Pearl Harbor anniversary draws interest in plight of civilians who survived Japanese attack

[The Straight Story]

Pearl Harbor anniversary draws interest in plight of civilians who survived Japanese attack
By AUDREY McAVOY

HONOLULU (AP) — Children carried gas masks to the playground. Military officers commanded civilian courts under martial law. Residents feared enemy troops would parachute into the mountains and then swarm the beaches.

This year’s 66th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor offers reminders of how the assault upended the lives of Hawaii’s civilians, in addition to the severe damage inflicted on the military.

“It was scary,” said Joan Martin Rodby, who had to carry a gas mask everywhere as a 10-year-old — even as she sat for her fifth-grade class portrait in 1942. “It was more or less living in constant fear they were always going to come back.”

...

Civilian survivors who recall the attack include Hawaii’s two U.S. senators, who both were 17-year-old boys at the time.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, now 83, said he served as a first-aid volunteer, helping treat civilians who were wounded in his Honolulu neighborhood. In 1943, he joined a celebrated all-Japanese-American unit and was highly decorated for combat valor.

http://www.dailyjournalonline.com/articles/2007/12/07/news/doc47598523a7076605587627.txt

[taterguy]

1. Civilians my ass

They knew the risks associated with living next to a major military base.