Remembering Pearl Harbor: A Look Back At Huntington's Response

The old Huntington Theater, which once stood where The Paramount is today, was where life-long Greenlawn resident William Wieck was when he learned the news of the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941.

By Connor Beach
cbeach@longislandergroup.com

On today’s date in 1941, just before 8 a.m., Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. That Sunday morning, more than 2,400 American military personnel and civilians were killed. The next day, Congress declared war on Japan, a move that thrust the U.S. into World War II.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy” as the shock of a direct attack by a foreign military on American soil was felt in cities and towns across the country, including Huntington.

William Wieck, 84, a life-long Greenlawn resident who was 8 years old at the time of the attack, recalled Tuesday how the people of Huntington reacted to the news. He learned for himself while at the old Huntington Theater, which stood where The Paramount is today.

“As was customary, the curtains went up and we all stood to say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing our national anthem,” Wieck said.

But, that day, something different happened. The crowd sat down and the curtains opened, but surprisingly the manager of the theater came out to make an announcement.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am sorry to announce that we have been attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy in Pearl Harbor,” Wieck recalled.

After an hour filled with tears and confusion, the show went on, Wieck said. He later listened to Roosevelt’s speech on the radio and went on to serve as a U.S. Army military policeman from 1953-1955.

The Dec. 11, 1941 issue of The Long-Islander captures the confusion felt by Huntington residents in the days following the attack.

On the following Wednesday, two air alarms sounded as a test. Concerned residents made so many calls inquiring about the sirens that defense workers were unable to get their calls through, a report shows.

Another report states that, in response to a directive from the FBI, Lloyd Harbor police picked up and brought two Japanese residents to New York “as they had failed to abide by the alien registration law and register.”

The confusion and sense of shock after the attack was quickly replaced by feelings of patriotism as the call to action rang across the country.

Mort Roberts, 91, an East Northport resident for the past 60 years, was living in Brooklyn in 1941 and said he knew immediately he wanted to help defend the country.

Mort Roberts, who has lived in East Northport for the past 60 years, joined the call to arms with the U.S. Navy in 1944 where he served as a turret gunner in a TBM avenger airplane.

He wasn’t alone.

“I remember all my friends in high school, we wanted to get in and see what we could do,” Roberts said Tuesday.

Roberts completed high school in three years and, at age 17, joined the Navy in 1944. He served for five years as a turret gunner on a TBM avenger airplane tasked with hunting down submarines.

Looking back on the attack 67 years later, Roberts said, “I’m still behind the country; I love this country, and I think there is no other place like it.”