# If You Remember Where You Were When You Heard About Pearl Harbor... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944 "2007-10-08T15:50:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944/41 "2007-10-10T08:54:00Z")
My grandfather had just moved to Hawaii to work in Pearl Harbor. In fact his first day on the job was Dec 2, 1941. He had moved first and my grandmother was going to follow shortly after. After the attack a total black out went down and she didn’t hear a thing from him for many months, didn’t know if he was dead or alive. After about 6 months she got a letter in the mail from him which was almost completely blacked out. Basically all they allowed through was “Dear Rose … I love you … Max.” He never talked about what went down that day. My Scoutmaster back in the 80s was a young scout at the time. He was probably 12 or 13. A lot of US fire directed at the Japanese missed and fell back down on Honolulu. And naturally there were lots of panic in the streets. His scout troop (which was to become my troop as well) lent their boypower to the police and helped direct traffic on McCully street and did other duties around the area. He didn’t come home for three days. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944/42 "2007-10-10T12:34:41Z")
I heard from my dad: > [@](#): > > I only remember seeing in the paper the awful pictures of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Being only six years old I didn’t quite understand what all was happening. I do remember the hatred of the Japanese from the local Americans, as they talked about them. I also remember neighbors talking to my dad about the attack, and that we were in it for good! I think up to this point America was kind of on the sidelines in the European war and that we weren’t really concerned about the Japanese. > > I also remember a Japanese person coming to our church from out west. He was escorted by a military person. This Japanese person was from one of the reparation camps out west. This was where the U.S. rounded up all of the Japanese in California and other western states and moved them inland into camps. Here they were kept until after the war. We took all of their businesses and homes away from them and shipped them off to these camps. I don’t know how many camps there were, but I do know probably more than 10 scattered around the country, most of them out west. > > We visited one of these camps in Powell Wyoming when we were out there. They had to set up schools, hospitals, power plants to have electricity, gardens to have food, and of course houses and churches. All that is left of this camp is the power house and another building probably used for maintenance. If my memory is correct close to 20,000 or more people lived there, and they have a diagram of what it looked like when they were here. It is close to Heart (Hart) mountain in Powell Wyoming. > > I guess they had some freedom to visit inward into the U.S. for religious purposes, as long as it was approved and a solider travelled with them. They had to return home to the camp when the visit was over. > > I do know the support of the American people for the military at the time of the attack was probably the highest it has ever been. In those days if you spoke out against the war you probably went to jail. I know before the war, the company my dad worked for made leather goods for the farms and domestic use , and they converted over to making items for the military. I believe he said they were the harness used to stop the planes coming in for landing on the aircraft carriers. His company earned an “E” pin which was some kind of accomplishment for helping out for the cause. Boyt Harness Co. was its name, and they are still in business making items for the outdoors today. My dad was their accountant. He left them after the war and bought the feed business. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944/43 "2007-10-10T14:24:28Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Or he’s a spy. Have any of your escape attempts been foiled recently? Yes, be careful about accepting those Pearl Harbor stories. “So where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor?” “It was six o’clock. I was having supper.” “Suppertime in _Berlin_ maybe…(!)…” /Stalag 17 ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944/44 "2007-10-10T20:42:12Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] My grandmother was making Sunday dinner. Every Sunday, my grandparents’ sisters and brothers would all meet at one of their houses for dinner, and it was my grandparents’ turn that Sunday. She had just put a roast in the oven when a neighbor came by with the news. [/QUOTE] I spoke to my grandmother last night, and need to make three corrections to my post: 1. She was making a leg of lamb, not a roast. 2. Only one of her brothers (and his family) were coming for dinner. 3. She heard about it on the radio, not from a neighbor. I’m sure you all really appreciate knowing that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944/45 "2007-10-10T20:47:16Z")
I was seated at my desk in school and the teacher said today we’ll learn about WWII. Is even half the US population old enough to remember events from that day? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944/46 "2007-10-10T22:17:21Z")
Let’s say one had to be at least 5 years old to remember it personally. That means, this year, you’d have to be at least 72 years old. Turning to U.S. poulation data, it appears that about 8 million U.S. residents are 70+. Since there are about 300 million U.S. residents, that works out to 2.7%. Or, to answer your question, **Harmonius** , No. Disclaimer: these stats were pulled off of the 'net in a hurried fashion and may not be strictly accurate. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-pearl-harbor/421944.md?page=2)