General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the news about Pearl Harbor? [View all]knitter4democracy
(14,350 posts)I remember hearing his story when I was young, maybe 6 years old, probably younger.
My dad was a Navy brat, six years old, and living in Navy housing. He and his sisters were playing outside. It was Sunday, and rule #1 in his house growing up was never to wake up his stepmom, Nana. So, they were outside when they saw planes fly over they didn't recognize. Dad remembered seeing the pilots' faces and not knowing them. Then, black things started falling out of the sky while he and his sister watched. Their neighbor ran over to get the kids inside, and his stepmom slept through the whole thing was how Dad always told it. I have a hard time believing she slept, though, since he talked about how low the bombs and explosions were.
His uncle was on one of the ships in the harbor (he dove into the water and survived, showing up at their house hours later covered in oil and worse so that they didn't recognize him), and his dad was chief of the USS Minneapolis with the fleet to the south. Another uncle was on the USS Enterprise and helped sink the Akagi at the Battle of Midway, though he was shot down and died on the second day. Of my great-grandmother's 8 sons, every one served in the war, and we only lost Great Uncle Ernie at the Battle of Midway.
In my dad's family, this is a day of remembrance.