December 7, 1941, Japanese warplanes attacked Pearl Harbor and sank or damaged 18 naval vessels (including eight battleships) and destroyed 188 planes, and killed over 2,000. World War II began.
A local Clifton Forge man, Francis Ray Baer, a Clifton Forge resident and a graduate of Clifton Forge High School, in 1936, survived the Pearl Harbor Attack.
F. Ray Baer was in the list of personnel attached to VP-22 between July 1, 1939, and Jan 10, 1942 and was stationed in Norfolk, VA. He was in Navy Patrol Squadron 22. He served in the Navy 20 years.
After Naval retirement, he worked in the Norfolk Post Office, then in Supply Department at the Naval Air Station Norfolk. He then worked in A/C Mechanics, A/C Metal Smith, Inventory Management Specialist GS-9, and was promoted to GS-11. His military and civilian service totaled 35 years.
He was a member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and at its 60th year anniversary received a letter from George Bush thanking him for his military service. It is on display as well as the copy of a letter from Dwight D. Eisenhower addressed to the men and women of the Allied Expeditionary Force, dated May 1945, and an hour by hour timeline of the Pearl Harbor event.
Memorabilia can be viewed in the display cabinet – Baer’s Pearl Harbor Survivors Association garrison cap and jacket, framed burial flag and badges, and on top of the cabinet is a binder of various military papers that can be perused by the public.
Also on display are color photographs of Clifton Forge High School reunions and newspaper articles featuring 50th, 52nd, and 54th reunions for 1935 – 1936 classes