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It was a quiet Sunday morning in Williamsburg on December 7, 1941.

Then, 80 years ago, it happened.

At about 1:30 pm after lunch, the students of the College of William and Mary remembered that the news that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor in the U.S. Hawaiian Islands finally came on the radio.

"I can show you the place on the sidewalk between Barrett and Chandler (the lobby). I was coming back from the cafeteria when someone called the Pearl Harbor News!" freshman Jeanne Schoenewolf recalled.

"Who is at war and where is Pearl Harbor?" Thomas Winfield Athey yelled at the college dorm colleagues.

On that day, Annette Warren, in the class of 1942, wrote in her diary: “A terrible thing happened today. The war is coming. (College boys) are going now and are about to be killed. No one can be killed today. Learning... Since we found out, there has been no."

Most of the students mentioned here have died, but their feelings about that day were later recorded in various W&M publications.

Athey added in his narrative: "People ran around in the hall, shouting'War!' and "The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor!" "Some people started packing their bags and leaving school to join the army."

H. Wescott "Scotty" Cunningham, the junior class chairperson, said that he was "listening to (radio) announcements in his dorm room and hearing the report that the Oklahoma was sent to the bottom of Pearl Harbor."

Another student turned to him and said, "I think my two brothers are in Oklahoma."

On the second day-December 8th, heartbreaking events continued to occur. "The speakers in the restaurant are on and we are all done," junior Elizabeth Lyons wrote in her diary. "When the President started speaking, the hall became solemn and quiet.

"Everyone was sitting there with their eyes fixed on something, I guess to avoid looking at each other. It was funny-something you noticed at that time," she recalled. "After the president finished speaking, they announced the national anthem, and we all stood up. Several girls had tears on their faces. Before the national anthem ended, the speakers were cut off for a few notes, but no one moved for a minute or so."

Warren wrote in his diary on December 8, 1941: "This tragic and terrible day. Class this morning. All this must be a dream. Today's lunch-radio, presidential speech, "Stars and Stripes", I The children who have known each other for so long—seriously, frightened around the table. I can’t help it anymore; I started to cry. Everything is the same, but then it’s not. They were killed in Hawaii.”

In his freshman year, Athey's roommate in Room 220 of Monroe Hall was Graal Ukrynowski. He was in the United States with a diplomatic passport. His father was the Romanian ambassador to Sweden. Suddenly, he became a "hostile foreigner," and the State Department considered him an unwelcome person, and he was deported.

The day after the war began, Ukrynowski left the college. Athey later recalled in a university publication, "I asked him to write to me after the war, and he sadly told me that once he arrived in Europe, he could not go home alive. I never heard from him again. ."

Freshman Ruth Tillar explained, “It’s really a wonderful life”. He was a student of W&M before and after the Pearl Harbor incident. “The boys leave to attend the service every day. We are going to the train station to wave our hands-goodbye to them. "

The December 12, 1941 edition of the Virginia Gazette did not publish any local reaction stories about Pearl Harbor. The front page has two general news columns about the beginning of the war and the U.S. response to the attack. Similarly, even if there are several military bases nearby, there is no localization.

However, there is a short local story about the establishment of a National Defense Security Committee headed by a local lawyer and a Williamsburg colony official Vernon M. Geddy.

Regarding local defense operations, the Newport News Daily reported in a report in its Williamsburg branch on December 9 an appeal for volunteers to "work as local airstrike observers."

DC Renick is in charge of the local night watchman. The watchman is located in the tower of the Old Williamsburg Methodist Church in College Corner. He said that the Boy Scouts would initially be in charge of the night watchman. “However, because the students are in school, adults are required to be on duty 24 hours a day,” he said.

The "Daily News" supplement was published at 8:30 pm on December 7. There are reports that Williamsburg and other cities on the peninsula "keep calm in the face of terrible crises." ...There is no evidence of hysteria, and there is no large crowd. "

A week later, the student paper published two front-page reports on the Pearl Harbor incident. One article deals with faculty's views on the crisis of war, and the other is a statement by W&M President John Stewart Bryan (John Stewart Bryan).

"The President of the United States has eliminated all the distinction between regular army and military service. This means that in the eyes of the government, everyone is a potential soldier. This is a responsibility that everyone will accept," Brian said.

Bryan repeated the earlier remarks of Dean James W. Miller: "It is often said that we won the last war but lost the peace. This time, I wish we have the wisdom to win peace and war!"

Government professor Warner L. Moss said in response to a reporter’s question: “The longer it takes, the higher the cost, but it’s worth it.”

Grace Warren Landrum, Dean of Women’s College, said: “We must be as determined as our British cousins. I think it’s time for us to make personal sacrifices.”

English professor Jess H. Jackson talked about "the crisis-it could have been avoided. As long as you have patience, you can endure it. As long as you work together, it can be overcome."

On December 14, 1941, a civic mass meeting was held at the Williamsburg Theater to discuss how to meet the US Red Cross Emergency War Relief Fund’s quota of US$2,500 for Jamestown County. Williamsburg county and city leaders attended and presided over the discussion.

According to the "Daily News" report, under the sponsorship of the James City Chapter of the American Red Cross, the conference pledged more than $1,300, which is more than half of the target.

In early 1942, male and female students including Tillar formed a group called "Members of War Activities". In addition to climbing up the tower of the Methodist Church in College Corner to look for planes, the organization also sells war bond stamps.

"Please buy our war bond stamps and lick the other side," the bulletin reported.