“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy” …. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
December 7, 1941, my mom and her family were watching a matinee at the local movie theater in Bronxville, New York. The movie was interrupted by the report that Pearl Harbor had been attacked, everyone quickly exited the theater to get home to their radios.
My grandfather had been a Navy pilot in WW1, his intention was to fly again but due to his executive position at a major oil company he was told that his importance to the War Effort was by staying in New York. He was very disappointed.
Life changed quickly for school children after war was declared. My Mom learned how to knit and prepare meatless meals in her Home Economics class. Growing a Victory Garden and milking cows became part of her summers at Camp Arcadia in Maine. Rationing and black out curtains were part of everyday life. My grandmother was an amazing cook but my Mom would regale us with stories of ‘Tongue a la’ orange” (not palatable) and lots of liver as they were the most available protein at my grandmothers local butcher. As a young teenager, my mother was affected by the rationing rules, especially shoes and hosiery.
One of the main objectives of the Japanese on 12/7/1941 was to destroy the 3 air aircraft carriers, Lexington, Enterprise, and Saratoga. Thankfully, these 3 ships weren’t at Pearl Harbor that day. Only 3 battleships (Arizona, Oklahoma, and the Utah) were permanently lost to the U.S. Navy during the attack. Much usable material was salvaged from these ships. The California, West Virginia, and Nevada were sunk on December 7th, they were eventually raised and returned to duty.
I was living in Honolulu on the 40th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. WW2 veterans made the trip to Hawaii every December 7 but in 1981, 3,000 survivors were at the volcanic crater known as Punchbowl to honor the war dead. The veterans placed wreaths on the graves and participated in a moment of silence at 7:55 AM, the time the first bombs were dropped on the battleships in Pearl Harbor. The veterans could be seen wearing their vests (without shirts) and overseas caps walking to and from their hotels. At the beaches, the veterans had vest sunburns which looked very painful.
The USS Arizona memorial is the most famous war memorial in Hawaii. It is a beautiful, quiet, solemn experience. Every family member that visited me in Hawaii requested a tour of the memorial. I have photos of my Mom and me on one of the the Navy tenders that takes visitors to the memorial. The memorial straddles the hull of the sunken battleship that still leaks oil. Of course that visit prompted my Mom’s story of where she was when the bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor.
Kate Emery General is a retired chef/restaurant owner that was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming. Kate loves her grandchildren, knitting and watercolor painting. Kate and her husband , Matt are longtime residents of Cambridge’s West End where they enjoy swimming and bicycling.
Al DiCenso says
A day that lives in even more infamy is January 6, 2021. There a rag-tag but well-organized bunch of insurrectionists attacked our leaders, our capital, and our constitution. This was a far graver threat to our country’s future than Pearl Harbor ever was.