US Marine Corps - The Black Vault

196 Amphibians Came To Conquer
the President’s needs,” 89and that the President should receive neither Army
nor Navy individual situation reports. This was a long step forward.
1941 JITTERS
The state of jitters in Washington among Army and Naval officers after
the Pearl Harbor attack is now hard to appreciate. On 12 December 1941, the
Director of War Plans recommended to the Chief of Naval Operations that
he inform the President in writing that
the Chief of Naval Operations expects a raid on either Puget Sound or Mare
1,~.andNavy Yard today between 9 and 11 a.m. Washington time.go
And on the previous day the Joint Intelligence Committee, being far
removed from the British cross channel weather in the winter months, had
informed the President:
Because of initial reverses received by the United States in Hawaii, the probability
that Germany may be seriously considering an early invasion of the
British Isles must be borne in mind.gl
STATE OF FEMALE MIND—DECEMBER 1941
In a letter to her sister-in-law, written the Tuesday before Pearl Harbor,
Mrs. Turner gave interesting insight as to the state of her mind at this time:
The Japanese situation looks terrible. Kelly had to stay on the phone all day
Sunday [30 November 1941 ] but wasn’t called to the office. . . . Kelly feels
fine and is still keeping up his morning walks, and it is dark when he starts
Out.sz
In Mrs. Turner’s next letter of Sunday, 7 December she wrote:
Well, war has come and though we feared it, we all hoped Japan would
not have the nerve. They phoned Kelly to come to the Department a little
before eleven. He had no idea, because he was very calm. Said he knew what
it was about and would be back before long. We were to have dinner at the
Chevy Chase Club, so I had Iet Sadie go. He phoned we were at war before
the radio broadcast it, and didn’t know when he would get home. . . .
- DWP to CNO, memorandum, 28 Jan. 1942.
mDWP to CNO, memorandum, OP-12-VDS(SC)A8-1 (A&N) of 12 Der. 1941, encl. (B).
01JIC Daily Summqt, Noon Thursday, 11 Dec. 1941.
mMrs. RKT to Miss LLT, letter, 2 Dec. 1941.