On December 7, 1941, the unthinkable occurred.
Japan attacked the United States.
My mother always claimed it was not true.
But it was, Hawaii woke up to a swarm of planes out of the west.
They attacked the ships in the harbor.
Many never got past their front door, including my mother's aunt Norma.
She was a runaway teenager training as a nurse but too young.
Her brother was taking care of her and had her marry a widow.
Just in case his parents showed up without warning.
Instead, the Japanese showed up.
Her husband was lost as a pilot.
And she was replaced by a possible German girl who set out to dissuade the family that there was a threat.
Before this day, there was a warning.
One woman had gone along with many others to Japan.
She left when her husband was reported dead or disappeared.
She had to leave immediately with her infant son.
Her in laws were in fear of her staying any longer.
The land of the Samurai.
Actually, she had come after the Great war
A family with contacts and export licenses
Important to a family
She had fought her way through the jungles
Carrying her sone with her to get him away
From the murders who had taken his father
And made it to her garden club in California
Only to have them show up anyways
To claim their rightful heir
The reverse of Madame Butterfly
Land of Tea and the last Asian Royals.
The Japanese were proud people.
Never to give in to another power.
And yet they had begun to fear their nearest neighbor across the Pacific.
It would have been better to go after Mexico, but they only had boring resorts.
America had those ports with war ships.
They were marked as the enemy.
It is said that at least one pair of flyers made it up to Alaska.
An impossible feat to fly across the Pacific.
Amelia Earhart had gotten lost on her quest to cross.
Or had she?
Lindberg had lucked out in his crossing starting on the wrong side of the Atlantic.
It is still felt that some kept the two from France from making the crossing.
They did not want the Germans to follow.
Here now were not the Russians who had been knocked down by a revolution.
But the Japanese who had traded with America for hundreds of years.
Why attack them now? Thier own friends?
One lone individual made it through his squadron to his vantage.
He was determined.
He separated at the first chance and never returned to the training grounds.
He kept on flying on winds he had learned from his grandfather.
He made it to the coast of California.
To land in an old garden he may have visited once a lifetime ago.
Like Madame Butterfly he was taken from his white mother and returned to Japan.
He loved her and did not believe in this disaster that was about to happen.
His plane swooped down on the garden club without warning.
They sent for her, they knew it was her son.
Who lay there in his cockpit calling out?
Crying she cradled him as he shouted.
His warning went to the hearts of the garden club.
They sent out their blooms, and fires were lit up and down the coast.
Too late for Hawaii, although also warned.
They did warn California of the oncoming targets.
Even Roosevelts mother was said to reside in Hawaii.
A Paradise not to be likened to hell.
But Hell is what they say the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
Those who believe it did occur.
And why would anyone deny it?
While a lone plane was pushed into an old barn by a group of hardened gardeners.
They knew when it was time to uproot an unruly blight on the landscape.
They also knew when to prepare to save the forests or field of flowers.
They say he survived under his mother's care.
But could not be caught in California.
He wandered the America continent never to go home again.
Always seeking an escape from a terrible war which would tear apart both sides of his family.
And yet, no one ever spoke of his bravery.
Or have you heard?
The different stories are there, and some say he cost the Japanese nothing
Even frustrating the Germans from taking a foot hold.
In fact, he might have saved his country from being swallowed forever.
Perhaps as an old man he finally got to step foot on a Japan that wished to become American.
Maybe some have forgotten the wages war seeks from the host country.
Neither will survive, in the end, both will have been ravaged.
War is dangerous when it is necessary.
And when it is not necessary it is still dangerous.
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