California Historic Route 66 Association

Keepsake vol Two

UNSUNG HEROES

UNSUNG HEROES
By: John Swisher

R E D A L E R T.... Enemy aircraft are over Victor Valley!
Fortunately, no such call was ever made. Had it been, 1941 locals
were in intense training preparing to proteet their own. Many
valley citizens took crash courses studying silhouettes of enemy
and friendly planes in order to recognize both. All airships
overhead were reported immediately to the Fourth Interceptor
Command at Riverside's March Field. Hill tops, wooden towers and
strategically placed forest service trailers were largely manned
by civilians, men and women patriotically watching newly troubled
desert skies. During all seasons with every hour covered, these
unpaid volunteers willingly stood long, thankless duty watches
armed with a telephone and perhaps borrowed binoculars.

Nine days before Pearl Harbor's sneak attack, San Bernardino
County had 8OO ground observation corps personnel in training.
All prepared for three days in the field, army conducted
maneuvers. The sky warning system was formed to alert armed
forces intelligence centers of enemy aircraft movements in order
to save life and adopt defensive measures. Some desert volunteer
groups were active, however, Helendale, Adelanto, Apple Valley,
Hesperia and Phelan displayed signs of needing leadership.

On the night of December 7, 1941, the day Japan bombed Hawaii
killing or wounding 3,681 Americans, all the Southland was
ordered blacked out. Victor Valley's Company of California State
Guards, led by Captain, later Major, Ray H. Seals, notified
everyone including motorists to douse all lights. Sixty minutes
passed before traffic on busy route 66 had been stopped and the
desert could be cloaked in darkness. This first local war
experience lasted three hours. The  Victorville vicinity black
out signal was one - two, minute undulating wail from the fire
department's siren accompanied by a similar outcry from steam
engine whistles in Santa Fe's train yard. The all clear signal
was a steady squeal from only thc fire station's siren.

Prior to the war, unpaid state militia men of all ages enlisted
for home guard duties. Uniforms were yet to be supplied and only
a few state owned, 1916 Royal Enfield rifles and bayonets,
including one clip of five bullets, had been issued. Privately
owned arms were plentiful and parts of Victor Valley took on a
Minute Man look copying scenes from the 1770's.

Re-oiling and scraping rust from weapons not cleaned in years
became popular. Captain Seals, de-moth balled his World War
service pistol and was seldom without it during this fresh call
to arms.

Shy of men, state guard units struggled to fill needed work
requirements that began on December 8. Railroad bridges, The
Narrows and GAFBF all demanded immediate attention.

Russell Z. Smith, county chairman of the air warning service,
named Thomas Helland, Adelanto; Judge W.E. Robinson, Oro Grande;
C.H. Godshall, Apple Valley; Orlando Jacobs, Lucerne Valley; and
George Wondra, Victorville to supervisory tasks. Hesperia and
Phelan still weren't being heard from.

Women rushed to help as they could. One totally feminine effort
was made when Miss Ada Henry and Mrs. Paul DeWitt of
Victorville's Woman's  Ambulance Corps, commandeered parts of the
Charles Tire shop to receive donated, used bed sheets which were
turned into life giving bandages.

Early in the war, counties supplied the Ways and Means for
listening posts. The state soon took over this task under federal
guidance. J.L. More, a "D" street druggist, was put in charge of
the Valley's air raid warning system. "Doc" More initiated
changes locally giving A.D. Frye, the water district night
watchman, the 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. lookout shift. Others filled
in between and around those hours.

Fifty four Victorville volunteers received new, prepared two
weeks ahead assignments for two or more hours with men on nights
and the ladies, days. Senior Air Raid Wardens, not watchers, were
Lena Powell, Oro Grande; Fred Kretlow, Adelanto; A.C. Ewing
Lucerne Valley and Al Mendel for Apple Valley. While no wardens
are listed for Hesperia or Phelan, Victorville had five; Imogene
Hooks, Helen Turner, Helen Penn, plus Billie and R. F. Rosso.

A front page story appearing in Cliff Moon's Victor Valley News
Herald on May 22, 1942, honored civil defense workers by
reporting "They wear no uniforms. They probably will not march in
a parade, nor is it likely that their pictures will ever appear
in the society pages of the daily news papers. But to these
unsung and unhonored "heroes" of our war emergency, millions of
other Californians should daily give praise." Moon was writing
about the citizens of the Ground Observation Corps, people
devoting their spare time that the state not suffer the fate of
Pearl Harbor as a result of a surprise Japanese attack. Army
circles reported the efforts of civilian watch posts to have
saved the armed forces from having to make large increases in
aircraft patrols over the Pacific coastline, men and planes being
vitally needed elsewhere.

The water district night watchman idea proved faulty and within
months, Victorville's Lions Club, a service organization, voted
to partly sponsor the community's observation center. Lions
sought doing the night operations by assigning members or raising
funds to hire a custodian. County and state defense officials
preferred volunteer workers and the Lions proposal faded away.

Headlines in the victor Valley News Herald of October 8, 1943
revealed civilian aircraft watching posts were being eliminated
as a man power conservation measure. Instead of full time
deployment, posts would be serviced several hours weekly to keep
the organization together. Two weeks later, E.J. Burger,
assistant director for San Bernadino aircraft observation
services, at a Green Spot luncheon, reported on the status of
Victor Valley's listening/seeing posts. He said no observers were
on duty but everyone was subject to being called back as needed.
Burger warned the war wasn't over and a Japanese air attack on
the west coast was a possibility. "V.J. Day", it turned out, was
still one year and ten months away.

The following tales, censurable if told in war time, come from a
few of the many who five decades ago served here both
courageously and honorably.

Evelyn Powell, 88, on duty atop Victorville Hill, saw a weird
looking air ship silently zeroing in on her post. She quickly
reported her sighting learning afterwards her attacker had been a
lost army training glider from Twenty Nine Palms flown by a very
confused student pilot.

Brothers Dick and George Garrison took stints as spotters near
where the Victorville Hospital and water tank now stand. An
unnamed but very busy dirt road some called "Lover's Lane" passed
near the watchers post which was supplied with a shack furnished
with two chairs, a table and one telephone.

Jack Seals, 68 retired GAFB fire chief whose father commanded the
local state militia, as a teenager "spotted" at the Victorville
site as well. He joked should enemy planes pass over, he'd knock
'em down with rock throwing, there being no other weaponry in the
vicinity.

Winnie Jess Simpson, an Apple Valley Jess Ranch child then, calls
to mind her mother Winifred Jess and grandmother Frances Winkler
often motoring to GAFB doing volunteer defense chores. Her
father, Stoddard Jess was rebuked several times over turkey cage
lights shining brightly during some surprise black outs.

On the other side of Apple Valley, Eva Conrad thinks emergency
food supplies could have been stored in an abandoned mine shaft.
It is known civil defense items were stockpiled there during the
postwar atom bomb crisis.

A young Bob Dolch peddled his bike up "Hospital Hill" to visit
his father, Lee. Lee Dolch along with Muriel Moon Kraft, Leland
Butts, Thelma Anthony, and many others volunteered their eyes and
ears often to keep America safe. Bob often visited African-
American army troops stationed near the Rainbow Bridge, fortified
by sand bags. These out of town soldiers replaced the earlier
California Guardsman and kept tabs on the sabotage prone railroad
tracks across the desert and down Cajon Pass.

Ed Deutschmann, 81 smiles recalling Adelanto air raid warden
Kretlow breaking Loren Lutch's porch light during one black out.
Lutch, elsewhere, inadvertently left the light on. According to
Ed, Lutch was "put out" as well. Returning at dusk from
Randsburg, Deutschmann was stopped on highway 395 for using auto
lights during a black out. Later, he was able to buy cloth
headlight hoods having slits which allowed some light permitting
dim out driving. Dim outs, also called brown outs, tolerated
reduced lighting for night driving but not black outs.

Mirl Orebaugh, 22 then, spied Helendale skies from an air raid
post above Charley Burden's Route 66 store. Here, a chicken coop
sized cabin with chairs, table and phone sat down the hill from a
darkened airway beacon. Orebaugh's parents were observers also.

Hodge residents Margie and Charles Van Rhyn, regularly came to
Helendale helping there on the midnight to dawn shift. Charles
recalls the post's official W.W. II name being "39 Ralph One".

Daggett historian Larry Alf watched well attended air raid warden
drills on that community's air field. He says most Daggett homes
used black out curtains and had buckets of sand handy to use in
case of an aerial bombing. Household war time fire extinguishers
were also prevalent but he says, were about effective as a toy
water pistol.

A civilian, war emergency roster of our unsung, unpaid all
weather volunteer Victor Valley patriots is now being compiled.
Little exists on these home town heroes whose deeds must not
remain untold nor they, unnamed. Anyone with data on this subject
is asked to send as they have to; John Swisher, P.O. Box 400711
Hesperia, CA. 92340 or eall. (760) 244-7621. When completed this
register will be available free by mail or at next years
Helendale Rendezvous held annually on the last Saturday of each
September.

GAFB (George Air Force Base) - Known as the Victorville Army Air
             Field (1941-1949).

John M. Swisher
1994

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