Good morning, Whitewater.
Sunday in town will be relatively mild, with a high of thirty-five and partly cloudy skies. Sunrise is 7:12 AM and sunset 4:20 PM, for 9h 08m 14s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 98.8% of its visible disk illuminated.
Friday’s FW poll asked if readers would go for peanut butter & jelly Pop Tarts. Fifty-two percent of respondents said that they would, with forty-eight percent saying no. A commenter suggested that grape jelly might be better than peanut butter & strawberry jelly. That seems right to me, too. As it turns out, Kellogg offers over a dozen kinds of Pop Tart, including some limited edition varieties, in response to market pressures.
Seventy-three years ago today, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor (and British targets simultaneously), plunging America into the Pacific war, and less than four years later leading to the destruction of the Japanese Empire.
A Wisconsinite aboard the Arizona survives the Pearl Harbor attack:
1941 – Wisconsin Man Survives Pearl Harbor Attack
On this date Russ Warriner, a 25-year-old first class seaman on the USS Arizona, miraculously survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The explosions ripped apart the Arizona and killed nearly all his mates.
At the time of the attack, Warriner was on the sky control platform, where his job was to spot enemy ships and planes. The bomb that struck the Arizona sliced through the steel deck and exploded into a fuel tank. Fire flared for seven seconds before it ignited 1.7 million pounds of explosives held in the ship’s magazine. More than 1,000 sailors died instantly, including many on the lookout platform with Warriner.
Warriner lost his balance and fell onto the platform. His hands swept through fiery magnesium remaining from incendiary bombs and were nearly burned off. He was knocked off the ship, pulled aboard a small motor boat, and eventually made his way to shore. Warriner was treated at Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois, where plastic surgeons were able to repair his hands.
Warriner settled in Wisconsin, married and raised two children. In the late 90s, Warriner was a retired piano tuner living in Beloit Township. [Source: Janesville Gazette]