<Begin Segment 12>

TI: So we're gonna start the second section, and I want to go to now December 7, 1941, and have you kind of describe your day. What was that like?

HM: Okay, Sunday we kind of took it easy, that Sunday. I don't know why Dad wasn't, he wasn't yelling at us, "Hurry up because we have to..." but when I close my eyes I can see my dad and my mom very, very calm that morning. They weren't rushing us around. And then we finished our breakfast and my father said, "Okay, botsu botsu, let's get going," so we stood up, and then we heard this sound. See, we lived in Ewa, down that way, so we heard this sound coming, sounded like a swarm of bees, you know that humming sound? You could hear it, so we said, "Gee, what's happening?" Then got closer. Oh, you can't imagine. You see in movies, a war movie, planes coming. That's nothing. That's nothing. But that heavy sound that's coming, and it was not one or two, so as soon as they got closer the house started to vibrate, so by the time it did, the planes were right above our head, and I didn't know a dive bomber and a torpedo, because somewhere very, coming very low, they were coming fairly, because I guess they're the dive bombers, so they're, they flew lower. I don't know, but this is the story that I found out that they flew lower than those guys that came down.

TI: Helene, before we get into those details, when you start hearing the humming, that noise, and it gets closer and you see all the planes --

HM: Yeah, we saw that round red circle and my dad said, by the time we saw it was that fast, started to, already, the bombs were already going on. My father said, "I know the Americans do the stupid thing, but this is the most stupid thing I've seen." We saw that round red circle, and we didn't think it was war. We thought it was maneuvers, because we didn't, nobody had any feeling that we'll be ever invaded by Japanese, right? Because they were at war against, they were already fighting someone else, so we didn't think about it. And that, then when you saw the bombs, the explosion and the smoke and the sound of that plane just, I'm telling you it was really scary. It's, when you go to a movie you sit down and watch it, but actually when you see them coming and bombing and that thick, thick black smoke and the oil and not knowing what's going on. But we didn't think about turning the radio on, but I don't think at that time they, I don't think anybody knew that was, we'd been attacked at that time. I don't think so. People have said they knew, but I think they're lying. But I don't think we dreamt, we ever dreamed that we're gonna be attacked, but when you're there in the midst of all these planes with the red circle, we were scared, but we didn't know anything about it.

TI: So describe to me how close were you to the actual bombing? When you say Pearl Harbor, how close was that?

HM: You see, Pearl Harbor is shaped, the entrance is shaped like a U shape, and this is the Diamond Head side and this is Ewa Beach, so we weren't too far away from the entrance of Pearl Harbor when the... the reason why I saw that is last year I participated with the, speaking to community college teachers. Then we were invited to Hickam Air Force for officers' club, so I asked one of the security guards, I said, "Could you tell me where Puuloa was, Puuloa is?" And he said, "Oh, right at the entrance of," we were very close the entrance of Pearl Harbor. And I thought to myself, gee, that's really, really close. I didn't realize it was that close, and it really scared the hell out of me, to see how close we were at that time to... and then we heard about, my dad talked about the Marine barracks. Here again, the kiawe bushes were so thick I didn't know how far away, how many miles the Marine barracks was.

TI: So just like over the ridge almost was Pearl Harbor.

HM: Right, right, just a stone's throw. Maybe it's not a stone's throw, but when I saw the entrance to Pearl Harbor and where he pointed out where Puuloa, it was like a stone's throw.

TI: And the planes, did they come right over the house, or how close were they coming to your house?

HM: They're very close. They were, you could, you can (...) feel that (whoosh) because they flew so low, so can you imagine that, the sound of the plane?

KN: So when you, where were you when all of this, watching this from the --

HM: Yeah, we went to the front porch to, to --

KN: All your family members?

HM: Yeah.

KN: And what was the reaction of everyone there? You were scared. What was your father and your sisters' reactions?

HM: You know, I don't think we were scared yet, or frightened yet at that point. I don't think so. Because we didn't dare that, we didn't think that we'll be ever attacked. War was not in our vocabulary at that time. There was war elsewhere, but not in our everyday language war wasn't. So when the planes came in and that sound of the planes coming, the dive bomber that, I can't explain that sound. The plane come heading down and the planes are going around that way, you can't imagine, and it was like a swarm of bees coming, not one, two planes. They were just above our heads. Then, but guess what Mom was doing? Mom had her hands there [holds hands as if to pray] and she was saying, "Namu Amida Butsu" See, we were taught by our grandpa, and she was, too, that whenever you are afraid or something happens she says, "Always say, 'Namu Amida Butsu,'" will help you. So all through while we were watching Mom had her hands like this. But when the bombs started going on and the black smoke, I don't know how long it went because we, time was lost at that time, actually lost. It seems like everything was stopped.

TI: And when the explosions started happening --

HM: The house shook. The house shook. It's really not like watching the movies.

TI: Did you stay on the porch?

HM: We stayed on the porch all the time. But, you know, when you see war movies they start shooting when they come down, right? Not a single shot was fired. Not a single shot was fired when they went overhead, so we thought it was maneuvers. And then it just went on for a while, then we heard this terrible sound coming down from the street. Somebody was clanking something. We could hear it. Then we could hear somebody yelling and it was Mr. Zane and Mr. Kakazu. They went to the Marine barracks. We, well the local people would say "buta kau kau," that means that they went to the Marine barracks to pick up the slop to feed the pigs, but in local language we call it "buta kau kau." So they came up and say, "War, war," and that's when we believed that something was happening. And we said, "How did you guys protect yourselves down at the Marine barracks?" because when they came to the Marine barrack they were firing because that's military base. They said, "They told us to hide in the garbage can," so they covered themselves with the garbage, but somebody protected them that day. Not a single bullet went through those cans. Amazing, don't you think? Amazing. So they came home and they told us it's war, so that's when everybody froze. That's when we, so when Mr. Kakazu and, they went around the neighbors to tell them, because I don't think anybody turned the radio on. By then I'm sure there must've been some news, but we didn't think of turning our radio on. Then next you know we hear these screeching, planes coming. You've seen in the movies where they have the planes tailing one another, they call it a dogfight. First Americans were chasing the Japanese. They flew below the telephone line, so they were really, really low. We would, whoosh, we could feel the air. And then they flew so low that we actually saw the eyeballs of both pilots. So low. But not a single shot was fired. Amazing. I cannot understand.

TI: 'Cause you were right in the middle of all this happening.

HM: Yes. And they were still bombing when this thing happened. The next thing you know the Japanese are tailing the Americans. Not a single shot was fired. Amazing. You won't believe, and they flew below the telephone line, so, like the movies that you've seen, the war movies, how low they fly, that's how low they were flying. But I couldn't tell people that I saw the eyeballs of the pilots because they think I'm lying to them, but when I heard stories -- you see, when the planes first came in they flew over Ewa, because they came from Kahuka area, so they passed Ewa, so by the time they came to Ewa plantation they were really low because the target wasn't too far. Filipino kids (they) were flying (kites), we had oral history, (some later these) Filipino (boys), by the time we had oral history they were young men -- they said, "When we," because they didn't know any difference. They thought they were American pilots because I'm sure at that age they didn't know Japanese signal, so they waved and the pilots waved back. Amazing.

KN: But the community was left intact as --

HM: While the, where the kids were flying kites. So they say, "We saw them. We saw the eyeballs." So that's when I got proud, brave, and told people that I saw the eyeballs of the pilots.

TI: So the Japanese planes were just shooting at the military targets, the Marine barracks.

HM: Yeah, Marine barracks. And, and that thick smoke, it's, there's no word in the dictionary can describe that.

TI: It was the smoke coming over?

HM: Yeah, because the wind was blowing toward Ewa Beach side. That's where we lived.

TI: And do you have a sense of how long this went on?

HM: Like I said, the time was stopped. The time wasn't moving. It's kind of like everything was frozen. We felt like we were frozen, that feeling.

TI: And after the neighbors, I think you said Mr. Zane and someone else came by and said, "It's war, it's war," what did your parents do then now they realize, okay, we're at war?

HM: My dad says, "Don't worry." We must've said something, but I remember distinctly my father said, "You girls got us. We'll protect you." I remember distinctly that's my, "Shinpai surunai," he said. "Don't worry," he said. I knew, and I firmly believe if something had happened my father would have helped us. He would have protected us, and so as my mom. But that was very firm assuring words, shinpai surunai, don't worry. It's the tone, tone of voice. I can still hear him. But I hope nobody goes through this experience, even my worst enemy. That, I can close my eyes and hear that sound coming, because it was the back of our head coming as it got closer, because they were already flying very low.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.