Sacramento History Photo(s) of the Week: Issue No. 22!

This promotional photo for the Bercut-Richards Cannery was taken in 1942. The model is shrouded in one of Sacramento’s most lucrative cash crops – peaches. By the time of the photo, “Orchard and Vineyard” crops were Sacramento County’s third largest agricultural money-maker at $2,119,000, behind field crops at $3,443,000 and live stock at $3,340,000. Bercut-Richards, located at Seventh and Richards, was Sacramento’s highest-profile cannery. It opened in 1928 under the dynamic management of Thomas Richards, and, as War approached, in 1942, the cannery morphed into one of the West Coast's primary military depots. Sacramento’s inland location and access to major rail lines made it safe from air attack and ideal for shipping military goods toward the Pacific Theater. What's more, by the end of the War, nearly 540 prisoners-of-war from Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps were working within the warehouses of the depot and the cannery.

This photo and many more like it can be found in the Sacramento Public Library’s Sacramento Room which is open to the public Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 1 to 5, and Thursday 1 to 8.

Book Review: Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

The story of War - its impact - is not so much about what happens during a given conflict or even after. Rather, what of life before the storm? Taken in perspective, this is where the essential tragedy of war-making lay. James Bradley's Flyboys: A True Story of Courage excels at exploring this question. 9 U.S. Naval airmen during the latter stages of the Second World War are shot down over the Japanese island of Ichi Jima, one a future President of the United States. Their fates vary, but taking one from being a soda jerk in rural Missouri to a desolate, sulphur-ladened, rock in the North Pacific makes for the thickest of ironies. Bradley tells the story well.

The author is also adept at setting the stage of the early War in terms of colonial aggression. Colonialism, back to its genesis has been the province of the white European: the English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italians, Portuguese, Germans...heck, even the Vikings and their predecessing Normans were adept imperialists. However, when it came time for Japan to step forward and acquire its piece of the colonial pie, they were met with resistance. He acknowledges the West's hypocrisy, but never comes anywhere close to becoming a Tokyo apologist. This is, however, a refreshing view of the East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere (Imperialese for Japan's occupation of East Asia), and one that this librarian's not read before. Let's just look at this as a fuller view of history and certainly nothing more.

There's a lot going on in Flyboys, but if ever one were able to take that Missouri soda jerk and place him not more than a few degrees from Hideki Tojo, Bradley does. He pulls it off.

Also take note of the closing pages of the book. The sentimentality of the books final passage will leave you with a thoughtful smile.

"Sacramento's War" is Online

Unveiled on Tuesday, the 18th of September, the Sacramento Public Library's Web page, entitled "Sacramento's War," [http://www.saclibrary.org/TheWar/sacramentoswar.htm] provides patrons with a window into the state of California's capitol city during the Second World War. Like the rest the country, the conflict caught Sacramento relatively offguard, but as it had in the past, in the face of fire, disease, and flooding, the city stepped forth and made a marked contribution to the War effort.

The site contains an essay on wartime Sacramento, a number of images from the Sacramento Room Archives and the Central branch's Federal Documents collection, a list of resources available throughout the library system on the Second World War, and a section dedicated to oral history, including the testimonials of five area WWII veterans.

"Sacramento's War" will compliment both the September 23 airing on KVIE of Ken Burns' PBS epic THE WAR and the Central Library's November 14 live interview of Sacramento native and Pearl Harbor survivor Bob Addobati. The interview will be conducted by local Oral Historian Paul Ferrell. To attend the interview, register by calling 264-2920 or go to http://www.saclibrary.org/. Sacramento holds distinction vis-a-vis THE WAR as it is one of four American cities featured in the series, along with Waterbury, Connecticut, Mobile, Alabama and Luverne, Minnesota.

Pearl Harbor: Living To Tell the Tale at Central

On July 18, 2007, in Central Library's Sacramento Room, Pearl Harbor veterans Bon Addobati and Sam Clower spoke about their experiences on that fateful day in December 1941.

At 7:55 AM on the 7th Adobatti was stationed as a sailor on the Hospital ship Solace and Clower commanded a detail that was guarding an important watershed in the Kolekole Pass. Accounts of Addobati spending two days pulling dead and wounded out of the harbor, and Clower watching the annihilation of Schofield Barracks, were given in vivid detail for the attending group of 42 persons.

After providing their accounts, each veteran was gracious enough to stay and answer a number of different questions. Both men are residents of Sacramento and are leaders of the area's chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. If you missed this engagement, they're sure to be back at Central for another talk in 2008. Check http://www.saclibrary.org/ for news on all upcoming events.