As we were eating breakfast that morning (Dec. 7, 1941), we heard explosions and saw bombers flying past Diamond Head. My father commented how unusual it was for the military to hold maneuvers on the Lord’s Day, as they ordinarily respected it in those days. The bombers were unarmed U.S. planes—stripped of all extra weight—that could only fly the 2500 miles from the mainland.
Dad, with my brother and me, drove around the corner where two girls waited for a ride to Sunday school. Instead of the girls standing on the curb, their mother, Mrs. Shida, was waiting for us. She said, “Go home. There’s war on and you are supposed to stay off the street!”
We went back home again, but later that day we went to my aunt’s house. From there we could see Honolulu Harbor and Pearl Harbor. A great pall of smoke was rising over Pearl Harbor, eleven miles distant.
Dad had recently received a letter from his friend in New Jersey, brother Gilford Christensen, with whom he corresponded regularly. At the end of the letter was a reference to Deuteronomy 33:2727The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. (Deuteronomy 33:27). We boys did not apprehend the seriousness of war, but we did sense the deep concern of the adults. We knew they were greatly alarmed. There was no meeting that day, but in the afternoon they read the verse together: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee.”
What comfort that brought as many rumors were abroad, like troop ships ready for soldiers to invade the land. The fact was there were no troop ships. The enemy had turned around and was fleeing back to Japan after the attack. The Lord had preserved us.
Dad’s younger brother, my Uncle Bill, was in the Navy’s CBs, the “Construction Battalion.” They followed an invasion to build roads and runways. Although they were not in the forefront of the battle, they were often in danger.
Each time the Navy left for an invasion, Dad had a verse for Uncle Bill for his comfort in the Lord, such as Isaiah 43:22When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. (Isaiah 43:2), “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
At one invasion site Uncle Bill fell overboard. He could not swim but was rescued from drowning. One night, with other Navy men, he was intending to sleep on the beach, as the Army men were doing, rather than on the ship. The soldiers told the Navy men to get back to their ship where they belonged. This they did, and during the night a shell exploded on the beach, and the soldiers were killed. So Uncle Bill was saved from both watery and fiery death.
After the invasions, they came back to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the next assignment. On one occasion before they left for another destination, Dad said, “I don’t understand it, Bill, but I have no verse for you this time.” The ships left, and before they reached their destination the war was over!
T. Roach