About four houses from the Momsen home, lived Captain and Mrs. John Earle. All the homes are situated on a rise that overlooks Pearl Harbor. When Alice and I walked Makalapa housing in 2004, she couldn't remember exactly where Momsen lived. There is now a wall around the housing area, the trees have grown tall, and the highway cuts part of the area where Alice remembers walking with Evelyn.
The morning of the attack, Mrs. Earle was out on the lawn too. "I stood there and watched the planes circling in figure 8’s, the bombing the ships, turning and dropping more bombs. It was impossible, even as I watched it happen I was unable to believe the unbelievable.”
Mrs. Earle said, “I ached with pity for Admiral Kimmel." She watched him as he stared at Battleship Row. "I couldn't keep my eyes off what was happening," she said, "I saw the Arizona lift and fall. Then slowly, sickeningly, the Oklahoma began to roll over on her side, until only her bottom could be seen. It was awful, great ships were dying before my eyes. Strangely enough, at first I didn’t realize that men were dying too.”
PHOTOS: All photos are from the Department of the Navy. The first on the left is the Maryland and the Oklahoma under attack. The other two photos are of the salvage of the Oklahoma.
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