87-03; Maj. Stephanie Roell Fugate, USA, 95-04; Lt. Adam Paul Laxalt, USN, 05-10; HM2 Robert Staton, USN, 07-Present; HM3 Fletcher Carson, USN, 07-Present; 1LT Joseph M. Bozell, USMC, 07-Present (Afghanistan).

  CONTENTS

  Preface

  CHAPTER 1: THE FIRST OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 2: THE SECOND OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 3: THE THIRD OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 4: THE FOURTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 5: THE FIFTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 6: THE SIXTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 7: THE SEVENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 8: THE EIGHTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 9: THE NINTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 10: THE TENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 11: THE ELEVENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 12: THE TWELFTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 13: THE THIRTEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 14: THE FOURTEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 15: THE FIFTEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 16: THE SIXTEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 17: THE SEVENTEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 18: THE EIGHTEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 19: THE NINETEENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 20: THE TWENTIETH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 21: THE TWENTY-FIRST OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 22: THE TWENTY-SECOND OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 23: THE TWENTY-THIRD OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 24: THE TWENTY-FOURTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 25: THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 26: THE TWENTY-SIXTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 27: THE TWENTY-SEVENTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 28: THE TWENTY-EIGHTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 29: THE TWENTY-NINTH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 30: THE THIRTIETH OF DECEMBER

  CHAPTER 31: THE THIRTY-FIRST OF DECEMBER

  Epilogue

  Notes

  Bibliography

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Photos

  PREFACE

  In 1941 a B-25 Mitchell bomber contained 107,156 rivets, each one inserted by hand. Often a woman’s hand.

  That year, there were as many people on the left, such as Lowell Thomas and Al Smith, who were part of the isolationist America First Committee as there were people on the right, such as Charles Lindberg and Herbert Hoover.

  The U.S.O. was created in 1941, as was the comic book character, “Captain America.” The first time an organ was played at a baseball game was in Chicago in 1941, and the first television commercial aired was in 1941 to tout Bulova Watches. The “Red Ryder” BB gun was also first introduced.

  In 1941, the United States of America went to war with the Axis Powers including Japan, Germany, and Italy, changing America radically and forever.

  Just three days before the December 7th attack, President Franklin Roosevelt received a long memorandum marked “Confidential” from the Office of Naval Intelligence, reviewing in detail all the subversive activities going on in America, including those emanating from the Japanese Embassy in Washington. “The focal point of the Japanese Espionage effort is the determination of the total strength of the United States. In anticipation of possible open conflict with this country, Japan is vigorously utilizing every available agency to secure military, naval and commercial information, paying particular attention to the West Coast, the Panama Canal and the Territory of Hawaii.”1 The 26-page document went into great detail about the coordination between German and Japanese agents on U.S. soil. The secret paper also reviewed the attempts by the Japanese to infiltrate labor unions, Latin American groups and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.2

  A second reference specifically to the Hawaiian Territory was made in the memo. “However, only the more important groups are of interest, since they are in a position to engage in espionage, sabotage and other acts inimical to the best interests of the U.S . . . . Each of these groups is at least strongly influenced if not directly controlled by similar ones in Japan.”3 The confidential document prepared for Roosevelt went into great detail regarding the Japanese civilian presence in Hawaii.

  The response by the U.S. military, government, and citizenry to the events of December 7 was quick and decisive, even if it was also often bumbling and haphazard. “Everyone, I suppose, will be jotting down in a lit
tle black book somewhere the memories of Sunday, December 7—where they were, what they were doing, what they thought when they first heard of the war. Let me tell you—you don’t have to make a note of those things. You’ll remember them.” So wrote famed sports columnist Bill Henry in his “By the Way” column in the Los Angeles Times on December 9.4 This was true enough, but the entire thirty-one days of December 1941 were memorable, messy, historic, poignant, confusing, inspiring, depressing, and enduring.

  After December 7, 1941, the policies towards the Japanese, Germans and Italians living in America were harsh and comprehensive but, because the government believed the Germans, and the Japanese had incredible spy and sabotage networks operating in the United States and the Hawaiian Territory, the reaction by the government at the time, they felt, was justified.

  At the end of December 1941, Americans still weren’t calling it “World War II” or the “Second World War,” though there were hints of the standard appellations to come. Even three weeks after America’s entry into the global crisis, Americans were still calling it the “national emergency” or “the war.” I didn’t learn many of these and thousands of other things just from researching books during the development stages of December 1941; I learned many of these facts from the newspapers, magazines and other publications of the era as well.

  Washington Post publisher Phil Graham once said, newspapers were “the first rough draft of history.” The phrase had been attributed to others before Graham, but he gets the credit for it.5 So much of the sourcing for this book comes from hundreds of newspapers and thousands upon thousands of newspaper and magazine articles around the country and wire service bulletins and radio dispatches and short-wave intercepts sifted through to build the following account. But private diaries, personal papers, and confidential and classified materials were also heavily relied upon for this story.

  There never had been a book solely devoted to the month of December 1941, surely one of the most important and decisive and nation-altering thirty-one days in the history of the American Republic. There have been days such as July 4, 1776; October 19, 1781; September 17, 1787; and April 15, 1861, that rank with December 7, but one is hard-pressed to think of another month as startling, compelling, interesting, critical, and inspiring as December 1941.

  There have been many outstanding books written on World War II and the events leading up to Pearl Harbor, but never has there been a book about the days in America prior to December 7, 1941, and what happened to the country in the hours, days, and weeks after the attack. Suffice it to say, the country was radically changed forever.

  Never before or since has America been so unified. There were virtually no Americans against their country getting into World War II after the unprovoked attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. One of the few was Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, Republican of Montana. She voted against declaring war on Japan and would only vote “present” when FDR asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany and Italy—after they had declared war on America. Someday someone will write a book about Ms. Rankin, exploring her reasons for not voting for war. They were principled, nuanced, and commendable. She was mistaken but she wasn’t wrong.6

  The goal here is to make the reader feel as if they are experiencing the day to day events as they unfolded. Some historians don’t like to go into the arduous tasks of going through thousand of newspapers preferring instead to rely on those bits and pieces of news reporting they may glean from other books. I did, and consequently the reader will find stories and information from the month of December 1941 they have never heard before. It makes for what I hope will be a fascinating book.

  Of my previous writings, many said they gave the reader a “you-are-there feeling,” while another said I wrote like a sports writer, which I took as one of the best compliments I’ve ever received. The goal here was to impart new information while making the reading enjoyable. I wanted to do a story of America, to allow the reader to see the country through the eyes of the 130 million citizens who lived in the forty-eight states in that remarkable month of December, 1941.

  The goal was to write a book so that the reader could read and feel what their parents and grandparents and great-grandparents were reading and hearing and feeling and talking about at the time. About a time of war and peace and service and sacrifice and losing and winning and unity.

  President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General George C. Marshall, Admiral Chester Nimitz, General Douglas MacArthur, and many others in both the Allied and the Axis Powers are here. Prominent Americans including political leaders, actors, and athletes are here. Yet they are all merely supporting cast members in this drama.

  The central and most important actor in December 1941 is the United States of America.

  Craig Shirley

  Lancaster, Virginia

  CHAPTER 1

  THE FIRST OF DECEMBER

  “U.S. and Jap Negotiations Continue”

  Fitchburg Sentinel

  “Britain Puts All Far East Areas on War Basis”

  Tucson Daily Citizen

  “Nazis See Fall of Moscow Near”

  Idaho Times

  “‘Wise Statesmanship’ Might Save Situation, Japs Tell Reporters”

  Bismarck Tribune

  America’s 1,974 daily newspapers1 were crammed with war news: Russian, German, British, Japanese, Italian, Free China, Vichy France, Netherland East Indies, and Serbian. Reports were thick with hostilities in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific, in Northwest Africa and Southeast Asia, in Western Europe and on the Eastern Front.

  The Third Reich and the British Empire were engaged in massive tank battles along Africa’s Mediterranean coastline. Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, the puppet head of the Vichy French government, was reportedly in meetings with Adolf Hitler as a final step toward including France as part of the Axis powers’ “New Order.”2 Several months earlier, in a bold military campaign that would have pleased the founder of the “First Reich,” the Prussian king Frederick the Great, hundreds of thousands of German troops invaded Russia. Stalin cowered, and the maneuver looked like another brilliant offensive operation by Chancellor Hitler.

  Maps of Asia, Africa, and Europe were frequently in the newspapers and magazines, showing American readers German thrusts and surges across Europe, along with counterattacks by Britain and the Russians. Other drawings showed new incursions by the Japanese into China and Indochina, their designs on Thailand and the Burma Road. Giant arrows slashed across continents.

  In Shanghai and Hong Kong, the British were eyeing fresh movements by Japanese troops. British troops in Hong Kong were ordered to return to their barracks, and a state of emergency was declared in Singapore. The Philippines also watched the Japanese with concern.

  War was raging on the high seas. German “Wolf packs” preyed upon helpless civilian vessels with shoot-on-sight orders from Adolf Hitler himself, and thousands of tons of hardened steel had already been sent to the bottom of the Atlantic. Berlin was also making plans to take Surinam, a strategically important outpost on the Atlantic side of South America. “Bundles” were dispatched to Britain, and Greek war relief funds were raised courtesy of American charity for those besieged countries.

  To slow the inevitable German advance on Moscow, the Red Army burned the homes of Russian peasants by the thousands in hopes of denying Nazi forces any resources they might find in them. As a result, untold thousands of Russian citizens were left homeless in the blinding white cold.

  It was all just one more day in a new world war that had already been a fully involved inferno for over two years. And yet there was much more to come.

  But there was no American war news. No Americans were fighting anywhere in the world, at least not under their forty-eight-star flag. Americans didn’t want any part of this rest-of-the-world mess. They’d been through that thankless hell once before, in a previous global struggle that was supposed to make the world safe for democracy. Memories were
still fresh of American doughboys fighting and dying in the trenches of European battlefields, only to result in the rise of distinctly undemocratic societies a generation later.

  An entire world was truly at war, but the United States was sitting this one out.

  On December 1, 1941, Americans simply referred to the unfolding hostilities as “the emergency” and went about their business, walled off from the clamor by two giant oceans. Christmas was coming, and the economy was showing signs of life for the first time in years. For over a decade, the country had staggered through the dark valley of the Great Depression, and it could finally see some sunlight. Americans planned to enjoy an uneasy peace and a modicum of prosperity.

  The only place American troops could be found “fighting” was South Carolina in war games supervised by one-star Gen. George S. Patton Jr. Because of severe budget restrictions, the troops used fake ammo. The brass wanted to conclude these maneuvers quickly so they and 300,000 participating troops could make it home in time for Christmas. But the faux battle was described as a “sham” with fistfights breaking out as parachutists landed, while “on to the field,” as Time reported in the language of the era, “charged grease-monkeys and Negro engineers” armed with “rifles and clubs.”3 The army guaranteed they’d use real ammo for maneuvers scheduled in 1942.4

  The navy’s materiel situation was just a bit more promising. Rolling off production lines in Maine and San Francisco were new destroyers, the Aaron, Buchanan, and Fahrenholt. Battleships in the works were the Indiana, Alabama, Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri, and the Wisconsin. They were bigger, armed with more powerful guns than the fifteen battleships already in the fleet. “Meanwhile, Navy men find a particular comfort in their completed plans: as far as they know, the Japanese are planning nothing like them.” The plan was for a two-ocean navy, an overall addition of 17 new battlewagons, along with “eleven more carriers, 54 cruisers, 192 destroyers, 73 submarines.”5 Also under development in Boston was a relatively small and light torpedo vessel known as a PT boat. Its development was “a military secret,” but pictures and all the specifications were printed in detail in Time magazine complete with speed, armaments, length and construction, which was a plywood hull.6