Here’s One All-Night Party That We Will Never Forget

I have a note in my December file reminding me that Dec. 7 is the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

I suppose I meant that I should think about writing a commemorative column, since my wife and I were living and working in Honolulu on that fateful day.

However, I’m sure the media will be bursting with stories and documentaries about the Japanese attack, and some will seek to reconcile the adversaries in the interests of peace and harmony.

Revisionists have already argued that the surprise attack on our fleet was not as infamous as we allege: it was a tactic much honored in the history of war. Also, it was held, we had provoked Japan by our embargoes on their oil.

Without meaning to stir old hatreds, I must say it is poppycock to hold that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was perfectly acceptable conduct. As for the oil embargo, it was meant to restrain Japan in its bloody conquest of East Asia and its lust for the Dutch East Indies.

I think we hardly need revise our judgment of the bombing as justifiable and honorable to maintain amiable relations with the Japanese. It came at an hour when two Japanese ambassadors were in Washington negotiating peace, and America was deep in its isolationist sleep.

The bombing did accomplish one good thing. It shocked us overnight into a national unity and the greatest mobilization for war the Earth had ever seen. Though the bombing seemed a great victory, it sealed Japan’s fate.

Some TV programs are arguing that the Japanese people did not approve of its government’s rampages, including Pearl Harbor, but were the victims of their aggressive leaders. Others argue that no nation can wage war without the consent of its people.

We continued living in Honolulu for a year after the attack, and, though I worked on the Honolulu Advertiser, I never heard of any act of sabotage by any of the tens of thousands of resident Japanese (many were American citizens) or of any Japanese-bashing by non-Japanese Americans, including thousands of servicemen.

Naturally the islands were under martial law, which had been established a few hours after the attack began. Also, our paper was under Army censorship, so any news that might foment disorder was not allowed to reach the public. Nevertheless, I never heard of any racial violence. What the FBI’s file might reveal I don’t know.

When the attack began, about 8 in the morning, my wife and I were just starting home from an all-night party. We were not dissolute, but we worked nights, so Saturday night was usually a night of revels. As I have said before, we were standing in our host’s front yard, saying goodby, when we heard what we decided hours later must have been the Arizona blowing up.

As we drove home we could see strange airplanes flying in formation above the beach in the direction of Pearl Harbor. When we passed the fire station at Iolani Palace the doors were open, the house was empty, and the sirens were blowing. Still it did not penetrate.

It wasn’t until we were home and a friend hammered on our door and shouted, “The Japs are bombing us!” that it finally clicked.

My wife went to her job at Radio Corporation of America and I went to mine at the Advertiser. Since our press had broken down during the night (no sabotage) there was not much to do but wring our hands and answer the phone. As late as 10 that morning I was receiving calls from off-duty naval officers wanting to know what was happening.

Naturally, there not being much we could do, we retired to the nearby Times Grill for drinks. The bartender was a Japanese-American. I will never forget him. He was white with shock and anger. He was outraged. He kept saying, over and over, “Those dirty bastards!” The drinks were on the house.

I don’t know whether our bartender represented the feelings of most of the Japanese-Americans on the island, but I suspect he did. I have always believed that the relocation of the Japanese-Americans on the West Coast was necessary because of the danger of violent rampages in Little Tokyo by servicemen on leave in Los Angeles. Surely Los Angeles would have had to be declared off-limits. But this did not happen in Hawaii. We will never know.

I am told that Japanese schoolbooks barely mention Pearl Harbor but make much of Hiroshima. One cannot blame the Japanese historians. But I wonder how they treat Gen. Douglas MacArthur. MacArthur has been almost forgotten, even by us, but it was his autocratic but avuncular occupation of Japan after the war that produced their recovery, their democratization and their present prosperity.

Anyway, for me, at last, the war is over.

I’ve just bought a Honda.