75 Yrs. Ago In War & Bureaucracy

THU 1 JAN 1942
General
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill sign the Joint Declaration of the United Nations; only the United States and Britain had discussed the document's creation, but ultimately representatives of 24 other nations, including the Soviet Union and China, will affix their signatures to it. There will be no separate peace agreements; the signatories pledge to fight until the Axis is defeated.

Pacific
Admiral Thomas C. Hart (Commander in Chief, Asiatic Fleet) arrives in Surabaya, Java, N.E.I.,

after his passage from Manila, P.I., in submarine Shark (SS-174).

Unarmed U.S. freighter Malama, en route from Honolulu to Manila, is bombed and sunk by floatplane from Japanese armed merchant cruiser Aikoku Maru at 26°21'N, 153°24'W. Aikoku Maru takes the 35-man crew and the 8 passengers prisoner.

Japanese army cargo ship Teiun Maru (ex-German Bremerhaven) is sunk by mine (U.S. or Japanese) off mouth of Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, 16°05'N, 120°20'E.

Japanese oiler Toen Maru is damaged by mine southwest of Hong Kong, B.C.C.

Atlantic
Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll succeeds Admiral Ernest J. King as Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet.