World War II Chronicle: December 8, 1941

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On the front page: Oahu reports 3,000 casualties from the Japanese attack and half are killed. So far, one “old” battleship is listed as sunk. Across the Pacific, Guam is surrounded by Japanese ships and bases across the Philippines are under attack… Pres. Roosevelt did not mention Germany in his address to Congress, and Germany is reportedly about to make an statement about Japan’s attack on the United States. Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin (R — Mont.) is the sole vote against declaring war, which is how she voted back in 1917…

Sports section begins on page 16, featuring the 1941 NFL All-Pro team…

As the sun rose on Wake Island on Dec. 7, word reached the remote coral atoll that the Pacific Fleet headquarters at Pearl Harbor was under attack. Maj. Paul A. Putnam ordered Marine Fighter Squadron 211 (VMF-211) to begin around-the-clock reconnaissance patrols in case Wake, some 2,000 miles west of Hawaii, was targeted as well.

12 brand-new F4F Wildcats, chosen from Maj. Putnam’s VMF-211, had just landed at Wake four days ago — transferred from Pearl Harbor in part of the repositioning of forces in response to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Howard R. Stark’s 27 November “war warning.” 1,200 Morrison-Knudsen Corporation defense contractors were in the process of turning Wake into a military base. At 1158, a formation of Japanese G3M Betty bombers flew in from the south (four VMF-211 Wildcats were prowling north of the island), targeting the parked fighters, sitting totally exposed as the bulldozer crews wouldn’t have the parking revetments for the new fighters completed until 1400 hours.

When the low-level attack was over, the base’s fuel tanks were burning, seven Wildcats were completely destroyed (an eighth was heavily damaged), 23 of the squadron’s 55 men and officers were killed and 11 wounded. VMF-211 may have been down — just four serviceable planes, little fuel, and apart from what they could salvage from their shattered Wildcats, and no spare parts — but they were most definitely not out.

Over the next two weeks those four fighters, coupled with spectacular gunnery from the 1st Coastal Defense Battalion, would make the Japanese pay dearly to take the island, sinking or damaging every vessel in the enemy invasion fleet.

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Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), December 8, 1941. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1941-12-08/ed-1/