Remember Pearl Harbor!

 "Remember Pearl Harbor!"

That was the rallying cry after the Japanese raid on the Hawaiian Island on December7, 1941. That terrible Sunday over 2,500 U. S. military personnel and civilians were killed in an attack that lasted only about an hour.

The news came over our living room radios, interrupting regular radio programs with startling urgency.

Jennie Hastings* wrote in her diary that night about hearing the news. She and Gilbert Hastings had settled down to listen to Jack Benny on NBC. They had been to church that morning - there was snow on the ground and it was windy in West Danville, but they were cozy in their little apartment adjoining the store - a rare quiet day when the store was closed and they could enjoy time together. When the announcer broke into the program a little after 2:30 that afternoon with a special news broadcast, he spoke quickly, his words relaying the chilling message through the crackling static. People listened with disbelief, unsure if it was real or another H. G. Wells production like the Halloween scare of 1938. As more news arrived, it became clear that our nation had indeed been brutally attacked. 

Similar scenes were being played out all over the country. It was hard to believe that the war that was already being waged in Europe had reached our nation so suddenly and directly. President Roosevelt addressed Congress on December 8th with his "Day of Infamy" speech, and the joint session approved his request for a declaration of war with only one nay vote. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the US, and we responded immediately with a declaration of war on them. Our nation was plunged into World War II, fighting in two major theaters of war, Europe and the Pacific, for the next four years.

There are only a few survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack today, but it is important to remember that day and the years hardship and enormous loss of lives that followed. I remember the anxiety of my family as relatives, friends, and neighbors were called into service. Then came the dreadful telegrams "your son is listed as missing"or, "we regret to inform you . . . " 

Gilbert and Jennie Hastings saw their son, Ralph, off to war, along with numerous other local men and women. Fortunately, Ralph came back, but many did not. 

 

 

*From Jennie Hastings' diaries loaned to the Danville Historical Society, and referenced in their publication, West Danville, Vermont, Then and Now, 1781 to 2021,  published in 2021. 

After Gilbert Hastings died, Jennie continued to operate the store with their son, Ralph and his wife, Mabel. Eventually Ralph and Mabel's daughter Jane and her husband, Garey Larrabee, ran the store; and now Jane and Garey's daughter, Jenny, owns it. The store has remained an important part of the West Danville and Joe's Pond Community through each generation.