By Philip R. Devlin
(December 7, 2025) — Nobody knows for sure who fired the first shot of the American Revolution when Massachusetts minutemen faced off against British soldiers on the Lexington Green in April of 1775. It was a shot made famous by Emerson’s poem “Concord Hymn.” However, we do know who fired the first American shots of World War II, by far the largest, most destructive war in human history: Herb Garilli of Wicklow Street in Windsor Locks, a high school classmate of my father.
Herb was one of just eighteen students at Windsor Locks High School Class of 1930. My father, a future career military officer and veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, Francis W. Devlin, attended high school with Herb and knew him well. Following graduation, Herb attended Bates College in Maine for one year before transferring to Fordham University in New York. While at Fordham, Herb was a member of the Army ROTC program. Since the Army had paid for his education, he owed them service time and could be called back into the Army when they needed him. That call came in the spring of 1941 when he was sent to California to train as a commander of an anti-aircraft artillery battery.
Few people know about the significance of the actions of First Lieutenant Herb Garilli of 1 Wicklow Street on December 7, 1941, during the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, an attack that brought America into the biggest war in history. Japanese planes were attacking the American naval base at Pearl Harbor on that fateful morning.
At Garilli’s command, his battery fired the first American shots of the war, using a .50 caliber machine gun located at Fort Kamehameha, a coastal artillery battery located next to the channel entrance to Pearl Harbor and near Hickham Airfield at the southern tip of Oahu. Garilli’s battery shot down the first two Japanese planes of the war, including the Japanese Zero fighter pictured above.
Lt. Garilli received his first military training while a member of the ROTC program at Bates. He continued to be in ROTC after transferring to Fordham. Following his graduation, with a B.S. in science, Herb Garilli worked as an engineer for the Connecticut Light and Power Company until he got called back into military service in the spring of 1941 after President Roosevelt instituted a military draft in anticipation of war.
Lt. Garilli was assigned to be part of a Coastal Artillery Corps (CAC) unit to guard the American naval fleet at Pearl Harbor. The CAC was an administrative corps of the Army responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. Garilli’s unit was part of a 155 mm battery group stationed at Fort Kamehameha, named after the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii who died in May of 1819 at the estimated age of 58. Lt. Garilli ordered his men to commence firing at 8:06 a.m. local time right at the beginning of the attack. The letter of commendation that Lt. Garilli received stated that the actions of his entire battery “showed a fine fighting spirit and discipline.”
Following the war, Herb Garilli distinguished himself repeatedly as a rehabilitation counselor at the Hartford office of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation; in fact, on April 15, 1967, the Hartford Courant ran a lengthy article explaining how Garilli had helped a Thompsonville man who had suffered from polio-induced paralysis and had injured his right leg so badly that it was next to impossible for him to hold a job to support his family. Herb Garilli found the right mix of counseling and training to get this man a supervisory job with Goodwill Industries and turned his life around. The Courant article goes on to mention other cases in “Garilli’s file” in which he turned despair into hope for many other clients.
Besides distinguishing himself as a counselor, Herb and his Wicklow Street friend and neighbor, Bob Harvey, were the principal driving forces behind the establishment of the local VFW on Fairview Street in Windsor Locks in the 1950s, where both served as officers at various times. Herb served as the marshal of the 1954 Centennial Parade in Windsor Locks as well as secretary of the Memorial Hall Committee. He retired from the Army as a captain and was a member of the National Retired Officers Club as well as a member of the Pearl Harbor Attack Veterans of Westfield, Massachusetts.
Along with his sister, Frances, Herb was a graduate of the Windsor Locks High School Class of 1930, where he had played football for four years with future collegiate All-American, Dr. Pete Lingua, a veterinarian who, among other things, took care of General George Patton’s horses for a time during World War II.
Sadly, Herb died too young in his sleep one night at age 59 just before I graduated from high school in 1971. He left behind his wife, Alice, his two sisters and his heartbroken mother. His performance in World War II is just another example of the many unique and extraordinary actions performed by citizens of Windsor Locks both on the home front and on the battle front during the war, all of which are detailed in my book Windsor Locks in the World Wars. Few, if any, small towns in America can compare with the level of achievement of the people of Windsor Locks during both of the world wars in the 20th century. It truly was amazing.
Photos provided by Philip Devlin
