Pearl Harbor attack changed everything in Bradenton 80 years ago. ‘We are at war!’

James A. Jones Jr.
·4 min read

The stunning Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor 80 years ago brought the United States into World War II and completely changed daily life in Bradenton.

Charlie Jones, now 93, had just turned 13 and recalls coming home after attending services at Palma Sola Community Church.

“I took off my Sunday clothes, put on my play clothes and headed for the ball diamond at the Palma Sola School, now the Anna Maria Power Squadron, for a game of ball with the young men of the community. We appointed two captains and they selected their players and the softball game was on,” he said.

“We were well into the game, and I was up at bat when Bill Brand, who lived across the street, came running over, waving his arms and shouting, ‘The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor and we are at war!’” Jones said.

“I started for home, two miles away, walking and running until I reached Manatee Avenue and Palma Sola Park, then I ran the last mile,” Jones said.

When he arrived home, he saw his mother and father standing, listening to the news on the radio.

“As I entered they both turned and faced me with the saddest, most concerned looks on their faces that I had ever seen. That experience left me with a strong impression that has lasted all my life,” he said. “They were worried about what was going to happen to their boys.”

The attack left 2,403 U.S. personnel dead, 1,178 wounded, and destroyed or damaged 19 Navy ships, including eight battleships.

The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed Congress and asked for a declaration of war against the Japan.

“I was at the Ballard School at the time. We had a meeting in the school auditorium, and we listened to the president as he said that this day, Dec. 7, 1941, would go down in history as a day of infamy,” Jones said.

On Dec. 11, Japan’s allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States, and Americans found themselves at war in the Atlantic as well as the Pacific.

“In a very short while, all the young men from Palma Sola had entered the service, some at the tender age of 16. To mention a few that I remember, Harold “Pee Wee” Phelps, the Love brothers, the Felts brothers, Bob Kline, and, of course, my brother Claude, who entered the Army Air Corps. We didn’t see him again for almost 2 1/2 years,” Jones said.

Kline was one of the Palma Sola boys who at 16 fudged his age to join the Navy. Kline later served as a crew member aboard the USS Berkshire, also known as LST 288, during the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

The LST carried tanks and hundreds of troops and was also outfitted with a surgical unit. After the war, Kline returned to Bradenton and served 30 years with the West Side Fire Department. He died in 2013.

Charlie Jones’ brother, Claude, had been making a living overhauling automobile engines before the war. After he enlisted, he was assigned as an aircraft mechanic in the Pacific, and later helped bring prisoners out of China.

“We didn’t know where he was for a long time,” Jones said.

“Two and a half years after his departure, at 2 o’clock in the morning there came a knock at the back door. There was Claude. What a reunion. The family never went back to bed,” Jones said. “He was my example. He never smoked, never drank, and never used foul language.”

“There was a unifying of our nation that I never experienced before. In school we had drives for scrap metal,” Jones said of the collection of materials that were turned into war-fighting products.

When Bob Kline went off to war in early 1942, Charlie Jones took over his 18-mile Bradenton Herald newspaper delivery route.

“I bought Bob’s bike for $25 which was quite an expensive out put for a 13-year-old. I kept that route for a number of years, and it let me get to know many of my neighbors,” Jones said.

In high school, Charlie Jones set records in the 120 yard high hurdles, the 200 yard low hurdles, and the long jump, and earned a track scholarship to the University of Florida. There, he enrolled in ROTC and received a Regular Army commission as the distinguished military graduate. Jones went on to serve 23 years in the Army, including tours in Korea and Vietnam. During the Vietnam War, he served as an artillery battalion commander. He retired as a full colonel.

Charlie’s wife, Bette Jean Jones, 90, also has World War II memories. Her parents were both pilots in New Jersey, and helped train American aviators during the war. In addition, her mother flew patrols over the Atlantic looking for enemy submarines.

But the American experience during the Vietnam War was vastly different from World War II, when “everyone came together to support the war effort, and the men and women who went to war,” Jones said.

12/06/21—Charles Jones, 93, holds a photograph of himself when he was a teen in Manatee High School. He was just 13 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
12/06/21—Charles Jones, 93, holds a photograph of himself when he was a teen in Manatee High School. He was just 13 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
12/06/21—Bette Jean Jones, 90, listens as her husband, Charles, talks about his memories from 80 years ago. He was just 13 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
12/06/21—Bette Jean Jones, 90, listens as her husband, Charles, talks about his memories from 80 years ago. He was just 13 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
12/06/21—Charles Jones, 93, holds a painting made from a photograph of himself when he was a teen in Manatee High School. He was just 13 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
12/06/21—Charles Jones, 93, holds a painting made from a photograph of himself when he was a teen in Manatee High School. He was just 13 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.