Remembering the air raid of 1942
There may not be anyone now living who remembers, but on a late-summer day less than a year after Pearl Harbor, Montgomery County farmers in the field and their wives in the gardens heard the drone of approaching airplanes.
They looked up to see a squadron drop from the clouds-aircraft with throttles back, noses down, bombs at ready. Our area was, at that moment, the target of an air attack.
Newspapers during the spring and summer of 1942 were full of bad news.
Overwhelmed American forces surrendered at Bataan. German soldiers marched into Sebastopol. Much of North Africa fell to Rommel. The Luftwaffe was bombing British cities. In the month of July, German U-boats sank 96 allied ships.
And even as Hitler's troops were storming the gates of Stalingrad, a Japanese fighter plane exposed our vulnerability at home by raining incendiary bombs on Oregon.
The raid on Montgomery County was carefully planned.
Five pilots, trained and dedicated to a cause, were matched with finely-tuned aircraft. The men had prepared, studied maps, knew their targets and understood their duty.
On the morning of Aug. 26, all was ready. A final inspection was completed. Fuel tanks were topped off, bombs loaded, last minute instructions given the bombardiers. The mission was, after much preparation, underway.
Our newspaper knew the attack was imminent and alerted the community with the following article:
Montgomery County farms will be bombed this Wednesday. Five pilots from Red Oak will cover the entire county dropping 8-ounce bags of flour to which will be attached streamers bearing the following message: “Please get in your scrap iron this week and help smack the Japs.”
Earl McQuown, area Civil Air Patrol flight commander at Red Oak, will lead the five-plane squadron along with a number of licensed pilots and student fliers in an effort to insure bringing the salvage drive to a roaring finish by Sept. 1. At the present time the collections at Red Oak and Villisca add up to 1,827 tons.
A farm to farm canvas is being made throughout Montgomery County. Grant and Stanton business places will be closed all day Friday while the people of those towns are doing their bit for the drive. This weekend volunteers with trucks will be sent over the county to pick up the metal which will have been piled along the roadside by area farmers.
Strange, isn't it? In those days, when we had a war the public made donations, bought bonds and held fundraisers to help pay the bill.
Everyone was expected to do their part; to ration, to cut back on some things and do without others.
Now, rather than endure the inconvenience, we borrow money from China and tack the cost onto our national debt.
Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contaced at news@redoakexpress.com.