Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Grace Sugita Hawley Interview
Narrator: Grace Sugita Hawley
Interviewer: Megan Asaka
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: June 3, 2009
Densho ID: denshovh-hgrace-01-0005

GH: Well, I remember going to my cousin's house because I wanted to show him the Christmas tree my dad had put up the night before. It was a little early when you think about it, December 7th, it's early for Christmas tree. My dad liked to trim the tree, and so he did it the night before, I went to get him. And then we heard all this, sounded like rocks falling on the corrugated roof next door, and our cotton factory had corrugated roof. Sounded like rocks, and it turned out there were shrapnels from the planes. Then we saw planes flying overhead. I took my, I think I took my cousin home, I was so scared. And then finally my father woke up, he thought the kids were throwing rocks at the roof there. And turned on the radio, we found out that we were being attacked. But I saw the airplane with the Japanese pilots. They were that close, because we were, Kalihi is pretty close to that Pearl Harbor, Hickam, that area, 'cause it's close to airport. 'Cause right after airport is Hickam. So the planes, they were flying overhead. I can remember, I can remember those. And because the shrapnels fell, they must have been still shooting at somebody, at other planes, maybe. But all I knew in my ten-year-old mind is that, "Oh, they're gonna land and shoot us and kill us." That's all I thought. I was so scared, I ran into the house. And so that's when our lives changed.

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