One Wilton infantryman saw the attack. Nineteen year old Cpl. Covell was stationed at Fort Shafer, Oahu, Hawaii. At the time of the attack, Frank had been asleep in his tent. “We heard shells going off overhead and firing. We knew something was wrong. It was hell. The guard house was also the fire house. It was the first place destroyed at Hickam Field. I was charged with taking Col. Laughton Collins to Hickam Field. I saw American B-17s trying to land at the same time the Japanese were attacking. The pilots had no ammunition, only cameras, and were landing on three strips of the highway.” In a 1980 newspaper interview he said, “The blame lies in Washington. They had put us on alert three days before the attack and then it was called off.”
Frank Covell served overseas from January, 1941 to September, 1944.
One American mother on Oahu recalled watching planes with red orbs on each wing fly low over her house. Her children later collected spent bullets. On December 9, Americans on the island lined up to send telegrams to relatives. Blackouts started that night. Gas rationing began the next day. Months later, families were evacuated in a large convoy to California. Before they sailed, they were required to sign a form agreeing not to divulge any knowledge of the attack.
The New York National Guard 27th Division 105th Infantry Regiment was federalized by President Roosevelt in October of 1940.
A month before, Congress had passed the Burke-Wadsworth Act (The Selective Training and Service Act). The House of Representatives initiated the peace time draft by a vote of 303-302. The margin in the Senate was wider. Many Americans were reluctant to see their sons fight on foreign soil; but, in late 1941 , the surprise attack by Japan and the declaration of war by Germany, changed American attitudes.
In October, Federalized National Guardsmen in Company L , Saratoga County’s unit, prepared to serve. The New York State Military Museum records list five men from Wilton who were members of Company L. Emmett Ralph Washburn Jr. was 18 years old. He had been a member of the Civilian Conservation Corp. Curtis Waller was 19 and a restaurant worker. David Stewart, age 20, was a grocery store clerk. Albert Mihalek was an engineer at the Mt. McGregor sanitorium. He was twenty two. Henry F. Crobok had been a farm hand who had joined the National Guard at the age of 18 and served for three years (1932-1935). Henry rejoined the National Guard in 1940.
Company L left from the railroad station in Saratoga Springs in the fall of 1940. They completed basic training in Alabama and were then stationed in California. Their assignment was to guard the coast against a Japanese attack. Their final destination was the Pacific. The ship which took the 105th Infantry Regiment to Hawaii had been a British luxury liner. From the ship’s port holes or railings, Emmett Washburn, Curtis Waller, David Stewart, Albert Mihalek and Henry Crobok were among the first to see the damaged American fleet . The company served in the Pacific at Makin, Eniwetok, Saipan, and Okinawa. When the war ended, they were garrisoned in Japan as part of the Occupation Forces.
Did you know………..
On December 7, 1941, Berkley physicist, Ernest Lawrence, produced the first micrograms of U-235. required to make an atomic bomb. President Roosevelt and our allies were focusing on a new bomb to defeat Hitler.
