Pearl Harbor and My Family

Earlier this morning, I called my mother about Pearl Harbor. She did not realize this was the 70th anniversary of it, although she lived through it.

Dec. 7, 1941, she was eleven years old, living in Goldsboro, NC, and remembers first hearing the news over the radio as her father was was diligently trying to unwind a mass of Christmas lights and not having much success. She still has two wreaths they put up every Christmas, but doesn't put them up anymore (she still lives in that house).

My dad was 13 and living in Mt. Olive, NC, and never served as the war ended before he was old enough. His brother, Delbert, did serve in the 101st Airborne and was at the Battle of the Bulge in the town of Bastogne where he lost most of the rest of his platoon. He came back from the war a changed man.

Liz's dad, Ambrose, was 27 and living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He later enlisted in the Army and became an officer in the ordnance department although he never served overseas. Liz's mother, Frances, was 24 and living in Abilene, Kansas. Her parents would probably never had met had it not been for the war. Her father was stationed in Kansas.

Liz says they heard about the war over the radio as well.