Dec. 7, 1941 : The...

DOLORES MAGDALENO

Dolor e s Magdaleno was an 11-year-old fourth-grader in Tucson, Ariz., when the United States was plunged into World War II. But she did not learn about the attack on Pearl Harbor until the next day, when she went to school. Today, she is 61 years old and is an operational clerk at the Navy Exchange at the Naval Training Center, where she has worked for 23 years. Magdaleno and her husband, Fred, 63, live in Logan Heights.

“My Mom and Dad didn’t know English, and at the time, it was more important for Dad to put food on the table for us. So, I didn’t learn about the attack until the next day, when the teachers told us,” Magdaleno said.

The school was quickly caught up in a fervor of patriotism. Students and teachers lashed out at the Japanese and their German allies in a symbolic gesture.

“It was close to Christmas, and most classrooms had Christmas trees and decorations up. . . . The kids decided to take all the ornaments made in Japan and Germany, take them to the railroad tracks and smash them.”

Since they did not speak English, Magdaleno’s parents had a difficult time understanding the scope of the conflict. The country was still reeling from the Depression, and Magdaleno’s father was more concerned with feeding and clothing his family.

“We were poor. Everyone in our neighborhood was poor. There were more important things to worry about. The war was far away . . . being fought in places we had never heard of.”

“My parents never understood the impact of the war. During the war, my Dad worked at anything he could. He was a carpenter, gardener, mechanic, everything. Sometimes he wouldn’t get paid with money. One time we got a week’s worth of milk and dairy products as payment for a job that he did.”

“I used to listen to the radio and tell my parents about the war. I translated news of the fighting for them. That’s how they would get news about the war.”