World War 2 Begins - Freedom Magazine Presents The History of Clearwater Florida Part IX

Air Raid Warnings and Blackouts

When early on the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese Navy launched its air attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, a warning was immediately issued for people to stay away from Dunedin Isles Airport where a number of Roebling amphibious tanks were stored. The following day, Japanese residents of Clearwater were ordered to stay indoors and to make frequent reports to police headquarters. Armed guards were stationed at Clearwater’s gas, water and power plants as well as local facilities that filled defense contracts.

Boat owners and operators in the Clearwater area were warned by the FBI not to sell or rent their vessels to anyone and under no conditions to transport Germans or Japanese without first reporting to the Clearwater Police Department.

At the outbreak of war, defense plans for the area went into full swing, with air raid and blackout precautions begun by the Clearwater Area Defense Council.

Soon thereafter, Japanese submarines and planes were reported off San Francisco and the Aleutian Islands. Air raid sirens sounded in Clearwater on the afternoon of December 9, following unconfirmed reports of imminent attack by hostile planes that caused panic in New York City.