Growing Up With Pearl Harbor

Growing Up With Pearl Harbor

Monday, December 7th, as I watched the morning news and read the mornings papers about the infamous day that Pearl Harbor was attacked, it always brings back memories of a very special person in my life, my Great Aunt, Pearl McCollum. She didn’t live near us. In fact, she lived all the way on the left coast in a retirement community called “Seal Beach” near San Diego. But, you could count on, at least once or twice a year; she would make her pilgrimage to Oklahoma. Some of the little things I remember that stuck in a little kid’s mind was that she was never without M&Ms and she smoked Salem’s but did not inhale, or so she said. And way back in the 60s, I believe she even smoked them in the house, which I’m sure her step-sister didn’t like, but I don’t remember them ever quarreling over it. Aunt Pearl, as we called her, was a school teacher and she married Mac McCollum, who was an executive with Dole Pineapple. She was much more worldly than most us and had traveled extensively. The most interesting thing about my Aunt Pearl, was that she was in the hospital at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu the day it was bombed. I remember seeing the pictures of Aunt Pearl in a wheelchair with casts on both arms from an auto accident. She would always tell us about her recollections of the bombs going off right down the street from where she was.

It’s kinda interesting to have somebody that close to you that experienced such an awful day in US history. I can’t remember a whole lot of the details but I remember her talking about how afraid everyone was and the uncertainty of what would happen. Remember this was 1941, before streaming video and text messaging and instant news like we have today. News, in those days, traveled mostly by word-of-mouth and radio, or the next day in the newspapers. And when you were at ground zero, the terror would be hard to imagine.

So, that colorful character, who was my Great Aunt, always seemed to have young children at her feet eatin’ M&Ms, breathin’ second-hand Salem smoke and listening to the tales of that fateful day. I didn’t come along until 1961 and so I had to be 5 or 6 before I could even understand the stories. But, I would imagine that to her, the memories were as vivid as if it would have happened the day before. I never met her husband Mac; he died before I was born, as did my grandfather, Aunt Pearl’s step-brother. But, those two men were very real to me, because in addition to her Pearl Harbor tales, she told of the great times that they all had way before I was thought of.
That day in 1941 was probably the first time since Civil War days that a war was actually brought to our soil. Many lives were lost that day and, as we know from the history books, the world changed on December 7th. Since then, 9-11 has been a huge turning point, as well as the OKC bombing when terror struck close to home. For me, December 7th will always bring back memories of a lady who was very special in my life, who helped me understand the horror of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is a chapter in American history that we do not dare forget because our country was forever changed.

As you are reading this article, the deadline for bill introductions in the House is rapidly approaching. This time next week, we will have a full slate of ideas in the pipeline on how to fix everything that is wrong with our state, from the budget to who knows what. In next week’s article, I will give you a rundown on the legislation that I will be introducing. We have got some interesting bills and some just bills. We hope that each little piece will do something to improve the way things are.

If you would like to contact me while I am at the capitol, please do not hesitate to send an email to donarmes@house.gov or call me at 1-800-522-8502.

And here’s a little something to think about as you go down the road:

“I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt