I repeat: It is impossible for me to understand the depth of pain that Gussie Ornellas experienced. I've come to love her, and wish her comfort. Were it not for Gussie, none of this project would have begun. Dear Gussie, Thank you.
Oral histories typically are grouped in collections. Some are by location (Gussie's is in the Kalihi collection); some are by occupation (the Center for Oral History has a collection of lei makers' stories); and some are by time period or event (There is a World War II collection).
It's not easy to read an honestly transcribed oral history. It's not smooth reading; it's filled with ahs, ums, pauses, grammar errors and time sequence confusion. Logic and time may skew in different directions. Oral historians deal with these "errors" in different ways. Most handle it as lightly, yet accurately as possible. In this blog, I'll just put notes in for you to read as you go along.
Gussie's interviewer was Michiko Kodama, the wife and full-partner of the Center for Oral History's founder, Warren Nishimoto. In the interview with Gussie Ornellas, Kodama asked Gussie if her mother was home that morning. (Gussie's mother-in-law was in the car with her husband Frank and herself on the way home from church that morning.)
She replied, "Yeah, my mother was feeding the chickens. She saw the stones [the shrapnel]. . . well, they're like stones because they're iron--and she says, 'Oh, my goodness, I wonder who's. . . you know. Because in the olden days, if they wanted to break a big rock, they used to put powder and explode the thing. It used to fly around. So, she says, 'Oh why are they doing that?' She didn't know what it was."
(I will post several photos of anti-aircraft shrapnel in mid-air, mixed with smoke. At a distance, it does look like stones, and could easily have been some blasting.)
In another part of the interview, Michiko Kodama asked Gussie, "As a mother, what sort of customs or values--you know--beliefs--that you wanted to pass on to your children when they were growing up?"
Gussie's answer was: "Well, I used to tell them is to try and do the best they could in school. Make friends, try hard, and be a good boy. [Gussie also had daughters, but immediately preceding this question, she was discussing her boys' schools.] Don't go around and then come home and say, 'Mom, I did this, and you going to be called,' and stuff like that, you see. I says, 'Always behave.'"
The full interview runs about six pages. I've included most of what she said about December 7, 1941. She did talk about daily life and her children's education. One of her boys went to St. Louis, the other went to Farrington. Her daughter Barbara attended Sacred Hearts Academy then Gussie and Frank had to tranfer her to St. Theresa's because the tuition at Sacred Hearts was too high.
In my interview with Lovey James, she mentions the Ornellas Family and the funeral.
Warren Nishimoto and his wife Michiko Kodama are the heart, soul, inspiration, guts and engine of the Center for Oral History at the University of Hawaii. . Much of the collection has been published in hard copy and can be found libraries in Hawaii. The URL for the COH is http://www.oralhistory.hawaii.edu/
PHOTO: This Department of the Navy photo shows Pearl Harbor with anti-aircraft bein shot into the air. It is understandable why Gussie's mother would think these are the "stones" of a blast.
0 comments:
Post a Comment