Sarah Sundin's Blog, page 142

February 28, 1942

Destroyer USS Jacob Jones, 1930s (US Navy photo: NH 67838)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 28, 1942: Japanese land on Java in the East Indies.

Off Delaware coast, German U-boat U-578 sinks US destroyer Jacob Jones—138/149 killed.

US Department of Justice requires German, Italian, and Japanese nationals to have register for Certificates of Identification.

US Department of Justice notice declaring that enemy aliens must register at the post office for a certificate of identification, February 1942 (US National Archives: 7455403)

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February 27, 1942

Seaplane tender USS Langley being abandoned after being damaged by Japanese bombs, Battle of Java Sea, 27 Feb 1942 (US Naval History and Heritage Command: NH 92472)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 27, 1942: Battle of Java Sea begins—Allied ships fail to prevent Japanese landing at Java, take heavy losses.

Nazis order construction of gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Seattle school board accepts forced resignation of Japanese-American teachers.

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February 26, 1942

Joan Fontaine and Gary Cooper holding their Oscars at the Academy Awards after party, Feb. 26, 1942 (public domain via Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library)

Ribbon for the Army’s Distinguished Unit Citation

80 Years Ago—Feb. 26, 1942: US Army Distinguished Unit Citation is authorized, worn above right breast pocket.

Academy Awards: best picture How Green Was My Valley, best actress Joan Fontaine in Suspicion, best actor Gary Cooper in Sergeant York, best director John Ford for How Green Was My Valley, first Oscars awarded for documentaries. Oscar statuettes made of plaster sprayed with bronze lacquer; recipients could exchange them for the traditional gold-plated bronze after the war.

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February 25, 1942

Antiaircraft fire over Los Angeles, CA, 24-25 February 1942 (California State Archives)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 25, 1942: “Battle of Los Angeles”: In LA, false reports of enemy planes (actually a rogue weather balloon) lead to firing of antiaircraft guns during the night of February 24-25; 5 civilians die from resulting car accidents or heart attacks.

British Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell is named Commander in Chief, India.

President Roosevelt bans racial discrimination in the defense industry.

Three thousand Japanese residents of San Pedro and Terminal Island, CA, are ordered to leave in 3 days.

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February 24, 1942

US Navy TBD-1 Devastator bomber over Wake Island during American attack, 24 Feb 1942 (US National Archives: 80-CF-1071-1)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 24, 1942: Soviet sub ShCh-213 sinks Bulgarian passenger ship Struma; 766 Jewish refugees die after having been refused admission to Palestine and Turkey.

Canada orders removal of all Japanese-Canadians from the west coast to inland communities; 22,000 will be sent to internment or labor camps with the husbands often separated from their families.

USS Enterprise group strikes Wake Island, sinking two Japanese guard boats.

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February 23, 1942

US B-17 Flying Fortress “Swamp Ghost” undergoing restoration at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum (Photo: Sarah Sundin, 7 Nov 2016)

US Army Air Forces patch, WWII

80 Years Ago—Feb. 23, 1942: US Fifth Air Force B-17s based in Townsville, Australia, make first attack on Rabaul; one crash-lands in New Guinea swamp—Swamp Ghost now in Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor.

Japanese sub I-17 fires at Bankline Oil Refinery at Ellwood near Santa Barbara CA; little damage; first attack on US mainland in the war.

US Army Air Forces approves “winged star” emblem in shape of a V for victory.

“Japanese submarine attacks coast of California” by Junidhi Mikuriya, before 1945 (public domain via Wikimedia Commons)

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February 22, 1942

Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, 1943 (National Archives, United Kingdom: INF3/77)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 22, 1942: Air Marshal Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris takes command of RAF Bomber Command.

President Roosevelt orders Gen. Douglas MacArthur to leave Bataan for Australia.

New car sales end in the US.

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February 21, 1942

San Francisco Examiner headlines, San Francisco, CA, 26 Feb 1942 (US National Archives: ARC 195535)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 21, 1942: House of Representatives begins hearings about removal of Japanese-Americans from the West Coast.

German spy Bernard Julius Otto Kuehn is convicted of espionage for sending information about Pearl Harbor to the Japanese before and during the attack.

New song in Top Ten: “I Don’t Want to Walk Without You.”

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February 20, 1942

Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare in front of a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighter, spring 1942 (US Navy photo)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 20, 1942: First US Eighth Air Force officers arrive in England.

Japanese land on Portuguese East Timor and Dutch West Timor in the East Indies.

In Norway, 12,000 of 14,000 teachers send official refusals to join the fascist Teacher’s Front; 1300 will be sent to Grini concentration camp near Oslo; only 50 teachers join the Front.

Lt. Edward “Butch” O’Hare of USS Lexington is credited with shooting down five Japanese planes in six minutes in his F4F Wildcat over Rabaul, becoming the first US Navy ace of the war and the first American “ace in a day”; he will receive the Medal of Honor.

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February 19, 1942

Exclusion Order posted at First and Front Streets in San Francisco directing removal of persons of Japanese ancestry, 1 April 1942 (US National Archives: 536017)

80 Years Ago—Feb. 19, 1942: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing designation of military zones and removal of certain persons, which will lead to the internment of Japanese-Americans.

Largest-ever attack on Australia: 242 Japanese aircraft bomb Darwin and Broome, sinking 12 ships, destroying almost all aircraft, and killing 243.

Canadian parliament passes a conscription law.

Explosion of MV Neptuna, hit during the Japanese air raid on Darwin, Australia, 19 February 1942 (Australian War Memorial: 128108)

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