Roscoe Reports: 1942 Battle of Los Angeles

TODAY IN HISTORY

February 24, 1942

On the night of February 24, 1942 unidentified objects caused a succession of alerts in southern California. A warning issued by naval intelligence indicated that an attack could be expected within the next ten hours. That evening a large number of flares and blinking lights were reported from the vicinity of defense plants. Air raid sirens sounded throughout Los Angeles County. At 3:16 am the 37th Coast Artillery Brigade began firing .50 caliber machine guns and 12.8-pound anti-aircraft shells into the air at reported aircraft; over 1,400 shells would eventually be fired. The artillery fire continued sporadically until 4:14 am. The "all clear" was sounded and the blackout order lifted at 7:21 am. Several buildings and vehicles were damaged by shell fragments, and five civilians died as an indirect result of the anti-aircraft fire: three killed in car accidents in the ensuing chaos and two of heart attacks attributed to the stress of the hour-long action.

The incident, now referred to as the Battle of L.A., occurred less than three months after the Pearl Harbor attack and two days after a Japanese submarine shelled an oil facility near Santa Barbara. At the end of the war, the Japanese stated that they did not send planes over the area at the time of this alert. Balloons known to have been released over Los Angeles may have caused the initial alarm. After the firing started, careful observation was difficult because of drifting smoke from shell bursts. Reporter Ernie Pyle witnessed the shooting and wrote that he was never able to make out an airplane. There are many stories in newspapers of the time with witnesses stating seeing airplanes, balloons, lights, and large unknown objects floating in the sky. The entire country was on edge at the time and within hours of the end of the air raid, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox held a press conference, saying the entire incident was a false alarm due to anxiety and "war nerves."

What do you think? UFO Government cover-up or war hysteria?

UFO over Los Angeles 1942 - The Witnesses

Battle Of Los Angeles Original Radio Broadcast February 26, 1942

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