Alice Harder Sorensen, continued 3

"I remember hearing a sentry yell, ‘When the hell are they going to relieve me?’ I think he was posted at the guard fence. I remember the ground shaking and the part of the dining room of the Momsen’s house was shot off. The next thing I remember is calling my mother to tell her I was safe and that I would get home as soon as possible. Mother didn’t know we were at war. When I told her, she ran next door to tell the neighbors. Of course, they didn’t believe her."

“I didn’t leave Makalapa until 2 p.m. that day. I was evacuated in a caravan and driven home. When I got home, mother told me that Mrs. Rudee called. Mrs. Rudee was an old family friend from their days at St. John’s Military Academy in Delafield, whose husband was stationed at Hickam. Mrs. Rudee asked Mother if she and three other wives from Hickam could stay with us because their homes had been strafed by machine gun fire from low-flying Japanese planes and their entire housing area was evacuated. Of course, my mother welcomed them.

“When Mrs. Rudee and the other Hickam wives arrived, I remember staring into the car they came in. The car had been used as an ambulance during the attack and the back seat was covered with blood. A wool Army blanket had been draped over the seats, but some blood seeped through and couldn’t be hidden."

PHOTO: Battleship Row, December 7, 1941
Women of World War II Hawaii