Veterans remember Pearl Harbor

”I doubt that there is anyone in my generation who wouldn’t remember Pearl Harbor.”

From George Small, Army veteran in WWII:

”We had lived through our teenage years in the late thirties which was a simply marvelous time. The country was emerging from the Great Depression and was peaceful and prosperous. We had no TV to dump all of the world’s problems into our laps every night … only a little fifteen minute newscast on the radio, so all the troubles in Europe seemed very far away. It was the swing era and the music was wonderful … and then there were football games and high school proms, the small burning leaves on those wonderful fall days, and Saturday nights spent in one of those little bistros along the Pompton Turnpike where a nickle in the juke box bought you the sounds of Glenn Miller or Tommy Dorsey, and we could dance check to cheek (not the jitterbug!). It was a wonderful romantic era and we thought it would never end … and then suddenly it did, and by December 8, we knew that the time was over and the world would never be the same again. We stood around in a stare of shock, realizing our lives were about to take a direction we hadn’t planned or even imagined. At that time I don’t recall much patriotic fervor (that came later) only apprehension … possibly a moment of truth as I look back and realize there were many of us there that day who would not live to graduate (from college).”

George is married to NYT's bestselling author Bertrice Small. 

From Eileen Nauman, romance author and Navy vet:

My mother, Ruth Cramer-Zimmerman, was married to Jack Zimmerman, pharmacist mate 1st class, USN. She worked on Ford Island as a secretary/civilian. Jack was assigned to USN but not on a ship. They both experienced Pearl Harbor. They lived in base housing above Pearl Harbor. When the attack hit, my mother said Japanese planes were flying right over the base housing. They took for cover and she said that there was a bullet hole through their bedroom. Luckily, neither she nor Jack were harmed. When I asked her what it was like, she said two days after the attack, she had to take a boat across the area to Ford Island to work. The odors were awful and she became very grim and couldn't say much more. She remained on Ford Island and eventually, all civilian wives of USN personnel stationed in Hawaii were sent home via the SS Lurline (Matson lines). It was one of the fastest luxury ships afloat at that time.

My mother lived in a historic time period. My father served with honor in the USN. And my mother was there to help the war effort shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack. The photo I'm sending you is of my mother/father in front of the base housing where they lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, December, 1941 days before the attack.

From Annie Marshall, Army vet and Army spouse.   Her family has a rich history of military service, including Felix Marshall, survivor of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, and Peter B. Marshall, survivor of Japanese POW Camp.

Felix Marshall
Pearl Harbor survivor

Peter B. Marshall after his
return from Japanese POW Camp.

and other family members ...

... gotta love a man (and woman) in uniform!

Margaret Mallory shares the story of her father's service, "Norman J. Brown joined the Army Air Corps when he turned 18 in 1943. As a member of the 69th Depot Repair Squadron, 301st Air Depot Group, Norman drove a truck in a convoy over the Burma-Leda Road into China. His unit was disbanded at the end of the war and he was reassigned to the 1363 Military Policy Company in Shanghai, waiting to return home.  

Norman used his GI Bill to attend college – a prospect that he had not considered as a farm boy before the war. The military also whet his appetite for travel – he ultimately took his family to West Africa when he worked for USAID. Several years ago, he returned to China with his wife."

Norman proudly wore his WWII army uniform for Veterans' Day!

Pamela Clare shares about the loss to her family, "His name was Joe Connor, Uncle Joe to my mother. He'd just gotten married and had been away on leave the week before the bombing of Pearl Harbor for his honeymoon. As you probably know, the Utah, where he was stationed, was a training vessel and wasn't even with the other ships. So he was new to the Navy, too. From what I was able to glean from talking with survivors of the Utah, he was probably stationed down in the boiler room, where, as I understand it, men sacrificed their lives, trying to keep the boiler from blowing so that others could get off the ship. He had one week of marriage, and then he was dead."

The USS Utah was moored on the west side of Ford Island.  Since Ford Island is not open to the public, few tourists visit the site (but a tour bus visits the USS Missouri on the east side).   The USS Utah is often called "the forgotten memorial" but I always take visitors to see it the ship as is lays on its side in eternal rest.

Mahalo to the veterans and authors who contributed to today's post.  We salute your family's service.  I invite our readers to comment about the veterans in your family.

Kim in Hawaii 

My husband's great uncle, Daniel Householder, served in WWII: