Howard on 8th birthday, Hazard, Ky

Howard on 8th birthday, Hazard, Ky, a photo by Howard33 on Flickr.

A GLANCE AT AMERICA ON THE EVE OF WORLD WAE TWO. TEXT BY HOWARD 33

Howard on 8th birthday, Hazard, Ky
I turned 8 years-old in the summer of 1941. We lived in Hazard, a town of about 8,000 people in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. I was never one to worry about the funture, which was about to change. Less than four months after this picture was made, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

My two sisters and I were in the living room with the Sunday funnies, and our mother was listening to the radio in the kitchen. She eased into the room and said "Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. I think we are in another war."

My first question was to ask where Pearl Harbor was. She dragged out a world map from somewhere and pointed out the Hawaiian Islands. She said that Pearl Harbor was a Navy base near Honolulu. She and our father spent the rest of the day in the kitchen listening to the radio. I caught a few facts about the sinking of several of our large ships, and the bombing of a nearby airfield, but when President Roosevelt began to speak, we all sat around the table and listened to every word.

The news has caused this scene to flash through my mind a number of times since then, and I can almost hear my mother's voice saying, "I think we are in another war."
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Howard on 8th birthday,... by Howard33