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BN: So I wanted to switch over to that and ask the question we ask everyone we interview, which was, what were your memories of December 7th?

JK: Of December 7th, yes.

BN: The war actually coming to our backyard.

JK: Right, yes. I remember December 7th was a Sunday, and I was wondering why it was so noisy. Usually we all slept in then, and finally I got up because it was so noisy. And then I went out and realized that my parents were leaning over the radio listening intently. And then I started listening too and realized the reporter was saying, "This is war. This is real. We are being bombed." And then the fear started, and then some were, in mid-morning, there was a huge explosion right up the street somewhere. And it was so loud, my five year old brother burst out into tears, he was frightened by the sound. And we thought it was a bomb. But we found out much, much later that it was an anti-aircraft shell, and that in trying to hit the zero planes, they were in such a hurry that they were not able to make the anti-aircraft shells be quite accurate, and some of them were falling on civilians and there were civilian casualties. Fortunately, the one that we heard didn't kill anybody. But in the afternoon, when it was quiet, my father saw the neighbors outside talking and so he went to join them and I followed along. And Mr. Gomes, who lived next door, said, "Oh, there's shrapnel on my porch." And Mr. Ishikawa, who lived across the street, said, "Oh, the shrapnel came right through my wall." And my father was about to talk, we didn't get any shrapnel at all. But when he was starting to talk, this car drove up and parked, and this huge policeman got out. To me, ten years, old, he was huge. And he had a huge rifle, and he walked straight over to us, and he said, "What are you guys doing out here?" So we said, "Oh, we're just neighbors, we're just talking." And he says, "You get back in your houses and don't come out and talk anymore. Don't you know, there might be paratroopers landing in the valleys?" And oh, we were just terrified. And I give my mom and dad credit because they kept that terror inside of them so that my brother and I wouldn't get terrified as well. But we were terrified anyway. [Laughs] And I still remember that first night, because it was blackout. There was a curfew, so there we sat in the house in the dark with the radio on, and that's all I remember. And just waiting, waiting, thinking maybe those paratroopers are landing now, we're not sure. But a lot of terror at that point.

[Interruption]

BN: I just want to get a sense of where you were. So do you remember the address of that home?

JK: Yeah. 2448 Rooke Avenue in Pu'unui. Kind of in the valley between Alewa Heights and Pacific Heights.

BN: So you're pretty close. I mean, you're not too far, actually, from Pearl Harbor.

JK: Right, yeah.

<End Segment 5> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.