The 1941 Willamette University Bearcats football team traveled to Hawaii to play a series of games with Hawaii, called the Shrine Bowl. The first game was on Dec 6. The next morning, while they were at a hotel very near the Harbor, the bombing started.
Their coach and some military personnel came by and began a crash course on military training for the football players. They were each issued WWI era bolt-action rifles and bayonets. They were quickly instructed how to handle the weapons and then tasked with digging trenches and laying barbed wire on Waikiki beach, since a full-scale Japanese invasion was expected (but of course did not materialize). They worked in shifts around the clock.
12 days later they were able to catch a ride on an overloaded cruise ship back to the mainland, a ship ferrying the severely injured and under constant threat of attack by Japanese subs.
One recalled "As we got closer to San Francisco we could get radio, and we heard of ships being sunk by the Japanese subs. On that last night into port, I don't think any of us slept."
Almost the entire team immediately enlisted in the service. One was killed in battle.
Their coach and some military personnel came by and began a crash course on military training for the football players. They were each issued WWI era bolt-action rifles and bayonets. They were quickly instructed how to handle the weapons and then tasked with digging trenches and laying barbed wire on Waikiki beach, since a full-scale Japanese invasion was expected (but of course did not materialize). They worked in shifts around the clock.
12 days later they were able to catch a ride on an overloaded cruise ship back to the mainland, a ship ferrying the severely injured and under constant threat of attack by Japanese subs.
One recalled "As we got closer to San Francisco we could get radio, and we heard of ships being sunk by the Japanese subs. On that last night into port, I don't think any of us slept."
Almost the entire team immediately enlisted in the service. One was killed in battle.
When Willamette went to war
After losing only to Idaho, the Bearcats were looking forward to a trip to Hawaii. Willamette and San Jose were to play a series of games with Hawaii called the Shrine Bowl. And then the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
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