This month is the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor and I would like to share a World War II Red Cross Story that involves my Mom. It includes cities that are now in the Central California Region, and also highlights AAA partnership with Red Cross.
My Mom passed away in 2004 and I was recently going through a file and found the card and letter among her important papers (birth certificate, passport, etc.), so evidently it was something that was very dear to her. The picture came from her picture album.
My mother Audrey grew up in San Francisco, her parents had married soon after experiencing the 1906 Earthquake. When World War II began, my mother, Audrey Stewart was finishing her Master’s Degree in Education at Stanford University in Palo Alto. Men were heading off to war and many schools were in need of teachers. Audrey was immediately recruited to be a teacher in Santa Maria.
In February 1942, Audrey became a driver for the Santa Maria Red Cross (now Red Cross of the Pacific Coast. I believe most of her duties were taking Plane Spotters to their locations along the coastal hills. For those of us who grew up on the west coast, our parents would tell us that after Pearl Harbor, there was a real fear that the Japanese might invade cities along the coast. Volunteers manned observation posts along the coast with the purpose of identifying enemy aircraft in time to prevent future attacks.
Interestingly, I attended a Ready, Set, Respond! Disaster Preparedness Program at the AAA offices in 2013 in Fresno. I was one of the attendees that later became a volunteer!
Hilary Swartz
Red Cross Volunteer
Hilary is a volunteer for Red Cross of the Central Valley, teaching lifesaving CPR/First Aid courses and providing relief as a disaster responder.
Since our local chapters were chartered in 1917, the Red Cross has been here for the last 100 years when people in Central California needed us most. Your Red Cross story of the past can be a part of our centennial celebration. Do you have your own Red Cross story to share? Click here to submit it directly online! 
Red Cross Central California Blog 