Pearl Harbor

On this date in 1941, young men were inspired by a sense of patriotism to join the Armed Forces when the Empire of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Twenty one ships and nearly two hundred aircraft were damaged or destroyed. 2,335 servicemen were killed and another 1,143 were wounded. Sixty eight civilians lost their lives.

Among those inspired to defend his country and family was Clarence “Raymond” Stephenson of Ironton, Ohio. He was working in the circulation department of the Ironton Tribune on December 7, 1941, when he heard the paper’s editor call out, “God help us.” The newspaper staff gathered around the newswire as these words were delivered, “At 7:55 a.m. this morning at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the Empire of Japan delivered a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet.”

Raymond enlisted in the Army Air Corps, where he distinguished himself in the service of his country. When World War II ended, more than 400,000 Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines had been added to the list of those who perished at Pearl Harbor. Among the casualties was the young man from Ironton, a highly decorated B-17 pilot, who died in a fiery crash on September 6, 1944. The date was his young bride Helen’s 19th birthday and their first wedding anniversary. Just six weeks before his death, Helen, living in the Hell’s Kitchen tenement in which she was raised by poor, Irish immigrant parents, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Ann Marie.

Raymond, the others who perished, and the families they left behind, sacrificed more than any generation of Americans. They must never be forgotten.