Chapter 5:  East Los Angeles, 
World War II,  1941-1945 
by Mimi Lozano

The emotional impact of WW II  was probably more intense on those of us living in Boyle Heights than in other parts of Los Angeles. because of the cultural/ethnic community of residents.  

Most of our neighbors were of Russian Jewish background who had recently moved from the East Coast to the West Coast, and settled in the Boyle Heights area. My husband's parents, both from the Ukraine met each other in the United States, fleeing the persecution and horrors suffered by their families during World War I in Russia, at the hands of both the Germans, and their own government.  

My husband's father had fled with his brothers. They were among the masses who came through Ellis Island and made a life in New York. His mother's family migrated first to England,  and from England to Montréal, Canada and from Montréal to the East Coast.

The parents of the children that I attended school with at Evergreen Elementary School had immigrated for the same reason: freedom, and safety from religious persecution. The East LA atmosphere and attitude, was one of gratitude, patriotism, and a determination to be strong.  

World War II started for the United States December 7, 1941, the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor. The United States quickly responded and declared war against Japan on December 8th. 

 
On December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt broadcast:

 "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.  

Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.

Listen to the whole speech: http://www.radiochemistry.org/history/nuclear_age/06_fdr_infamy.shtml 


Japan had decimated our ships at Pearl Harbor and the Germans were already destroying US ships in the open seas. The United States immediately went into intense war- time weapons building activity. 

On February 23, 1942 there was a shelling by a Japanese submarine of the oil refinery at Ellwood, CA, near Santa Barbara coastline. Their target were the oil rigs located there. 

I remember standing in the front of our house on Evergreen Street looking towards the northwest. Huge flames were shooting up into the sky, clearly visible from where we stood. Our house was built on a hill, with many steps required to get to the front door, cement and then wood. Standing there between mom and dad, high above the street, I looked at the bright undulating flames, which filled the night sky - making it look orange, and asked my dad, "What's happening?." He answered solemnly, "We are being attacked."

February 23, 1942, the oil refinery at Ellwood near Santa Barbara, California, was shelled by a Japanese submarine using its 5.5 inch deck gun. The first enemy attack on the U.S. mainland since the War of 1812.
 

 

 

  • Attack on Goleta - Weird California  

    On February 23rd, 1942 at about 7:15 pm, shells began falling on Ellwood Oil Field west of Santa Barbara in what is today Goleta. At least 16 rounds (some reports say as many as 25) were fired on the oil facility over a period of twenty minutes as a Japanese submarine sat offshore bombarding the coastline.

 
Other minor mainland attacks were to follow: A Japanese submarine fired at the Oregon coast; a Japanese pilot bombed Oregon forests without effect and Japanese balloon bombs exploded in the Northwest.

On its face, the shelling of Ellwood beach 50 years ago by the sub I-17 was not one of World War II's major events. It caused no injuries and only $500 damage to a shed and catwalk at the seaside Barnsdall-Rio Grande Oil Co. field.

Yet to a nation still reeling from the Dec. 7 Pearl Harbor bombing, the 20 or so five-inch shells fired by the I-17's deck gun confirmed public fears that Japan was capable of bringing its war to America's doorstep.

It also hastened the roundup of 120,000 West Coast Japanese-Americans into 10 internment camps for the duration of the war, a move that had been authorized just four days earlier by Roosevelt.

"We knew we were at war before then. And after that we definitely knew it," said Mrs. Pratt. "My God, all the sirens went off and the blackout happened and there were searchlights all over the skies," said Santa Barbara resident Joan Martin, who was 22 at the time. "Everybody was saying the Japanese are getting us."

Acting Secretary of State Sumner Wells called the attack an unsuccessful challenge to Roosevelt as he discussed the war effort on radio. The Tokyo newspaper Kokumin said the attack showed that "occupation of the United States mainland no longer is in the realm of dreams."

Spy scares throughout Southern California were rampant, and fear of impending attack may have contributed to the "Battle of Los Angeles" in the wee hours of Feb. 25.

On that morning, antiaircraft batteries fired blindly at an unknown object reported heading south over Santa Monica Bay. No enemy aircraft were sighted, let alone downed.   http://articles.latimes.com/1992-03-01/local/me-5256_1_japanese-submarine

I am grateful for internet resources. Thankful for being able to search validate my memories.  On February 24 and 25th,1942, Los Angeles experienced the "great Los Angeles air raids." Whether it was war hysteria, or an actual attack, it is still not clear. There appears to be discrepancies within the military reports.  

I remember the  huge search lights, scanning the night sky. Usually these search lights were used to promote a new Hollywood movie,  but you only saw one or two at a time.  This looked like more than twenty blazing the sky with light.   People were on the ground with binocular sky, looking for the cause of  flashes and explosions.  Some residue appeared to fall from the sky. There were a few deaths.
=================================== ===================================



The Battle of Los Angeles, also known as The Great Los Angeles Air Raid, is the name given by contemporary sources to the rumored enemy attack and subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which took place from late 24 February to early 25 February 1942 over Los Angeles, California. 

 
The American people were in a state of shock. Within three months of  the Pearl Harbor Attack, a fleet of Japanese submarines were reported off the coast of California. 

Soon, barb-wire fencing was stretched along sections of the coast to prevent a land invasion by the Japanese. In addition huge balloons were tethered high along the coast to prevent airplanes from landing.  A US military presence, along the coast, made it quite clear that we were at war. Sunday drives along the coast were no longer to be an enjoyable family activity.  We were directed to move along, and no stopping was allowed. 

I was in the second grade.  All government agencies quickly initiated programs in case Los Angeles was  bombed. The Los Angeles School District  asked  parents to supply their child with a small blanket/ food/water to be kept at school, in case bombed streets would make it difficult for the child to make it safely home.  We had air raid practices at school.   In case of a Japanese air attack, we were taught to sit under our wooden desk on those little blankets.

For safety, Dad moved us out of the Los Angeles area, inland to Ontario, where I finished my second grade, and my sister Tania the third grade. We also spent the summer in Ontario returning to Los Angeles before the fall school semester started.   We moved back to Evergreen Street in the Boyle Heights area of East Los Angeles and returned to Evergreen Elementary School. 

By the middle of 1942, the United States "war machine" was operating top speed. Factories were running 24 hour shifts, and all ages were involved in supporting the war effort. People were growing vegetable gardens, saving the metal of the tin cans, putting cardboard into the soles of your feet for the leather to last longer, saving animal fat renderings in tin cans, paper drives and cardboard drives were big thing. The schools were the gathering place for all these collections. Nothing was wasted.

The neighborhood cooperated, especially with the air raid wardens. We had to cover the windows at night, so no light would come out and give clues to the enemy of the locations of where homes and factories were located. Factories were camouflaged through the skills of Hollywood. Women took to the work field. No longer were women, especially minority women, just involved in "la costura" . . They became Rosie the riveter, and wore slacks, and carried their lunch to work.

Always being a little out of the classroom social dynamic because mom did not want to move into barrio, Evergreen was a challenge. As I remember in third grade, there were three Mexican kids and the rest were mostly of Russian Jewish heritage, although I do remember two names that do not sound Jewish, Gordon and Miller. The patriotism and emotional depth of pain suffered by Russian and other Jews marked me. 

I loved to sing American songs, folk, patriotic, folk, and learned the song for each military corp. It was fun, whether on foot, in the car or on the train,  to start singing at the top of your lungs. We kids would fling open the windows and sing the appropriate song for the soldier that happened to pass our way. Most adults would just smile. We always got a smile and a wave from the soldiers whose branch theme we were singing. 

The newspaper's, Pres. Roosevelt's weekly radio messages, the newsreels at the Saturday afternoon movie matinees kept us up with the news. We kids felt that we mattered. That what we did for the war effort - mattered. 

Smiling through our small sacrifices, like sugar and meat rations, made us feel patriotic. We were not suffering and we knew it.

We were proud to be Americans . . . .