World War II Chronicle: January 1, 1942
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Adm. Chester Nimitz is officially the new Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, and he warns that Japanese submarines could attack the West Coast (see the front page). This justifies the decision to move popular college football bowl games to North Carolina (Rose) and New Orleans (East-West). San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium, normally home to the East-West Bowl, is only two to three miles from the ocean, which would be well within range of a Japanese sub’s 140mm gun. Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, sits nearly 20 nautical miles inland, which would be at the extreme end of a Japanese battleship’s 14-inch guns. You don’t need to be terribly accurate when your target is a 500,000 square feet stadium. Just consider how devastating a barrage of shells that weigh over a ton would be to 100,000 fans.
We know Japan couldn’t have pulled it off, but Americans 80 years ago did not…
A Navy Catalina crew braved 40-foot seas to rescue the shipwrecked crew of a B-17. The report is found below the fold and you can read more about the daring rescue here… Casualties of the Dec. 7 attack on Oahu are arriving in San Francisco for further treatment (see page three)… George Fielding Eliot discusses the deteriorating situation in the Philippines on page seven…
Sports section begins on page 13… Pictured on the following page is former Purdue Boilermaker All-American end Dave Rankin, who will become a Marine Corps fighter pilot. Notre Dame All-American halfback Bob Saggau becomes a Naval aviator and flies in the South Pacific.
Evening star. (Washington, D.C.), 1 January 1942. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1942-01-01/ed-1/
