Algoma: Christmas and Pearl Harbor

In early December 1941, Algoma and all of Kewaunee County was preparing for Christmas. There were anxious days. There was more than Christmas in the air. There was talk of war. Preparations went forward though. City businessmen worked at the Dug-Out to wire together greens and stars to festoon city light poles. Red Cross workers were feverishly meeting their quotas while Kohlbeck’s, Wiese’s, Katch’s, Beach’s and the Flora Lee were advertising their suggested Christmas gifts. P.C. Gerhart was advertising oil heaters, wash machines and stoves in addition to roller skates, coaster wagons and bathroom scales. Rinehart’s Shoes suggested shoes and boots as practical gifts.
Marione’s Beauty Shop suggested a new “do” for the holidays. 

At Slovan, the ground was so soft that farmers could plow. There were those who were harvesting their potatoes. Stanley Smithwick had just been honorably discharged and Casco’s American Legion Auxiliary was making plans to pack food baskets for the needy. There were weddings, basketball games, dartball games and, unfortunately, deaths.

Life was going on until Sunday morning, December 7 when county residents began hearing about the attack at Pearl Harbor. President Franklin Roosevelt said the attack on Pearl Harbor was a day that would live in infamy. That it did.

While the residents of Algoma, and Kewaunee County as a whole, felt they were headed for war, they never expected the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Algoma’s West Point graduate Capt. Richard Fellows, who was serving in the Philippines, had written home that Japan would never attack the U.S. He was wrong. Following the attack, the U.S. declared war on the Empire of Japan. Then came Germany and Italy. Five days following Pearl Harbor, Algoma Record Herald said the current hostilities would be a world war, surpassing World War l. Editor Harry Heidmann was right, and as history has shown, Mr. Heidmann was generally right.

When the news came, Kewaunee County knew many of its young men were serving in the military, but where were they? On December 7, Capt. Fellows and Capt. Oswald Lunde, once of Kewaunee, were stationed in the Philippines, a hotbed of activity since the attack. Lunde cabled to say he was “ok.” As for Fellows, the attack he believed would not happen, did happen, delaying  his return to the U.S.

Ray "Swamper: Gerhart

Uneasy families and friends wondered where their brothers, sons and friends were. Not all were sure. Navy veteran Louis Depas was thought to be in Hawaii while Gordon Hoppe and Richard Cmeyla were definitely in Hawaii. Yeoman 1^st C Cmeyla had been recently transferred from the west coast. Donald Gordon was known to be on the USS Wright, which was believed to be in Hawaii. Gordon had just been transferred after completing radio school in California. Ed Sell was another thought to be in Hawaii and it was known Swamper Gerhart had been transferred to Pearl Harbor. As it turned out, Swamper, or Raymond as he was christened, was on the Nevada at the time of the attack, taking a shower and preparing for shore leave. Hit by seven bombs and 2 torpedoes, the Nevada lost 201 of its men. Eighty were injured. Swamper escaped.

Quartermaster Clarence Diefenbach was last heard from at Midway Island, said to be occupied by the Japanese, but that was not confirmed by the U.S. He wrote that he was getting transferred to Honolulu, but nobody knew where he was. And, just where was Midway Island?

According to his folks, Joseph Ouradnik was in the Navy and reported to be with a patrol bombing plane stationed at Kodiak, Alaska. Pvt. Corky Corbisier was also in Alaska. Lt. Pat Cmeyla was thought to be with a medical detachment serving in the area of Nicholas Field in the Philippines. Milton Matzke was somewhere in the Pacific with the Army. Local men in the Atlantic came to the fore with the declaration of war with Germany. Spasz (Sylvester) Ullsperger was a Navy aerologist at Newfoundland while Stanley Rogers and Carl Rupp were stationed with the Army in Iceland.

When they heard about Pearl Harbor, county residents waited anxiously to learn if any of theirs had been killed in the attack. After war was declared, everybody wondered when they’d start hearing about men being killed in action. It took less than two weeks to find out.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Muhofski, Jr. knew Pearl Harbor would forever live with them.  Kewaunee County’s first war fatality was their son Joseph A. Muhofski, killed in action on December 7. Joseph was a crew member on a seaplane operating off one of the battleships at Pearl Harbor. The day after Joseph’s parents received the  notifying them of his death, they received a letter and Christmas package from him. The letter spoke of his enthusiasm for his work. He said the Navy had increased its watchfulness, fearing a surprise attack.

Writing for Gov. Julius P. Heil a week before Christmas 1941, Walter J. Wilde, state director of Selective Service, said that Selective Service boards all over the country were required to keep quotas and calls secret. The Record Herald had been highlighting men in service. At the same time Congress passed legislation calling for the registration of all men between 18 and 64 as a means to inventory manpower. The paper didn’t feel it revealed secrets when it mentioned a letter from a local Coast Guardsman on a ship that sank and enemy submarine a few months later. The Coastie described the sinking, saying it was a “good sight to see.”

In the days, weeks and years to come, Kewaunee County lost more of its men. Its women also served. Residents went on to celebrate Christmas, then Valentine’s Day, Easter, Decoration Day, 4^th of July, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and then another Christmas. And so it continued - drafts, deaths, wounds and Christmas. The draft ceased to exist in 1973. Military service is volunteer. Families are apart at holidays and death and wounds remain.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald. Photos and the headline are from Algoma Record Herald. The picture of the poster was taken in a Missouri military museum.