Santa Barbara historian Neal Graffy will discuss the 1942 Japanese submarine attack on the Ellwood Oil Field during a talk Saturday before the Santa Barbara Genealogical Society.
SANTA BARBARA — Santa Barbara historian Neal Graffy will give a World War II-related talk to the Santa Barbara County Genealogical Society Saturday during its first in-person meeting in two years.
The meeting will take place at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Barbara, 21 E. Constance Ave. It will also be available via Zoom. For the Zoom presentation, register at sbgen.org.
The meeting will include special interest groups at 9:30 a.m. (in-person only), followed by a brief business meeting at 10:30 a.m. The society is meeting to approve next year’s budget and elect board members.
Mr. Graffy’s presentation will start at 11 a.m. He is discussing “They Came, They Saw, They Shelled.”
He will talk about Feb. 23, 1942. At 7:15 p.m. that day, a Japanese submarine sitting off the coast shelled the Ellwood Oil Field near Goleta. It fired 25 shells and caused minimal damage, but that was enough to create panic up and down the California coast.
— Dave Mason
