<Begin Segment 14>

TI: So beginning of '41, you come back to Sonoma.

MH: Yes.

TI: And I'm going to jump to December 7, 1941. So you're in Sonoma, your father is stationed in Hawaii.

MH: Yes. He's on the USS Pennsylvania as captain of the USS Pennsylvania.

TI: Right, so talk about that. Because my research indicated that the early reports was that the Pennsylvania was initially, they thought, sunk, but it wasn't. And why don't you tell the story.

MH: Well, I'll also tell a little prelude to that which was, as it happened, on December 7th, I was over in Sacramento visiting a cousin of mine. And her mother came in and said that the Japanese had struck Pearl Harbor, and, "You should go home immediately." So she put me on the bus to come back to Sonoma, so I arrived in Sonoma after all this news had gotten out about, about the strike at Pearl Harbor. And then the first reports were that the USS Pennsylvania had been sunk. So we didn't, my mother didn't know how to get the news, and then finally Dad did call. I remember we all just fell to pieces, we were so happy that he was all right.

TI: Well, talk about that time period when you didn't know. So this is, you get back, you hear the news that the Pennsylvania has been sunk. Tell me what thoughts were going through your head.

MH: Well, we were stunned, you know. We were just stunned. I don't remember anything, but what, you know, "What is this?"

TI: And at this point, was the devastation known, kind of, how much...

MH: I don't think so.

TI: And so were you getting, sort of, I guess, not inside information, but additional information about what was going on?

MH: No, only the news broadcasts.

TI: And in that, they mentioned --

MH: And of course, you know, it was all radio at that time, of course.

TI: And so those early news reports had mentioned that the Pennsylvania had been sunk, and I think the reports I saw, all hands lost, too, I think, is part of that, that communication. And so it was just a tense time for you and the rest, just waiting.

MH: Yes, that's right.

TI: And so your, your dad was able to call?

MH: Yes, uh-huh. And then we all, whew, and wept, and were glad.

TI: At this point, what, what contact or what thoughts had you had about Japanese? When you think about, all of a sudden, this country has attacked the United States, at this point you had not traveled that much overseas. And I was wondering, what was your sense about the Japanese and who they were?

MH: Well, this was, this was interesting. Because our time in Hawaii, the Japanese that I saw there were all servants, and that's all I really knew of Japanese. In fact, I don't know that I thought very much about them at all. And then when the Japanese attacked, I can't remember. I can't remember what my reactions were. I don't remember, I mean, as far as the Japanese, I don't remember my reactions.

TI: Was there, in your mind, can you recall, was there like anger or fear? Or what kind of almost visceral reactions or feelings did you have?

MH: I can't remember. I really can't remember.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2008 Densho. All Rights Reserved.