Credit: National Park Service
It was 81-years-ago Wednesday that the U.S. was plunged into war after the Japanese attack on the military facilities at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere on Hawaii
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The brazen attack that killed thousands of Americans in Hawaii led to the U.S. declaring war against the axis powers in Pacific and European theaters.
Two Bucks Countians died in the Pearl Harbor attacks.
The Bristol Courier declared the country planned to enter the war the day after the attack at Pearl Harbor.
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“President Asks Congress To Declare War On Japan Today,” the newspaper’s lead headline read.
The newspaper the day after the attack featured wire stories on the attack.
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In the days following, more local reaction was featured.
The Bristol Borough-based newspaper reported the federal government had asked men and women in Bucks County to fill 750 open air raid warden positions. Earl D. Blair was the county’s top air raid warden and he was prepared to expand the local ranks from 150 air raid wardens.
Rev. Lehman Strauss, of Calvary Baptist Church in Bristol Borough, urged “sincere prayer by all people.”
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Employees from the Paterson Parchment Paper Company donated blood and plasma to help the American Red Cross in the wake of the attacks.
Flashing beacons were removed from the Delaware River by the U.S. Coast Guard in Bristol Borough due to concerns the flashing lights could make “excellent guides for enemy airplanes.”
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The newspaper in the weeks after the attack profiled local men already serving in the armed forces in the Pacific or planning to ship off to Europe.
Within days of the attack, a real estate expert spoke in Bensalem Township that the war would likely lead to a housing boom in Bucks County due to its proximity to “the greatest defense industries.”
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In addition to Bucks Countians serving and dying the war, Brewster Aeronautical Corporation in Warminster Township made military aircraft for the war effort and the Fleetwings Company in Bristol Township produced planes and parts to aid in the fight. Numerous smaller companies were pulled into the effort of producing products for the war.
Credit: Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library Archives
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