Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 plunged the United States into war just as the holiday season was getting into full swing and there was little organized response to the influx of soldiers visiting Olympia on leave. A number of people invited them into their homes for a holiday meal.
West Olympia has been home to many people with a vision for prosperity both in mind and body. John Riley Chaplin was one whose keen eye saw a town budding and wanted to influence that growth from the schoolhouse door to the neighborhood front door.