<Begin Segment 8>

AL: What do you remember of December 7, 1941?

AN: Remember what?

AL: Of December 7, 1941. Could you tell us about that day, what you saw, what you heard on December 7th?

AN: Yes. Of course, that was early in the morning. I was getting ready to go to church, and all of a sudden I hear this roaring of the airplanes real loud. So I said, "I don't know where all this noise is coming from." So I stepped out of my home and looked up in the sky, and lo and behold, they were already descending toward Pearl Harbor. And I looked closely, and it was so obvious, they're low, I could see the plane with a big red dot on their wing. I said, "Why, this is Japanese. What are they doing here?" And as I look all around, they came from all different directions, and I could actually see the pilot, that low. They were just descending from where we were, just a few miles and there'd be Pearl Harbor. And so I thought, "Gee, something's wrong." So I climbed my garage roof to see. I know they were headed toward Pearl Harbor, so I looked toward there, toward Pearl Harbor, and lo and behold, from all directions, they were coming in and converging on Pearl Harbor, and I could see the plane just diving back and up. And before long, big huge smoke, black smoke, like mushrooms, and I said, "Uh-oh, this is bad. This is for real. They have been bombed." And it was a beautiful Sunday morning, blue skies, clear, had these big, black mushroom clouds started coming up. Then I knew that they were, we were in trouble. And so I watched that for a while and I said, "Oh, we're in big trouble now." I mean, right above my rooftop almost, they're coming down over. And so I had a firsthand view of it, of the attack.

AL: Were you able to hear anything? I mean, I know you could see it, but could you hear anything but the planes? Could you hear any of the explosions?

AN: Yeah, in the distance I could, very softly, because we were about twelve miles, fifteen miles away from there. It wasn't that far. Not that audible. But we could see very, I could see very clearly from my rooftop what was happening.

AL: You said you felt like "we were in trouble." When you say "we," who were you talking about? Your family?

AN: I'm talking about us islanders, all those who were living there. I was thinking about us, the residents, especially us Niseis, that we were in big trouble, younger generation. I was thinking about my age people and our parents, too. I guess I was just thinking generally of all the Japanese people on the islands.

AL: Were there other people who came out on the streets? Who else, what were the reactions that you saw around you in your neighborhood?

AN: Well, all around, just unfortunately, to this day, I really don't know what happened. But my neighborhood was bombed, because my grade school, drugstore, all the businesses, were blown up, and I had my friends' parents wounded, and so that's the only one in there as far as I know, Honolulu it happened. Where it came from, I don't know. But as far as I'm concerned, it was not one of the Japanese planes. The Japanese planes were in Pearl Harbor, not in my neighborhood. And to this day, I don't think anyone confessed when that happened.

AL: Do you think it could be the anti-aircraft?

AN: Our own anti-aircraft, I think, was short. It just happened to hit our neighborhood. It wasn't Japanese, I know it was not Japanese, there were no planes, they were all at Pearl Harbor. But during their raid, going back and forth, as far as I know, truth is, no one talks about that. But it just happened to be my neighborhood.

AL: What did you see? Did you actually see those bombs come down?

AN: Yeah, what I saw was the destruction. I ran down a couple of blocks from my home, and there was a fire all over the whole block. And so my friends, some were there to warn the parents. And so that's the only thing that was so close to us. But I don't know, no one talks about it.

AL: Did you realize, or at what point did you realize that the attack went beyond just the harbor? You know, Hickam Field, Kaneohe, and all of these other bases that were being attacked? At what point did you realize that it was more than just the ships in the harbor?

AN: Oh, there was no doubt in my mind, as soon as I saw the wave of planes there, I knew. I didn't hesitate for a moment what was going on. It was just obvious.

AL: Could you tell they were also attacking Hickam?

AN: Oh, yes, I could tell. I couldn't see it directly, but I know because Hickam and Pearl Harbor are next door to each other, so I knew that the whole area, Hickam Air Force base, the navy base, were being bombed, yes. I couldn't see it, but I could tell by the smoke and all the things going on.

AL: How long did the attack last?

AN: Gee, couple hours, I guess. I didn't time it, but the Japanese were having a field day. They were having fun, I gathered, because we weren't prepared at all. Not at all.

AL: Why do you think that is? Why weren't we prepared?

AN: Well, there's all kinds of stories on that. Probably miscommunication, or not paying attention to the planes coming in. We had radars and all that, but I guess it just... I guess we just weren't paying too close attention. Although there were indications that there will be some problems. But never thought that they would be attacking directly. So anyway, as far as I'm concerned, we were caught flat-footed. Maybe the higher-ups, they expected that, but not that I know of.

AL: Did you hear any, like, air raid sirens, or what kind of sounds would you have heard?

AN: There was no warning at all.

AL: What about after the attack started? Did you hear anything?

AN: Well, after the attack, then, of course, radios, blackouts, all those things went into effect immediately, yes.

AL: Do you recall your parents' or your grandparents' response?

AN: Well, their response was just like ours, they were just devastated. They didn't know what to think, that their own country people would do this to us. So they were as surprised as we were, and emotionally mixed, with mixed emotions, they couldn't understand why, what happened.

<End Segment 8> - Copyright © 2012 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.