Pearl Harbor Day -----The date which will live in Infamy

December 7, 1941 found Waterville residents peacefully going about their business as were residents of the towns and cities around the nation. Most were still suffering the effects of the Great Depression, which had been lingering for the past ten or eleven years. The news came slowly. After all, dawn in Hawaii is much later in the day in Waterville. Most heard it on the radio, perhaps not until the evening news. Some were not aware until the next day even though most newspapers put out special or extra editions of the paper. News traveled much slower in those days than we are used to today. The Empire of Japan had conducted a surprise dawn attack on our naval forces at Pearl Harbor on the Island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands. Much of our fleet was sunk where the ships lay at anchor. One hundred eighty eight aircraft were destroyed, most on the ground and 2,403 Americans were killed. That is more than twice the entire population of Waterville in 1941. Suddenly we were at war and the “Greatest Generation” were not even aware of what they would be called upon to do. The next four years were times of great trial and tribulation and the world would never be the same.

In 1991 the Waterville American Legion through efforts of the Peinert Family received an American flag that had flown over the Battleship Arizona at the USS Arizona National Memorial at Pearl Harbor and the accompanying certificate as shown in our photographs. These artifacts are now kept on display at the Waterville Historical Society Wakeman Archives.