From WTHA Executive Director - Tai Kreidler On this observance of the 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor, please find below a letter written many months afterward about the events as recounted by one who experienced it. Though brief, it nonetheless is chilling. ‘Pearl Harbor’ Letter edited by T. Kreidler from Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University. Dear Betsy We were still in bed . . . when the first bomb fell on Hickam Field, but I assure you we were on our feet in nothing flat as it couldn’t be mistaken for practice bombing which was heard every day. [My husband] was on Gen. Short’s Staff at Ft. Shafter about five miles away and we were simply quartered at Hickam, not stationed there as he had to take the car and run the gauntlet down the road next to the flying field and on to his office leaving Linda [her daughter], the Japanese maid [Tokie] and me alone the house which was just a stone’s throw from the Consolidated Mess which collapsed from bombs. For about an hour my blood was frozen in my veins and my tongue was so thick I could hardly speak, but believe me what little I remembered of my [faith] helped me to relax after a time. Linda had some new story books as I managed to read them to her, how, I’ll [never] know, but it kept her from being too frightened. The house was shaking so hard it seemed every minute it would cave in. The lighting fixtures fell out of the ceiling-and it just seemed that all hell had let loose. One plane swooped down so low in my patio that I could see the flyer’s face. There were several lulls which helped us pull ourselves together, but in just no time it all started again until I just thought I would lose my mind completely. I had several calls from Shafter telling me to get out of the quarters if possible. You can’t imagine my relief when I realized [my husband] had arrived safely. There wasn’t even a scratch on the car and he was right in the thick of the strafing. For about three hours [probably an exaggeration; the attack started at 7:48 AM; stopped at 9:45AM] it was impossible to leave the house as the shrapnel was flying and the air raining machine gun bullets. I started back to my bedroom several times to get out of my night gown and robe, but each time I got part way down the hall and turned back. It was a God’s blessing I did as my bedroom was simply riddled with bullet holes. I don’t believe they were aimed at the quarters but at the men in the street who were fleeing from the mess halls and trying to find shelter. The shingles were off the front of my roof also. . . . there were about forty [men] wedged in my garage right off the lanai where we were. They were very much surprised to learn there were people in the house when I finally opened the door to make our escape. They wouldn’t let me leave, but made me wait until there was a lull of about fifteen minutes and then about fifteen of them ran with us for the distance of about a block to the Mollison’s where I was to get my transportation off the post. Tokie and I literally swung Linda thru the air and just before we got to our destination the planes came over again and the bullets were flying. We stood at the front door and saw a Jap plane brought down. Betty’s house was full of [people] in all stages of hysteria and confusion. She and I went out to the kitchen and packed up bread and sandwich meat as we didn’t know but what we might have to take to the hills and we had had no breakfast. Just as we finished and left the room a tracer bullet went through the kitchen. During the next lull Doug, Betty’s oldest boy and two of the young girls . . . drove me back to my quarters to dress. The girls took care of dressing Linda and packing a few clothes for her and I got my things together and Tokie her own things. We had two cars which we loaded and then ran hell bent for election off the post and to the Oahu Country Club where we had been instructed to go . . . . There we had lunch, watching a couple of boats go down in the harbor and wondering if our husbands were still alive. . . . Fondly, Ruth
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 04:24:33 +0000
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