Wake Island will fall to the Japanese on Dec. 23, 1941.

Dec 17, 1941: Police Chief C. B. Horrall demotes former Chief Arthur C. Hohmann from deputy chief to lieutenant and assigns him to the Highland Park station. Hohmann, who traded jobs with Horrall earlier in the year when he stepped down as chief, refused to accept the demotion and didn’t report for duty.  Of the strange episodes in LAPD history, the Hohmann story is one of the most peculiar.

Also on the jump:

Charles Owens draws a war map showing Japan’s attack on Maui.

Loretta Young stars in the new film “The Men in Her Life” with the slogan: “She lived dangerously and paid the price.”

Jimmie Fidler says: Radio event to which I look forward to each December: Lionel Barrymore’s performance of Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol.”