Then and Now: Memorial Day 1942

Mon., April 21, 2025

1942: A mock-up of a naval ship, built by the Brig and Fo’c’s’le Club, cruises slowly down Riverside Avenue during the Memorial Day Parade on a truck chassis and emblazoned to read “Remember Pearl Harbor.” The float would be used as a platform for the induction of a dozen or more new sailors in Spokane a few weeks later, part of a nationwide recruiting effort called “Avengers of Pearl Harbor.” The vehicle was rolled in front of the Ensign Monahan statue on Monroe Street in early June and the new recruits clambered aboard to take their oath to serve in the Navy. The event was six months to the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. (SPOKESMAN-REVIEW PHOTO ARCHIVES)

By Jesse Tinsley jesset@spokesman.com (509) 459-5378

Friendships forged in military service have often led veterans to form fraternal groups. Two national examples are the Veterans of Foreign Wars, formed in 1898 for the veterans of the Spanish-American War, and the American Legion, formed in 1919 for the veterans returning from World War I.

Starting locally in Spokane in 1931, former U.S. Navy sailors formed the Brig and Fo’c’s’le Cub. Brig was the term for a shipboard jail, while fo’c’s’le was the abbreviation of forecastle, which was the space below a ship’s bow. The club, like many other fraternal groups, served as a private bar with cheap drinks and gambling via slot machines. Most members were also part of the American Legion and VFW posts. The clubhouse was at 219 W. Riverside Ave.

Although the club started in Spokane, unit organizers hoped it would spread to other cities, though no evidence shows it did.

These groups also helped recruit new members into their favorite branch of service

Part of their recruiting effort was to build a parade float around 1934 that resembled a Navy ship mounted on a truck chassis. Though its top speed was only about 30 miles per hour, it became a regular sight in area parades as far away as Moscow, Idaho, and Ephrata, Washington.

In 1937, neighbors in north Spokane complained that the club’s float, kept at the home of George F. Wilson at 2001 W. Boone Ave., was a nuisance because small boys liked to “play sailor” on the boat and it kept the neighbors awake. A petition for its removal was presented to the City Council.

On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese military attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing more than 2,400 Americans and heavily damaging major ships and the airfields there. The attempt to keep America out of the war in the Pacific spurred outrage and many went to their local recruiting offices and volunteer in the following days.

Navy posters emblazoned with “Avenge Pearl Harbor!” drew young men to enlist. With a goal to induct as many as possible on the sixth -month anniversary of the attack, the 12,326 new inductees, including 15 from Spokane, were sworn in and called “Avengers of Pearl Harbor.”

The club’s “battle wagon” was used to sell war bonds and continued to be used in parades into the 1950s.