by Pete Zizka
8-26-2021
Seventy-six years ago today, the battleship USS Missouri steamed into Sagami Bay, Japan and several Japanese diplomats were ushered aboard to receive instructions on how the upcoming surrender ceremony on September 2 was to take place. Willimantic, although thousands of miles from the war, was, like every other American town, impacted by it. Several local residents wrote, in an online forum, about their wartime experiences in Willimantic. Among the most vivid recollections were those of the need for security. “I was 6 years old when WWII ended. But I do remember local air raid wardens having drills at night to ensure everyone pull their shades or turn off their lights.” As early as March, 1942, the chief air raid Warden in Willimantic, Napoleon Bortolon, announced that there would be a school for air raid wardens and first aid work. At the same time, Police Chief Grant Bombria said there was a need for auxiliary policemen and for members of the Demolition Crew of the Windham Defense Council. In November, 1942 an evening “surprise air raid practice” was conducted by state officials in “the Willimantic warning district”. It was pronounced a success in most of the towns involved. In early 1942, DeWitt Lockman, a New York artist, built an underground air raid shelter in Windham Center. It was believed to have been the first of its kind in the United States for use by civilians. Designed to withstand the impact of a 600 pound demolition bomb, the shelter was designed to hold between 50-100 persons. At the time, Windham’s First Selectman, William A Buck, said that Windham Center was very fortunate to be provided with a shelter “which can house all those within 10 minutes walking distance of it”. Windham villagers at the time found it hard to believe that someone would spend $13,000 on a structure just to protect other people. But Lockman said his family had Windham Center connections since 1690 and so he wanted to do something. Many Forum contributors said they had relatives who were part of the “Sky Watch” program which was rapidly put in place as part of the larger Civilian Defense Program in Connecticut right after Pearl Harbor and included plane spotters, wardens, auxiliary police and firefighters, rescue squads, decontamination squads, auxiliary ambulances and messengers. Connecticut's then-Governor, Robert Hurley, was a huge supporter of the Civilian Defense program. As far as “Sky Watch”, one person said, “My brother was associated with the Civilian Air Patrol. He attended classes where they gave him cards with silhouettes of enemy aircraft and friendly aircraft. I thought that was pretty cool. He was always checking the skies and would know exactly what was flying overhead -- and there were a lot of planes flying over the Willimantic-Mansfield area. When we had night air raids my brother would drive around Conantville on his bike and check to see that all houses were in total blackout. If he saw light he'd alert the homeowner to knock it off. He wore a helmet, and carried a filtered flashlight. It gave him credibility. The mill whistle blasted the air raid alert and sounded again for the all clear. Schools conducted air raid drills which were pretty normal at the time. We'd leave the building and proceed to a ‘safe zone.’” Horace Smith tells us, “ During World War Two more than a million civilian volunteers searched for enemy planes over the airspace of the United States as members of the Ground Observer Corps. There were plane spotters at UConn, Hebron, Lebanon, and Norwich (as well as Willimantic). the Ground Observer Corps post was at the Willimantic Armory until 1957 when it was reactivated "on top of the Rupert Brewing plant on West Main Street". Today’s photo , courtesy of Kathy LaFontaine Incandella, shows Gilbert LaFontaine in front of a pile of tires collected in the city as part of the nation’s June, 1942 rubber drive.
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