At around 8am we were sitting in the dining hall together, laughing with our friends. It was a quiet day, beautiful sunshine. Suddenly, you could hear gunshots. Someone said it was like fireworks. Just then a bullet shot through the glass window and flew past us. We got up and ran outside. Up in the sky we could see a Japanese plane. We realized the plane was attacking the base and our soldiers. There were people everywhere, running for their lives, trying to save their loved ones, and there were people crying for  help but not getting it from anyone. Buildings were hit with gunfire and ships were suffering fatal gashes. There were so many casualties. It was hard seeing people cry for aid, and have no one come to them, because they were trying to save themselves. I saw people being shot while they were in their cars trying to get away. We were running along the side of the building and my wife stopped. She started running towards a little girl who was sitting beneath the canopy of a building that was nearby. She picked the girl up and we started running again. I told my wife to take the girl and to go hide in the basement of our house. I carefully watched every step I took trying to get back to the base to help. I had only a few more blocks to go till I got there. I heard another big explosion from where I had came. I stood very still, open mouthed, quivering. I didn’t want to look back, hoping I was just imagining it. I finally got the courage and looked. I wish I hadn’t. I sprinted as fast as my legs would go. I finally got to what used to be my house, engulfed in flames. I tried to run inside but someone grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I don’t know who the man was, but he told me that there was nothing I could do. He lifted me by my shoulders and told me to run with him. He had to drag me part of the way, I was so dazed. We ran for the longest time, and finally we walked into an old shop. The commotion had finally gone down outside. We went back to the naval base. A lot of the ships were damaged, or sunk. There were dead soldiers lying on the ground. I just stared blankly. It was like a bad dream.I didn’t know how to even start helping people. Everyone was in such bad shock.

2 years later..

It took a lot of hard work to repair Pearl Harbor. Battle ships were raised, repaired and returned within two years. Buildings, taxiways, runways, and other sorts of things were no problem for us to repair. Luckily there were important things such as gasoline or oil tanks that weren’t destroyed. I was getting help from other people, my friends, helping me cope with my family’s death, but I haven’t given up. I knew on December 8, when President Roosevelt addressed the American Congress, and the nation, that I was ready to fight.