| Morning, December 7, 1941, Japanese carriers are | | | | found the United States with only a handful of trained |
| steaming close to Pearl Harbor and the Philippines | | | | meteorologists. Many of these were serving in the U.S. |
| behind a curtain of rain and clouds that mask their | | | | Weather Bureau. Others were just completing courses |
| movements until the last possible minute. Several times | | | | at colleges. But many future weathermen scarcely |
| after Pearl Harbor Japanese naval forces attempted | | | | knew a thermometer from a barometer-and never |
| to hide their advance under clouds and storm fronts. | | | | expected to. Even so, the Weather Service was in the |
| But their earlier luck did not hold. Twice the clouds lifted, | | | | war from the very first. Five weathermen were killed |
| leaving the Nipponese navy exposed-an excellent | | | | during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and |
| target for American fighters and bombers. | | | | fifteen others were either killed or captured on Bataan |
| On the Allied side, it was three weathermen who had | | | | or Corregidor. Up until four years before Pearl Harbor |
| the final word with General Eisenhower before he | | | | the few meteorologists in the army were a part of the |
| gave the go-ahead signal for the Normandy invasion. In | | | | Signal Corps. Then, in 1937, the Weather Service, |
| fact, it was on the advice of meteorologists that the | | | | consisting of a small group of officers and men, was |
| invasion was postponed twenty-four "hours after its | | | | transferred to the Air Forces. |
| original schedule because of a storm front moving | | | | By the time the war ended, that small group of "mets" |
| eastward across the Channel. In connection with earlier | | | | had multiplied its numbers by 10,000 percent. Its motto, |
| North African and Italian campaigns, weathermen | | | | Coelum ad proelium elige, meaning, "choose the |
| helped plan the bombing missions that destroyed oil | | | | weather for action," had been put into practice |
| refineries and other military installations within range of | | | | countless times. Generals with stars on their shoulders |
| the bases wrested from the Germans in that area. | | | | looked to weathermen wearing eagles, leaves, bars |
| Everywhere, on all battlefronts and at isolated stations | | | | and even chevrons, for the final go-ahead signal for |
| far away from the fighting zones, weathermen kept | | | | action. Ultimately set up as the first worldwide outfit of |
| the Allied forces marching, flying, sailing and shooting on | | | | its kind in history, the AAF Weather Service maintained |
| the road to victory. | | | | dual headquarters. Broad policies of the Service were |
| To begin at the beginning, the outbreak of the war | | | | shaped at the Weather Division in Washington, D. C. |
