The Pearl

My Sister Patsy could remember this day and Pearl Harbor.

She wrote this—

I remember Pearl Harbor.  My mother and father were living on a farm 3 miles up the road from Carrollton, AR.  Someone stopped by and told Daddy that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor .  We had no radio so my parents gathered my brother Richard and me in their arms and walked to the Hugh Morris’ Store at Carrollton.  We entered the store crowded with people. The men had gathered around the heating stove and on a box sat the radio. They were listening to the news being broadcast.  Chairs, nail kegs and whatever were drawn near the radio for seats.  An unnatural hush filled the room as they listened to the voice.  I knew something very important was happening but I could not comprehend what it could be…I reasoned that a pearl was a round white shining marble but what is a harbor?  December 7, 1941 changed our lives forever.   In 1943, Daddy sold the farm and we moved to Denver, AR near my Mother’s parents who ran the Gaddy Store and Garage.  The picture of Richard and me survived the invasion of Iwo Jima.  Daddy carried it in his billfold.