Alice Harder Sorensen

I met Alice Harder Sorensen at an American Pen Women meeting in Hawaii. I let it be known that I wanted to meet women who were in Hawaii during World War II and we were introduced and became fast friends. We talked before the meeting, almost through the beginning, and afterwards. We didn't want to let go of each other. There was so much to tell.

Alice arranged that we meet at The Outrigger Club in Waikiki. The Outrigger is one of the few private clubs on Waikiki Beach. It's decor is still old Hawaiiana--lava rock, koa, open lanai, and sprays of birds of paradise in coconut shell vases.

Alice is a very young looking woman, she is tall, strong, quick to smile and easy to be with. She told me so many stories of her family--of the Harders being among the first beer brewmasters, of her daytrip to see the landing of the first plane on Oahu, of her early days at Punahou, her acting during the war, of her husband, and children and grandchildren.

Eventually, we got to World War II.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Alice was at Makalapa Navy Housing spending the weekend visitng her friend Evelyn Momsen. She told me that Evelyn's father was Commander "Swede" Momsen, as if I should know him.

"You know, the Momsen Lung," she said.

I had no idea who or what a Momsen lung was or is.

"He was responsible for saving the lives of the crew of the submarine Squalus."

I made a note to myself to research Commander Momsen, but Alice wouldn't quit. She continued as if she could jog my memory. "Peter Maas wrote a book about it, The Terrible Hours, and there was a movie, Submerged."

I promised her I'd find out about the Commander. (You can read about Commander Momsen in www.wikipedia.org, or in the Navy Historical Records website.)

Alice went back to her story about the morning of the war. She was nineteen years old, a freshman at the University of Hawaii, dating the love of her life, Christian "Chris" Sorensen, and not particularly enamored with being a student.

“I remember that that morning, Evelyn and I were awoken by the attack. We popped out of our beds and ran to look out the windows that faced Pearl Harbor. The Momsen’s house was on a slight hill and from the back yard we could look straight across to Pearl Harbor. We put on our robes and went downstairs and out into the yard."

PHOTO: Alice, Chris Sorensen with their son.
Women of World War II Hawaii