Ever since the first battle of Los Angeles, the United States officers had felt certain that an attack would come upon San Francisco and had prepared for it the best way possible. They had concentrated a greater portion of their best airplanes there and had thrown them into the fight by the thousands and they had gone down in large numbers, not only being outnumbered by the enemy planes but being unable to follow the enemy planes high enough to destroy them. When reports were made the following morning, more than three thousand of this country's airplanes had been lost. The loss of life in San Francisco was appalling. Almost half of the population had been wiped out. Most of the valuable buildings had been destroyed. All the ships anchored in the harbor were blown to pieces. A poisonous gas which American chemists had never seen or heard of before had been distributed all over San Francisco and the people who were left were sick and dying by the thousands. The waters in the bay had been poisoned and the fish were dying from this deadly gas. It was indeed a time of trouble such as the world has never known, as spoken of by St. John in the Book of Revelation. The capture of Captain Gordon and the loss of both of the Japanese airplanes which had been captured at the destruction of the "Tokyo J-1" was a disheartening blow, because Captain Kennelworth had reported how effectively he had worked over the enemy planes and how many he had destroyed. He was sure that Captain Gordon had destroyed many of their planes. When a survey was made of the city it was found that several hundred of the enemy's planes had been brought down. Most of this was attributed to the work done by Captains Gordon and Kennelworth with the high altitude foreign planes. When all reports were in, the commanders of the United States armies got together for a conference. This disaster in such a short time was bewildering and it required quick decision as to the next move. They were at a loss to figure out what the enemy's next move would be, remembering that after Los Angeles had been surrendered and the white flag had floated over it, it had never been molested. Knowing that another attack would finish the remains of San Francisco, they decided to surrender it, and again the white flag was raised over all the remaining buildings. When General Pearson saw these instructions being carried out, he was overcome with emotion. Tears were flowing down his cheeks and he exclaimed; "My God, my God, is the land of liberty to be destroyed? Is there no way to prevent this deadly destruction?"