PEARL HARBOR DAY: Locals among servicemen killed in Japanese attack

SHENANDOAH – About two weeks after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, news reached town that one of our own perished.

Private Walter H. Wardigo, 22, of 151 1/2 West Washington Street, was Shenandoah’s first war casualty as the United States was thrust into the two-year-old World War II.

According to the Shenandoah Evening Herald at the time, Wardigo, son of James and Catherine Wardigo, was stationed at Hickam Field, a U.S. Army airfield adjacent to the Pearl Harbor naval base. He served with the 18th Air Base Squadron and had been in Hawaii for two years.

On Dec. 20, 1941, Wardigo’s photo was on the front page after he had been reported missing and feared dead.

“Almost two weeks have passed since the tragic enemy assault with no trace being found of Private Wardigo,” the Herald reported.

Confirmation came to town shortly after. On Dec. 22, the Herald reported that the Wardigo family had received a telegram the day prior confirming Wardigo’s death.

He was a graduate of St. Casimir’s Parochial School and had been involved in the Civilian Conservation Corps before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps.

He was among at least 11 Pennsylvanians killed in the Japanese surprise attack, including another local whose memory lives on through the annual Shenandoah Valley v. Mahanoy Area football game.

Private Jerome J. Szematowicz, 21, was the first confirmed casualty from northern Schuylkill County.

The Mahanoy City man served in the 22nd Material Squadron at Hickam Field.

A 1938 Mahanoy City High School graduate, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps shortly after graduation, according to the Mahanoy Area Historical Society.

News reached Mahanoy City of his death on the front page of the Mahanoy City Record-American on Dec. 10, 1941. The paper reported that he had been stationed at Hawaii for 20 months.

On Dec. 11, the Record-American published several letters he had sent home from Hickam Field discussing his interest in radio, among other things.

Among other casualties in the attack, Peter Wargo, Jr., of Vulcan, was wounded, the Record-American reported at the time.