Saratoga News file photograph
Battery B, 31st Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, made use of the Foothill Clubhouse as battery headquarters in 1941.
Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, was bright and sunny in Saratoga. At the Federated Church, the congregation gathered after the morning service for groundbreaking ceremonies for the first addition to the Julia Morgan-designed edifice. Then they went home to learn that the United States was being plunged into a shooting war.
Three days later, the war was literally brought home with the arrival in town of Battery B, 31st Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, recently of Fort Ord. There may have been some people here who had prior knowledge of this event, but for most of us, it was just part of an unfolding pattern of blackouts, speculation about the possibility of bombers reaching the coast and the anxious awaiting of the next war news.
But there was a human dimension here that transcended the awesome concept of military occupation. For one thing, it wasn't occupation in the sense of subjugation. Battery B, and A and C Batteries encamped up toward the summit past Congress Springs and down Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road, respectively, had as their mission the defense of Mills Field--now San Francisco International Airport--and Moffett Field. As described by the late Maurice H. Cazel, a retired Army major who was with the unit as a private first-class in 1941, the battalion had 155-millimeter howitzers which were to be placed along Skyline Boulevard, where they could fire down on any attackers. Meanwhile, the crews themselves were bivouacked in places like Saratoga.
So here were about 125 young men, citizen-soldiers who had left their hometowns and families and now were in a village that was singularly lacking in the kind of pursuits usually associated with servicemen looking for a good time. For starters, recreation wasn't the initial concern. Dec. 7 had been clear and sunny, but a few days later the rains came with a vengeance. This was right about the time the troops were getting settled in their pup tents in Wildwood Park and on the old Blossom Festival grounds by the creek along Saratoga Avenue. The creek rose, and the rest can be imagined. That's how most of the troops wound up quartered in Kane's Hall, a public gathering place on what was then the second floor of the blacksmith shop, now the Dolce Vita restaurant on Big Basin Way. There was also some military use made of the Foothill Clubhouse, although I'm not sure how much this extended beyond being battery headquarters.
It is significant, I think, that there was a concerted effort on the part of some townspeople to make the troops feel as home as was possible under the circumstances. According to Carolyn Hayes, of Orchard Road, there was a committee of about a dozen women who saw to it that cakes were baked, coffee was served and the use of showers in homes was offered to the men. She said her husband, Charles, made his extensive home workshop available to the men, and they turned out a steady stream of items useful to the Red Cross and other agencies.
It wasn't recreation in the usual sense, but one of the main activities for B Battery was going on hikes, or forced marches, according to Cazel and retired Lt. Col. Joseph J. Speciale of San Jose. As veterans of B Battery, they were interviewed for the record 10 years ago. The men would be taken on five- and 10-mile hikes in full field dress, which meant packs, gas masks, helmets and weapons. In Saratoga, we got used to seeing them doing guard duty--in full field dress--along Big Basin Way. In that sense it did seem like a military occupation. What we didn't know, though, was that they had no ammunition for their rifles. Speciale said there was a box of cartridges in a drawer in the orderly room, but the weapons themselves were strictly for drill.
In a future article, I'll describe some of the other aspects of this "invasion" and of the war generally as it affected Saratoga.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 20, 1996.
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