For a Navy wife living in Honolulu on 7 December 1941, the Pearl Harbor attack and its aftermath was a time of disbeliedf, fear, and concern for her husband's safety.
The realities of war came suddenly and dramatically to my mother as she stood on her back porch watching the explosions at Pearl Harbor, a few miles away. It was breakfast time, 7 December 1941. As she watched, several neighbors joined her, all looking at the horrific spectacle in silence. At length, to break the tension, Mom exclaimed in a confident voice: "This must be Navy bombing practice." The others stared at her in disbelief. As she recalled 50 years later, "At that very moment, from the sky came the most deafening, screaming, siren-like sound, louder and louder—then a huge blast that shook the whole building."
