Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
    Sunday, December 7, 1941 – As I woke up at eight in the morning, I had an uneasy feeling that something was wrong. I could hear my two daughters, Virginia and Doris, laughing and talking in their bedroom. I also heard planes flying low over our house. That was strange!! Although we lived just across Kamehameha Highway from the air force base, Hickam Field – they did not have a flight pattern over the navy housing.

Japanese Pilots

Curious, I jumped out of bed and went into the next bedroom which overlooked the harbor. On Thanksgiving Day, the girls and I had moved into the newly constructed Navy Housing. The houses were built as three bedroom, two story, duplexes with the bedrooms on the upper floors. We were fortunate to be only a quarter of a mile from the Navy Yard gate and, from the upper floor, we had a beautiful view of the harbor.

    As I reached the window, I heard another plane just over my house and I looked up – right into the eyes of a Japanese pilot!!! I immediately saw the red rising sun insignia below the cockpit on the side of the plane. I quickly followed his flight to the harbor just in time to see a plane in flames falling into the water. Horrified, I realized the Japs were bombing us.

Sailor Headed to Battle

  I yelled at the girls to get dressed and I threw on some cloths. The other half of our duplex was occupied by a sailor waiting for his wife to arrive from the states. I rang his doorbell and told him what was happening. He stepped out front where he could see the approaching planes and the harbor. Then he silently went indoors. A few minutes later, he came out fully in uniform and SLOWLY tying on his uniform tie, he took another look at the situation and continued activity. The last I saw of him, he was SLOWLY walking down to the navy yard.

    By this time the girls had joined me in the yard about 15 feet from our backdoor. It never occurred to me that they might shoot us! I had a brand new trash can by the back door. The next day I lifted the lid to throw in the trash and a small hole in the side of the can was allowing the sunlight to shine in. AND, on the bottom of the empty can was a bullet with a painted red tip!! In the yard where we had been standing the girls were picking up empty cartridge shells. One was much larger than the others.

The Immediate Aftermath

    After the Japs left, the Navy sent busses to take the wives and children into large buildings in Honolulu. The girls and I, along with several others decided to remain in our homes. Those that remained doubled up with others for a sleepless night. The next afternoon the evacuees were returned to housing with stories of their sleepless night. Kids were crying, women screaming all night and there was general pandemonium.

  The Marines were ordered to patrol our housing and protect us. We were given black plastic to tape over our windows for a “black-out.” Extreme caution was to be used for a lighted match or cigarette could be seen for a distance of five miles. Printed forms were distributed to each family to fill out stating whether we wished to be evacuated to the states immediately or be deferred. Many of the women and children were so mentally disturbed – the girls and I signed to be deferred so they could be taken first.

The Marines took their assignment seriously. The girls told ours that we had a lot of empty shells. He immediately confiscated them, also insisting that he had to take my .22 target revolver and George’s shotgun. We had a medium size, long brown hair, dog that I offered to the Marines for a mascot when we had to leave.

Time to Pack

  The middle of March I went to town shopping. When I returned at four o’clock, there was a notice on the door that we were to leave for the states at eight o’clock the next morning on the British Liner (Her Majesty’s Ship) HMS Aquitania. At that time, the third largest ship in the world. It was beautifully furnished with a special room for the king and queen containing gold thrones.  Our country leased it with the understanding that only 500 evacuees would be taken on each trip. We were lucky to be included.

    So much to be done and little time to do it. First, I took the dog over to the Marines. As I was leaving I backed up and heard a terrific crack. Looking in the rear view mirror, I saw a telephone pole swinging back and forth. As I said, “There was very little time to do a lot of things” so I decided to go home, FAST.

I knew the name of the officer in charge of shipping cars to the states so I called the navy yard and asked for him. He wasn’t available so they told me to bring the car down to the office and check it in. (Another case of it being “Not what you know, but WHO you know.”) They didn’t know that I only knew his name. Luckily, the car was loaded aboard the Lusitania – the ship that traveled beside ours to protect us.

Preparing to Leave Pearl

    With the dog and car taken care of, I sat down to plan what I would put in the ONE trunk we were allowed to take. Clothing was at the bottom of the list as I decided my portable sewing machine, movie files and camera – jewelry – and other costly items would have priority.

Oh, yes, the guns. I walked down to the navy yard office and showed them the receipt I had insisted the Marine give me. They informed me that he had been shot and killed one night when he didn’t give the password at the gate. After numerous inquires, they found my revolver in an officer’s desk and also located George’s shotgun. I had both serial numbers on the receipt. I did something right for a change.

    Next, I called the Navy Club and they picked up my round dining room table and several other items they could use in their recreation room.

    Don’t remember eating but I’m sure we did. I mentioned that we moved into the housing on Thanksgiving Day. We ate tuna fish sandwiches with a promise to the girls that daddy would be home for Christmas and I would cook a real holiday dinner then.

George is ALIVE!

    When Pearl Harbor was bombed, George’s ship was in the middle of the Japanese Mandate Islands. Our Navy kept broadcasting requests for them to identify their position and location. Their captain told the crew NO WAY and ordered complete silence and darken ship. As a result, after several weeks of silence the ship was reported as missing and presumed sunk. You can imagine the rejoicing when the day after this report was made, the ship arrived safely at Pearl Harbor.

Not All Came Home

  What happened to our neighbor in the duplex? Who knows? We never saw him again after he headed slowly to the harbor.

[The text is exactly as written by my grandmother. I simply included the subheading for ease of readability in a blog.]