December 7, 2007

My Daughter-in-law called me this morning to tell me that my son would like to smoke a turkey for Christmas dinner and that she has some fancy sauce recipes she'd like to try, if it was all right with me!

I had to laugh because I awakened this morning from a dream that the family came for Christmas dinner, we all sat down around the table and then I noticed that I'd forgotten to cook any food. I'm sure it was my subconscious trying to tell me I'm falling behind in the Christmas preparations! How lovely to know that they will be bringing the main course, and how lovely that they want to do that!

On December 7, 1941 my Uncle, my Mom's brother and his wife and their baby daughter were living in Honolulu. My Uncle Irvin was a Doctor, a pathologist, and he and his family had been living there for at least two or three years when the bombing occurred. My Mom's sister, Doris, a school teacher, was also living there. Their home was on a hillside above the city and they watched in helpless disbelief as Japanese planes swooped in overhead to dive down and release their bombs, bringing death and destruction to the ships of the American fleet gathered in the harbor below.

During the war, I remember my Grandparents listening intently to the radio at night to get the latest update on the war, and I remember rising to my feet, as they rose to theirs, to stand proudly beside them in their own living room, hands over hearts, each time the National Anthem played on the radio. It's no wonder I'm such an old Patriot!

I remember too, my Grandmother fretting at my Grandfather for picking up hitchhikers and him saying it was the least he could do for the brave boys who were fighting for our country. He was proud of my Grandmother for being the person to coordinate supportive war efforts for the block they lived on, and referred to her with much affection as the Block Head.

Newspaper cartoons showed Japanese pilots zooming around in little planes with those leather helmets with ear flaps, goggles, and big smiles with lots of big white teeth showing. As a child, I had a reoccurring nightmare that squads of these planes were swooping down over the trees to bomb us in the front yard of my Grandparents home. My Grandmother and I were trying to run and hide, but couldn't seem to get away. The pilots all had those cartoon faces.

I found a National Geographic site with lots to offer anyone interested in the bombing of Pearl Harbor, including personal accounts.

Here's an amazing picture of the Statue of Liberty made by Arthur S.Mole and John D. Thomas using thousands of World War I Military personnel. You'll find more pictures made by them here.