FROM THE PUBLISHER n Page 3 A new way to read Kitsap Military Times.
JOEY PRICE n Page 3 During WWII, women were America’s secret weapon.
LIFE DURING THE WAR n Page 5 Barrage balloons and blackouts.
JACQUE THORNTON n Page 11 A child’s cold memory of Christmas 1941.
Kitsap
MilitaryTimes The Voice for Kitsap County’s Active-Duty
December 2016
Personnel, Veterans and their Families
KITSAP GOES TO WAR!!! A 12-PART SERIES RECALLING THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF WORLD WAR II PART ONE: DEC. 7, 1941 TO MARCH 31, 1942
PEARL HARBOR ATTACKED! BOMBING OF SHIPYARD, KEYPORT FEARED IMMINENT; BLACKOUT DECLARED
The George family goes to war By TERRYL ASLA Kitsap Daily News
B
y Ted George’s count, the George family has a combined 250 years of service to the U.S. government. It all began in 1915 when the family patriarch, Bennie George, went to work at what was then known as the “Pacific Coast Torpedo Station” in Keyport, leaving his job as longshoreman at the Port Gamble Mill. According to the writings of longtime Keyport employee Herb Hindle, Bennie rowed his dugout boat to Keyport and vowed — Hindle’s writing reflected the racial attitudes of the day — “to smoke the peace pipe and bury his tomahawk for all time” if they would let him come to work there. “My father was a very intelligent man,” Ted George said. “He under-
KITSAP SAILOR RECEIVES MEDAL OF HONOR
stood the prejudices of the time.” Bennie George, who also served for 40 years as chairman of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, was promptly hired and issued badge number 17. Ted George said Bennie was proud of his early “plank holder” status during his 32-year career as a pipefitter at Keyport.
By JUDY DRISCOLL
Poulsbo Historical Society
30,000 miles rowing His new job at Keyport was some distance from his home in Port Gamble and, in those days, such a commute would have been a major journey, according the account in “Torpedo Town, U.S.A.” So, he and his wife, Martha — a descendent of Chief Seattle — moved to Suquamish where Bennie built a cabin with a tent on each side to house their growing family (Bennie and Martha had 10 children
MEMORIES OF PEARL HARBOR
USS Nevada (BB-36) beached and burning at 9:25 a.m. on Dec. 7, 1941 after being hit by Japanese bombs and torpedoes. Donald K. Ross, below, fought to save her. U.S. Navy photos
See GEORGE, Page 11
D
onald K. Ross (1910-1992) was the first Kitsap man to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II. On Dec. 7, 1941, blinded and choked by smoke, he singlehandedly kept the dynamos running so that the USS Nevada (BB-36) could be moved to safety. He retired
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with the rank of Navy captain. Capt. Ross’s wife, Helen, coauthored “Nipsic to Nimitz,” the history of Puget Sound Navy Station. The Rosses coauthored “Washington State Men of Valor.” In 1997, the guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) was named in his honor.
“What were you doing on Dec. 7, 1941?” For those older than 80, the question is comparable to asking those older than 60, “What were you doing the day Kennedy was shot?”; or those older than 10, “What were you doing on 9/11?” It was, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “A date that will live in infamy.” Muriel Williams remembers it perhaps better than most. She was there. Her husband Cliff was stationed on a tug at Pearl Harbor, and she and her sons Clifford (age 5) and Jon (1 year) were living See MEMORIES, Page 2
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