SeeCalifornia.com

Pictured: Fort MacArthur in San Pedro is a must-see museum with authentic newspapers, displays and vintage military equipment from California circa World War II.

The majority of Californians aren’t accustomed to shortages of basic food and supplies or being told to stay in their homes for a period of time. While we’re facing unseen difficulties, including loss of jobs and wages from the coronavirus stay home orders issued by the State of California during the Spring 2020, the oldest citizens have seen such hardships before.

Those born in the 1930s or earlier may recall events of WWII–when a Japanese submarine made a direct hit on a derrick 12 miles north of Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. on Feb.23, 1942–the first attack on U.S. soil since the war began.

A sign at a public beach near Santa Barbara’s luxury resort, Ritz-Carlton Bacara, tells visitors about the event that sent Californians and the nation into high alert.

California piers were closed to the public and used by the military for enemy watch, Los Angeles air plants were blacked out, and air raid alarm sounds could be heard in San Francisco and Sacramento.

In Sacramento a black out was ordered by the commandant at McClellan Field, saying it had been authenticated that enemy planes were off the coast close or over the Golden Gate.

The Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942 provided the theme for one of Fort MacArthur Museum’s most popular fundraisers. It included a dramatic re-enactment in which a plane flew overheard and was “attacked” by anti-aircraft, while search lights lit up the skies above the fort.

While it’s hard to predict how COVID-19’s effects will be remembered and memorialized, when you’re free to get out and explore, take time to see California’s many military and air museums documenting and paying homage to a deadly threat and its devastating effect on the state, nation and world approx. 70 years ago.