Japanese Attack

Herman J. Travers, a retired postal worker who survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and later received two Bronze Stars for heroism during the Battle of Peleiu, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Tuesday at Genesis Loch Raven Center. He was 89. Born in Baltimore and raised in Canton, Mr. Travers attended Patterson High School for a year before dropping out and going to work in waterfront packing houses in Fells Point and Canton to help support his family.

Vincent L. Cardinale Sr., a retired letter carrier who survived the Dec. 7, 1941, attack at Pearl Harbor and was later active in Italian-American organizations, died Feb. 3 of lung disease at his Dundalk home. He was 82. Born and raised in Little Italy, he attended St. Michael parochial school and also delivered ice and milk. One day he told his mother he was going out to buy cigarettes. He lied about his age and enlisted in the Army at age 17. He was assigned to the Schofield Barracks at Honolulu.

On the evening of Feb. 2, 1942, an unarmed tanker with 66,000 barrels of crude oil on board was steaming in the Atlantic, about 90 miles off Ocean City . Without warning, it was struck by German torpedoes. The attack set the W.L. Steed ablaze, and sank it; only a handful of the crew of 38 survived. As World War II unfolded, the Germans had moved part of their sub pack west to attack shipping along the coast. By the time the Nazis withdrew the subs in July to focus on convoys crossing the North Atlantic, they had sunk 397 ships in U.S. coastal waters.

William A. Smith, a retired intelligence officer who as a Navy ensign witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died May 2 of cancer at Bethesda Naval Medical Center. The former Baltimorean was 78.He retired in 1975 as an intelligence officer at the National Security Agency. Earlier, he had worked for the Department of Defense at the Pentagon where he began his career after World War II.Before the war, he had been a member of the Naval Reserves and was called to active duty as an ensign in 1941.

The entrance of the United States into World War II was not unexpected. But the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was stunning news. It was late afternoon on that Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, via radio when people in Harford County first heard about the deadly attack in Hawaii. There were men from Harford County stationed there at the time, and the hours and days were long indeed until those loved ones were reported alive and well. Everyone recalls exactly what he or she was doing that afternoon.

Dan Rodricks is correct in maintaining that Osama bin Laden did not receive justice through the legal system ("Bin Laden death: Call it execution, not justice," May 4). Bin Laden did, however, get justice in the sense that he got what was coming to him. No rational person can deny that bin Laden was a high-ranking enemy combatant who could be killed (not "executed") during the course of a military operation. The SEALs were not there to arrest bin Laden; at best they were there to capture him in the unlikely event such action were deemed appropriate or advisable.

From The Sun Dec. 10-16, 1845* Dec. 10: The Small Pox: It appears that the cities to the North of us are far more seriously afflicted with this disease than Baltimore is.* Dec. 15: Daring Robbery: On Tuesday evening, about dark, someone stole from the stand in front of the store door of Mrs. O'Keefe, corner of Baltimore and Harrison streets, a box of starch.* Dec. 16: A horse and milk-cart ran away in Baltimore Street yesterday afternoon, and when near Charles Street, ran against an omnibus, knocking off a tire from one of the wheels on the cart.

Ralph Williams, 80, World War II submariner Ralph Lander Williams, who served aboard submarines in the Pacific during World War II and later worked at a Baltimore printing company, died Friday of an aneurysm at Northwest Hospital Center. The Randallstown resident was 80. Known to friends as "Buck," Mr. Williams grew up in York, Pa., and volunteered to go to Pearl Harbor as a civil defense worker three months after the Japanese attack on the Navy base there in 1941. Twenty-one months later, he enlisted in the Navy and joined the submarine fleet as a diesel engine mechanic.

Gene Clark, the composer and folk singer who helped found the Byrds after performing with the New Christy Minstrels, died Friday in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Record books say he was 49, but his manager said he was 46. The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer was found unconscious about noon at his home. A physician signed a document stating the death appeared to have been from natural causes, police Sgt. Joseph Brazas said. The coroner's office said it had not received the case for investigation. The Byrds were inducted into the hall of fame in January.

It took 50 years, but Rep. Helen Delich Bentley finally got the Christmas card Marine Private William M. Smith wanted to send her Dec. 7, 1941, from Pearl Harbor.Bentley, R-2nd, was then just Helen Delich, a student at the University of Nevada in Reno. Smith, assigned to the USS Phoenix, was the brother of Delich's brother-in-law.Smith's card, postmarked the day of the Japanese attack on the Hawaii base, was held back by the ship's officers for security reasons, according to Bentley's office.