At the start of World War II[1], the San Francisco Bay Area was the most valuable military asset on the West Coast. After Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, rumors began to circulate that Japan had turned its attention towards the City and that an attack was imminent. On December 8th, Mayor Angelo Rossi declared a State of Emergency: schools were closed and businesses shuttered. Fear was further stoked when, at 6:15 that evening, San Francisco’s air raid sirens went off. Radio stations were ordered off the air. Lights on the Bay[2] and Golden Gate[3] Bridges were turned off. Traffic was halted and people were told to turn off their lights, not to use their brakes, and not to open their car doors lest the interior light go on. Terrified, many people sought out makeshift bomb shelters: it was reported that seven people spent the night in the Twin Peaks tunnel. The Citywide blackout lasted three hours. People reported hearing planes flying overhead, but no bombs were dropped.
The next day, December 9th, the San Francisco Chronicle[4] reported that Imperial Japanese forces had launched their second attack and that 34 war ships were making their way towards the City. A press conference was held at City Hall and Lieutenant General John DeWitt, commander of the Western Defense Command, did nothing to calm the City’s fears. He became angry and defiant when accused of erroneously ordering a blackout the previous evening, stating that enemy war planes had indeed flown over the area and had been tracked going back out to sea. Asked why the City was not bombed, DeWitt speculated that the Japanese were on a reconnaissance mission.
At 2:45 am the next morning, the air raid sirens went off again. But again, nothing happened. DeWitt would continue to insist that every blackout was based on verifiable military intelligence.
The remainder of the month of December would be shrouded with fear of an imminent attack and peppered with additional blackouts. My grandfather Brand became a neighborhood air raid warden. His job was to make sure that everyone was adhering to the blackout rules. He had the authority to break into someone’s home if lights had been left on but no-one was at home.
Between December 18th-24th, Japanese submarines would attack eight merchant vessels along the California coast, sinking two of them. On December 20th, an Oakland garbage barge collided with a Japanese submarine nine miles off the Farallon Islands[5].
My mother Anne remembers constant air raid drills at St. Anne School[6]. In the event of a bombing, students were instructed to go to the basement of the onsite church, which had been hastily converted into a bomb shelter. In the event there wasn’t time, students were instructed to get under their desks and cover their heads.
San Francisco was never bombed, but today we know that the Japanese planned to attack San Francisco on Christmas Eve, 1941. The mission was aborted over fears that the submarines would be detected in advance. As it happened, a convoy of camouflaged ships carrying wounded evacuees from Pearl Harbor arrived in San Francisco on Christmas Day. They were unloaded and transported to the naval hospital on Mare Island.
DeWitt would eventually lose the trust of both San Francisco and his superiors back in Washington. In April 1943 he was reassigned from Commander of Western Defense to inconsequential posts for the remainder of his career.
[1] World War II: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4222
[2] Bay Bridge: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=3306
[3] Golden Gate Bridge: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4916
[4] San Francisco Chronicle: story coming June 16th
[5] Farallon Islands: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4818
[6] St Anne of the Sunset and St Anne School: https://thesanfranciscophoenix.com/?p=4084
