Category Archives: World War II

A Firsthand History Lesson on Pearl Harbor

Posted on December 7, 2025 by lmharnisch

My seventh-grade history teacher, Rene Humbert, was at Pearl Harbor and the anniversary told the class about his experiences. This is his memoir. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Education, History, World War II | Tagged #Pearl Harbor, #teachers, 1941 | Comments Off

November 27, 1941: Streetcar Companies Ask Council to End Bus Ban in Downtown L.A.

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 27, 1941: The Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railways ask the City Council to repeal a ban against buses operating in downtown Los Angeles. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Streetcars, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged #Red Cars, #transportation, #Yellow Cars, buses, Streetcars | 1 Comment

L.A. Celebrates a Wartime Thanksgiving, 1943

Posted on November 27, 2025 by lmharnisch

Thanksgiving 1943: A wartime Thanksgiving in Los Angeles, with many service personnel welcomed into people’s homes for a holiday meal. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Food and Drink, World War II | Tagged #Thanksgiving, 1943, World War II | Comments Off

November 26, 1941: L.A. Man Takes Fight Over Dog License to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on November 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 26, 1941: George F. Harrington says owning his dog, named Kitty, is a constitutional right and he refuses to pay for a license, taking the fight to the Supreme Court. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Animals, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged #dog licenses, #supreme court, Animals | Comments Off

November 17, 1941: Women Reporters

Posted on November 17, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 17, 1941: Reporter Mary Shaw Leader is posthumously honored for covering Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Leader walked 15 miles to cover Lincoln’s speech. Continue reading →

Posted in 1863, 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, Immigration, Obituaries, World War II | Tagged #Gettysburg Address, #Lincoln | Comments Off

November 15, 1943: Riot at Tule Lake Internment Camp?

Posted on November 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 15, 1943: Something appears to be going on at the Tule Lake internment camp, but it’s unclear from contemporary coverage exactly what it was. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Comics, World War II | Comments Off

November 13, 1941: U.S. Prepares to Round Up Japanese in Event of War

Posted on November 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 13, 1941: Atty. Gen. Francis Biddle “confirms reports that the government has plans for the segregation of Nipponese alien groups for a ‘temporary period’ if relations between the U.S. and Japan are broken off.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged #film, #hollywood, #Japanese, #Veronica Lake, 1941, Alan Ladd | Comments Off

November 12, 1941: Crowds Line Broadway for Armistice Day Parade

Posted on November 12, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 12, 1941: Crowds line Broadway in downtown Los Angeles for the annual Armistice Day parade, which marked the end of what used to be called the Great War or the World War – until we had another one. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, A Kinder, Simpler Time, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Streetcars, Theaters, Tom Treanor, Transportation, World War II | Tagged #Carole Landis, #John Huston, #Walter Huston | Comments Off

November 9, 1941: Roosevelt Declares Early Thanksgiving

Posted on November 9, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 9, 1941: President Roosevelt moves up the date of Thanksgiving to add an extra week of Christmas shopping. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Columnists, Crime and Courts, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Religion, World War II | Tagged #Holocaust, #Unwed mothers, Abandoned babies, Bernhard Lichtenberg | Comments Off

November 8, 1947: Tokyo Rose Seeks to Return to U.S.

Posted on November 8, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 8, 1947: Iva Toguri of Los Angeles seeks to return to the U.S. after being stranded in Japan during the war, when she was known as Tokyo Rose. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, Immigration, Radio, World War II | Tagged 1947, broadcasting, crime and courts, immigration, radio, Tokyo Rose, World War II | Comments Off

November 5, 1947: ‘Amazing Career of a Girl Drug Addict’

Posted on November 5, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 5, 1947: Arrested in October for driving erratically on Wilshire Boulevard, a woman calling herself Margaret Burton told police she was a former actress and had become addicted to sedatives during the London Blitz, when a physician gave her tranquilizers to calm her nerves. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged 1947, drug addiction, film, hollywood, Hoot Gibson, Margaret Burton, World War II | Comments Off

November 3, 1941: Wingy Manone Puts the Swing in Swing Shift

Posted on November 3, 2025 by lmharnisch

November 3, 1941: Tom Treanor goes to a dance at the Glendale Civic Auditorium for swing shift workers, about 5,000 of them, from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Most of the couples are married, he says, and the wives are 18 or 19. Continue reading →

Posted in 1941, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Crime and Courts, Dance, Film, Hollywood, Music, Obituaries, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged #Lockheed, #Swing Shift, #Wingy Manone, Tom Treanor | Comments Off

October 26, 1942: Lon Chaney’s Ghost Haunts Hollywood and Vine!

Posted on October 26, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 26, 1942: Councilman Norris Nelson tells a story about the ghost of Lon Chaney sitting on a bench at Hollywood and Vine. Continue reading →

Posted in 1942, African Americans, Books and Authors, Crime and Courts, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, World War II, Zoot Suit | Tagged film, Gangs, ghosts, haunting, hollywood, lapd, Lon Chaney, Riot | Comments Off

October 25, 1943: Restaurant Manager Turns Tables on Robbers

Posted on October 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 25, 1943: Three bandits who hit a handful of businesses met their match at a cafe at 1306 S. Main St. when they tried to hold up assistant manager Joe D. Poindexter. As one man leaned across the counter to get the cash, Poindexter grabbed his gun, chased them as they fled and shot one of them. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, LAPD, Main Street, World War II | Tagged #Main Street, 1943, film, hollywood, lapd | Comments Off

October 20, 1944: MACARTHUR IN PHILIPPINES

Posted on October 20, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 20, 1944: MacArthur in Philippines. Continue reading →

Posted in 1944, World War II | Tagged 1944, World War II | Comments Off

October 18, 1947: S.S. General Saw Mass Executions as ‘Necessary to Win War’

Posted on October 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

NEURNBERG, Oct. 17 (A.P.)—S.S. Gen. Erich Naumann, whose commandos killed thousands of Jewish men, women and children on the eastern front, told a war crimes court today he saw nothing wrong with that. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, World War II | Tagged #Holocaust, 1947, Nazism, World War II | 1 Comment

October 4, 1943: American Troops Enter Bomb-Shattered Naples

Posted on October 4, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 4, 1943: Tom Treanor says of the liberation of Naples: The Germans left Naples in a truly deplorable condition. In a huge hospital for incurables I myself saw 70 rotting corpses of men, women and children. They were killed in street fighting during the past week and authorities were unable to move their bodies because of the lack of transportation. Continue reading →

Posted in 1943, Art & Artists, Columnists, Comics, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Main Street, Tom Treanor, World War II | Tagged #Charlie Chaplin, 1943, film, hollywood, Naples, Tom Treanor, World War II | Comments Off

1944 in Print — Life Magazine, September 25, 1944

Posted on September 25, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 25, 1944: Claire Poe of Miami Beach, Fla., appears on the cover of Life’s special issue “A Letter to GIs,” because she is the kind of good-looking American girl that a lot of GIs know and would like to hear from. Continue reading →

Posted in 1944, Film, Hollywood, Photography, World War II | Tagged 1944, film, hollywood, photography, World War II | Comments Off

September 19, 1944: Allies 310 Miles From Berlin!

Posted on September 19, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 19, 1944: Times reporter and columnist Gene Sherman files a first-person report from Palau and describes fierce fighting against the Japanese. Continue reading →

Posted in 1944, Aviation, Film, Hollywood, World War II | Tagged 1944, film, Gene Sherman, hollywood, World War II | Comments Off

1944 in Print — Life Magazine, Sept. 18, 1944

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 18, 1944: Republican presidential nominee Thomas E. Dewey drives to New York to confer with campaign advisors, then begins a campaign trip by railroad across the country. Continue reading →

Posted in 1944, Film, Hollywood, Television, World War II | Tagged 1944, film, hollywood, Television, World War II | Comments Off