Pearl Harbor

The Boschen and Hotchkiss Families

Sunday, December 7, 1941

The Boschens

Honolulu Hawaii

Nancy clears the breakfast plates as Hank, coffee in one hand, a newspaper in the other, starts for the bedroom to get dressed on another beautiful morning in Hawaii. Hank has been working long hours overseeing the construction of concrete piers in the harbor and he is looking forward to a relaxing day, maybe he and Nancy will snorkel or maybe they’ll head inland. Maybe they’ll just sit and relax.

The phone rings, it’s Archie Carswell.

“Hank, the island is being bombed!” Archie screams, “The Japs are bombing the harbor!”

“Ha!” says Hank “Archie, you had a late night. You should dunk your head in a cold bucket of water.”

“Hank, we’re under attack! They are bombing the harbor and two shells just whistled over our house! Go outside and look!”

From the kitchen Nancy calls anxiously.

“Hank, the radio just announced that the airfields at Kaneohe have been bombed! I think something big is going on.”

Hank hangs up the phone, dresses quickly and walks outside into the Hawaiian morning. The sun, still low on the horizon is warm on his back, a gentle breeze blows from the west and the blue sky is dotted with puffy cumulus. He hears dull thumping and in the distance he sees black splotches dotting the sky. From watching the Navy’s training exercises he knows it’s anti-aircraft fire. In the same direction Hank hears a faint hum growing louder. Nancy comes out with a pair of binoculars and hands them to Hank who raises them in the direction of the sound and there, peeking out between the clouds, he sees a flight of nine single-engine planes, the blood red insignia of the rising sun on their wings. The planes disappear behind a cloud only to reappear with a rising shriek, diving toward the harbor. The Japs are bombing the Pearl Harbor.

Sunday evening

The Hotchkiss family

Schenectady, New York

Eugene, known by most as Gene, and Georgina sit in the front seat of their new Ford convertible. Bright red and still shiny despite the New York winter, it is the first new car they’ve owned and Eugene loves how it drives. The salesman told him “You’ll find it in a Ford!” and he was right.

The car is a coupe so the kids, Anne, Julie and Casey, approaching her third birthday, sit in the small back seat, pressed together, knees at their chest for warmth then lean against the back of the front seat, the better to talk to Pa and Ma and see out the windshield. All are bundled against the cold for though the car’s heater blows warm air, the cold of December takes a while to shake.

The drive from Schenectady to Troy is not too far, under an hour. Grandpa Hotchkiss is the President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, nearing his retirement, and Sunday dinners with Grandpa and Grandma are a treat.

Ma’s gloved hands are in her lap while Pa’s are on the wheel. The Count Basie Orchestra plays over the radio and Pa’s fingers keep time tapping on the steering wheel. Just as Basie’s band starts its third song of the evening a voice interrupts the broadcast. The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in a surprise attack in the early morning. The details are sketchy but it is clear that the war in Europe and in Asia has come to America. The newscaster reports that thousands of men have perished and several battleships were sunk where they lay at anchor. The President is to address the nation soon.

As the newscaster relays what he knows the girls notice that Pa is driving slower. His head is cocked so that is ear faces the radio. Ma is concentrating, facing the radio, watching intently. The girls hear the newscaster and sense significance but just what the significance is they are not sure. At the end of the broadcast the radio returns to Count Basie and music fills the car but Pa’s fingers are no longer tapping the steering wheel. Instead he just drives, quietly, eyes on the road.

After a few minutes Ma says to Pa “I’m sure your sister and Hank are fine. They live far from the harbor.” Her words seem meant to comfort but lack conviction, certainty. Pa says nothing.

Count Basie continues but neither Ma nor Pa seem to be listening. Pa just looks at the road and Ma at her hands clasped in her lap. After some time Pa turns down the radio and looks in the rear view mirror catching the eyes of the older girls, Anne and Julie.

“Girls” he says, “did you hear the radio just now”

“Yes” they reply.

“And do you know what the man said on the radio?”

“Yes” they reply, though not with certainty.

“Okay” Pa says “Now, do me a favor, we will be at your grandparents soon and I would rather you not mention what you heard to your grandparents.”

Their father makes eye contact with them both. “ It might upset grandmother”, he adds. “Can you keep that secret?”

(The Boschens were Ted/Karen/Steve's maternal great aunt and uncle. The Hotchkiss were their maternal grandparents)