Take time out from organizing to remember Pearl Harbor Day or learn about it and significance to our United States heritage.
Veteran's flag image: sxc.hu
I don’t remember the day Pearl Harbor happened, but I recall when the war was over. Our teacher, at the one-room school, learned of the occasion and let us out from school immediately, so we didn’t have a full day.The siren at the local firehouse was sounding, people in cars blew their horns as a friend and I walked along the road toward our homes. My mom was excited because it meant Uncle Al would be coming home. By then her brother was serving in Guam as an Army Air Corps plane mechanic. We only heard from him periodically, when letters with words cut out (there was censorship of soldiers’ mail in that war).
Uncle Al was proud to have served for his country’s freedom and kept his dress uniform to be buried in many years later. He also wanted his medals pinned on his jacket. The flag over his casket was folded and handed to my mom, his only surviving family by that time. She later gave it to me,
“Take care of Uncle Al’s flag.” Unspoken were the words, but the thought was there
…”and remember the men like Al who fought for our country’s freedom.” Which we do on Pearl Harbor Day.
