An Official Employee Publication From the Office of University Relations

A KU professor of history shares entries from the diary his mother kept after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

By Mary Jane Dunlap

On Dec. 7, Lloyd Sponholtz set aside his scheduled lecture for his history of business class.

Instead, he offered his students glimpses of Dec. 7, 1941, from a diary his mother, Edna, began writing on that day. Lloyd Sponholtz was almost 5 years old and remembers little of the day, except his parents’ very serious expressions as they listened to the radio in their Chicago home.

That day his mother wrote:
Dear Lloyd, because you are much too young to understand the terrible tragedy which has befallen us today, I hope to keep this diary for you. When you are old enough to study history in school it will help you to understand our reaction to the historical events happening each day and how these events may shape our way of life in the future. May our heavenly father hold his protecting arm over all of us, military and civilian, and in his mercy, grant us victory. Lovingly, Mother.

Sponholtz said he has since used the diary many times in classes, offering his students a perspective of the early war years from the homefront. His mother’s entries were not daily, but they continued through 1943.

Her 1942 entries include comments on the war’s progress in Europe and in Asia, as well as comments about domestic life. His mother mentions rationing gasoline, coffee and sugar, for example.

Sponholtz’s memories of the war include his father’s appointment as block captain in their neighborhood as well as blackouts — hanging dark curtains to block lights in homes and businesses at night.

Another memory is of passing a pile of donated rubber items with his sister. Rubber was a commodity no longer available because of the war, so young Sponholtz considered contributing his toy rubber truck.

“I thought about it, but I just couldn’t do it when the time came,” Sponholtz said. His sister, however, rose to the occasion and patriotically pulled the toy from Sponholtz’s clutch, tossing the truck into the pile. He long ago forgave his sister’s impulsive good deed, Sponholtz recalled with a laugh.

Sponholtz doesn’t remember when his mother gave him the diary — only that it has been a teaching tool and link to his past for many years. His mother died in 1989.

His mother’s entry for Christmas 1941 reflects sentiments that some of his students today find similar to their own feelings about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Sponholtz said.

Edna Sponholtz wrote:
Exactly two weeks have elapsed since last I wrote you. Christmas has come and gone, but the holiday spirit was dampened very much by world conditions, especially our entrance into this dreadful war. It was very apparent in every side all faces are very grave. Just where is this peace which the Christ-child brought to the world on Christmas Eve? Practically the entire world are at each other’s throats. What has happened to Christianity and our “so-called” civilization? New Year’s Day has been designated by our president as a day of prayer. If America as a nation will humble themselves in deep contrition and repentance before all-mighty God, he will hear our prayers and be merciful unto us.

Within months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Edna Sponholtz began to question how the attack could have occurred. Lloyd Sponholtz noted that her questions were similar to those many Americans asked following Sept. 11, 2001.

In spring 1942, his mother wrote:
How could this occur? What’s the matter with our officials? The world was at war, essentially, except for us. Why were we not alert?

After the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, a graduate student asked Sponholtz what he would suggest the student preserve for his children to remember. Sponholtz said he remembered his mother’s diary and told the student that recording daily thoughts and reactions would provide a unique historical perspective for the next generation.