70 Years Ago

For the past few years, I've procrastinated on cleaning up my grandfather's memoirs to publish them. I've decided that the best way to get this done is to just focus on spelling and punctuation. I'm not allowed to fix his grammar or factual mistakes.

I'll save that for the epilogue.

Anyway, Grandpa was a second lieutenant in command of the 21st Quartermaster Car Company stationed at Fort Lewis. He was 29 and engaged to my grandmother, Margaret. Grandma was living in McMinnville, Oregon, working as the society editor at the local weekly.


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Now to Pearl Harbor, the day that "will live in infamy," according to President Roosevelt. It was Sunday and Lt. Quinn and I were lolling around in our quarters reading and writing. The radio was playing some innocuous tune and I was thinking that in a few minutes I would have to bestir myself, strap on my .45 revolver and walk to the battalion headquarters of an engineer company where, during a brief ceremonial revue of area guards, I was to take over my shift as OD (officer of the day).

The area of my responsibility included several units in my end of Fort Lewis. Each unit contributed, by roster, men as guards and officers as officer of the day.

I had just risen from my writing desk when the radio announcer stridently reported that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Quinn and I stood glued to the radio for a few minutes, appalled and excited. I couldn't wait any longer and almost ran to take over my OD post. Quickly Fort Lewis was rousing from the somnolence of a Sunday to a state of almost hysterical animation.

Early that night as I was sitting in one of the engineer battalion offices, having only minutes earlier visited all guard stations in my duty area, the telephone rang. It was a guard stationed at an enlisted men's beer joint in my area. He said there was a riot and he needed help.

I grabbed two of the largest men in sight and armed them with baseball bats (enlisted men in the newer units had not yet been issued arms). We jumped into a jeep and raced to the beer joint. Inside, men were packed like sardines, many of them drunk, all celebrating in advance of the action they knew was coming. Every voice in the room was in high gear. Several fights were in progress.

I was too short to see over all the heads and wasn't sure what was going on. The two enlisted men and I shoved our way to the bar and I jumped on top of it. I blew my whistle and motioned in the direction the two men should take. Without laying the bats on too heavily, they soon broke up the fights. I was herding everybody out when the MPs arrived and took over. At least the men had let off some steam that night without much damage.

The next day war was declared against Japan and, soon after, against Germany and Italy. Nineteen US ships had been sunk or otherwise destroyed at Pearl Harbor and 3000 Americans killed. A tight lid was placed on Fort Lewis, nobody could get on or off the Post without special orders from Corps. There was a feeling that the Japanese might be right off the west coast and we might be bombed or invaded. Total blackout was ordered and most units, including mine, were ordered out into the prairie hills east of Fort Lewis for the night,

We bivouacked at night, using only the blackout lights built into the lighting systems of the newer cars and trucks. It was confusion on a vast scale. The next day the Army was reassured that we weren't about to be invaded; we returned to the post. But Fort Lewis was buttoned up tight for more than a week.

I was on the phone to Margaret as soon as I reached our unit area. We decided to get married the following Friday, December 13, if I could wrangle approval to leave the post and go to McMinnville. My friend, the colonel, Corps Quartermaster, gave me that permission.