Category Archives: War & Peace

Typed in darkness, a letter describes the day after the Pearl Harbor attack

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“Another night, and we are again in darkness. It will be another long dark night of waiting and watching.”

That’s how my mother began a letter to her sister, typed in darkness during the blackout on December 8, 1941, a day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Click on the letter, below, to read a larger version.

from my mom to her sister

The short, half-page typed letter reflected rampant rumors (continuing raids on Pearl Harbor or Hickam, and “skirmishes” involving planes flying over head the night of December 7, machine gun fire on Kahala Beach, flares fired by Japanese sympathizers, etc.).

My mother’s parents had driven from their home in Waipahu and moved in the day before. On the 8th, She wrote that my father had gone to his job as a manager at the downtown Honolulu office of Dohrmann Hotel Supply Company, a San Francisco-based wholesaler of restaurant and hotel equipment and supplies. Her father and younger brother drove back to Waipahu to retrieve their stored canned goods, fearing they might otherwise be lost in an uprising by plantation workers. Meanwhile my mother and my grandmother went up the hill to Kaimuki in search of food, and managed to to get “liver and meat for stew that will keep us in food for this week.”

It’s an interesting bit of family history that sheds light on the historical events of the day.

December 7 was my dad’s birthday

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I’ve recycled this post a couple of times in the past, as it is so appropriate for December 7. I’ve updated it slightly, but it’s otherwise unedited.

Kahala Beach 1940December 7, my dad’s birthday. He would have been 103 today. At one time, I thought he might very well live to this age. Instead, he passed away in 2010, shortly before his 97th.

Now that we’re here in Kahala, and walking on Kahala Beach every morning (with other people’s dogs), it seems appropriate to repost this photo of my parents walking the same beach, probably soon after they were married. That was in December 1939, so I’m guessing this was perhaps in 1940 or so. They rented a house for a while on Kealaolu, just past Farmers Road. Then in early 1942, they bought the house where they would live for the rest of their long lives. And we moved back to that property a few months ago after completing major renovations.

In the photo, they’re walking with Kiki, my mother’s dog. That appears to be Black Point in the distance. Familiar territory. And those look like large crab holes in the sand. You don’t see those along that beach any more.

We walk the same stretch of beach these days, at least on some mornings, a sort of continuity that I’m still coming to terms with.

And, of course, December 7 is synonymous with the attack on Pearl Harbor. My parents told of being wakened by a telephone call from my mom’s mother in Waipahu, telling about what she described as the unusually realistic maneuvers underway.

But years later, I found a letter my mother wrote to her sister on December 7.

Here’s what I posted about it a couple of years ago.

It was in a box of papers uncovered yesterday afternoon as I slogged through another section of a small storeroom at my parents’ home in Kahala. The papers are dirty, faded, and covered with a fine layer of dust and rather old looking termite droppings and other bits of unknown origin. The papers included bits of genealogy, a collection of British newspapers reporting the funeral of King George VI and the coronation of Elizabeth, a carefully tied bundle of Bonnie’s school work from first through third grades, etc., etc. Then there was a small sheet of blue paper, folded in thirds. I immediately recognized my mother’s clear handwriting.

It’s a letter from my mother to her sister, Marguerite, written late on the morning of December 7, 1941, my father’s 28th birthday, as machine gun fire could be heard overhead and puffs of smoke seen in the sky.

The paper is brittle, there’s some old termite damage, but this treasure survived.

I’ve transcribed it below. You can see the original letter here.

Dec. 7, 1941
11:30 a.m.

Dear Margot:

Something is brewing but we don’t exactly know what the score is. We were awakened by a telephone call from Ma this morning saying that Japanese planes were bombing Pearl Harbor. I had a big head from a party last night so didn’t talk very much. She told John the house was shaking like a leaf. We’ve been sitting here watching the shooting. I wish I were at Waipahu to see more of it. We have to be content with just watching the puffs from the shots.

Every 10 minutes an announcement is made over the radio for people to report for one thing or another. The latest report is total blackout tonight. We still don’t know whether this is real or not. Jimi was called for sea-scout duty early this morning. All ROTC students are getting their equipment. I guess they’ll patrol the streets. One funny thing happened today. We went out to the street to watch them haul cannons. The soldiers were throwing kisses to all the gals along the street.

Guess we’ll have to stay put today. We can’t use the telephone anymore & we can’t drive our cars, so here we are.

11:50 Well, there goes the radio. Station KGMB has been ordered off the air. Governor Poindexter is declaring a state of emergency on station KGU. There come the planes!! Oh, oh, and machine gun fire right above us. I’m getting jittery! Shucks, this letter won’t get to you anyway; might as well quit.

The letter was never mailed, and my mom saved the original all those years. At this point, I deeply appreciate her inability to throw things away.

See December 8: Another 75-year old letter written in the dark on the day following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Former island woman founded agency aiding refugees in Greece

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As far as I know, I’ve never met Ariel Ricker.

She lived in Honolulu for a couple of years, working first as a law clerk for Circuit Court Judge Steve Alm, who just retired, then working in the Senate Majority Research Office at the Legislature.

Ricker then traveled to Europe, where she has founded a nonprofit group, Advocates Abroad, that provides legal assistance to refugees.

I’ve been following her activities from a distance. Frankly, I’m awed and humbled by her ability to dive into relief work among the refugees in different parts of Europe.

Her Facebook posts give a personal look at what’s happening on the ground in areas inundated with refugees.

Advocates Abroad provides remote and on the ground advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers in Greece, other EU member states, and Turkey.

Advocates Abroad is a non-governmental organization, registered in Greece, and comprised of more than 100 lawyers, human rights experts, academics, and government officials.

The field teams of Advocates Abroad are based primarily in Greece, where they provide daily aid to the 60,000 refugees and asylum seekers currently stranded throughout the country.

BBC is airing a short interview with her about the fire at Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos.

“They have nothing and no one is helping them,” she said.

Her Facebook posts of the past 24 hours tell more about the situation and the role of international organizations and volunteers.

24 hours ago: The riot earlier today at #Moria rages on. Now fires light up the night and refugees who fled the camp earlier to avoid injury are stranded outside. Stay safe, all.

23 hours ago: Could this be the night this camp burns down completely?

23 hours ago: Moria has nearly been entirely burnt down, FRS and family compound still standing. Refugees have fled, in Mytilene now. NGO offices and tents destroyed. No word on authority response.

Im told by several refugee and official sources that it began as a fight with the afghans and another nationality.

If anyone else is here in Mytilene, please PM me. I’d like to head by the harbor where refugees are gathering, to pass out water and check for basic first aid needs. I have a car, and will be heading there in a bit.

23 hours: Swimming pool hall/harbor is the place to be now, you medics and EMTs. Anyone able to pick up bottled water and has a first aid kit, please join us there. I am going back to Moria to check on a few clients first.

22 hours: Entered Moria by back entrance. Can anyone come with water and biscuits.
Extremely extremely hostile local crowd.police waved us through, kept us safe from locals screaming at us for entering to help.

21 hours: Qualified medics needed inside Moria. Injuries all around, worst ones inside. Destroyed interiors of camp keeping pregnant and wheelchairs trapped.
Where are the NGOs? I see 3 groups: #advocatesabroad #unitedrescueaid and #Eurorelief who just showed up.

20 hours:
Inside the family compound. Injured, pregnant, elderly, all alone, all begging for help. I’m alone here, trying to help well over 120 vulnerables. Please someone come help. We need doctors, medics, please!

20 hours: Before gd, I will not forget this night and those who refused to escort the injured to the gate where the few medics wait. These are the people denied help by the only other NGO here: the 9 month woman, the 73 year old alone with massive anxiety, breathing problems, the sick children everywhere.

If you ‘don’t know’ if you can help walk a pregnant woman down a dangerous hill with fires and fights flaring up then you shouldn’t be here. Help or get out of the way.
Meanwhile, medics are needed inside. Entrance is not an issue, once you get past the riots of villagers and police barricade . Please come. If you’re willing to act. Stay out if you aren’t.

17 hours: Thank you #movementontheground #becausewecarry – your nurse and medical team made a world of difference, arranged by Justine Grace Swaab. Thank you #eurorelief for coordinating a massive relief effort of water, food, checking on camp residents, all at 2, 3am. You guys are unflappable and great to work with.

Thank you #URA and #SAO for your quick reaction and transport of vulnerables to #Pikpa and #Attika, where many volunteers cooked and tended to very shaken and injured individuals. Thank you Manos Kalaitzis Jonas Hein, two steady and quick thinking Advocates of #AdvocatesAbroad.

I got a ton of messages from Facebookers tonight looking to help – thank you. Tents, sleeping bags and pads, clothes, mens shoes, water, food, and medical attention are still badly needed. The camp is quiet now with many sleeping. Doctors, medics, nurses please come tomorrow if possible.
Stay safe and keep loving. Kali nychta.

17 hours: Many, many serious injuries from rocks and fights, most common was head injury and broken bones. Smoke inhalation a major issue for kids, esp as fires were next to and in front of family compound.

Panic attacks, nervous breakdowns by many, esp the women.

14 hours: “Dear Mrs Ricker what are you doing in our homeland? Greece is for Greeks. Get out.”

Only one response possible: “Being awesome.”

Well, the fascists were bound to find me AND incorrectly assume I had tethered myself to a male in those happy bonds of matrimony.

Here’s Ricker’s advice to those who would like to support Advocates Abroad.

Hey everyone, thank you for the support. I’m getting messages asking how to donate to me and my NGO, #advocatesabroad. As most of you know, we provide free legal services all over Greece in person, and all over Europe and the Middle East remotely. I fund most of the NGO, so its kind of you all to offer help.

First thing I’m going to put donations toward is replenishing my first aid kit, which was depleted completely tonight.

Paypal is best, with no commission: ariel.ricker@gmail.com

Otherwise: https://www.gofundme.com/arielricker/donate

Thank you all. Good night.

Media watchdog questions Syria reporting

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The media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) featured an interesting article last week which dug into reporting on the breakdown of the ceasefire in Syria brokered by the U.S. and Russia in early 2016 (“How Media Distorted Syrian Ceasefire’s Breakdown“).

The long report by longtime investigative reporter and national security policy analyst, Gareth Porter, dings the media for “forgetting” the chain of events that led to the breakdown of the ceasefire.

And he further criticized news coverage for viewing the ceasefire primarily as an issue in the global rivalry between the U.S. and Russia rather than for its impact on the people living in the Syrian war zone.

Porter argues the ceasefire was undermined when so-called “moderate” rebels supported by the CIA joined in a military offensive in concert with the fighters from the Al Nusra Front, which he refers to as “the Al Qaeda franchise in Syria.”

The ceasefire, or “partial cessation of hostilities,” covered the Assad government and the moderate, non-jihadist armed groups. But it explicitly excluded the conflict between Assad and both Al Nusra and ISIS.

It was expected to prompt the so-called “moderate” groups to distance themselves from ISIS and Al Nusra.

Porter wrote:

But instead of separating themselves from Nusra Front, the US-supported armed opposition joined with Nusra and its jihadist allies in a major offensive aimed at destroying the ceasefire. Charles Lister, a leading British specialist on the jihadists in Syria, has recounted being told by the commander of a US-backed armed group that around March 20, Nusra officials began a round of meetings with non-jihadist opposition groups from Hama, Latakia and southern Aleppo—including those supported by the United States—to persuade them to participate in a major offensive against the Assad regime, rather than in a ceasefire and political negotiations.

But most mainstream reporting that followed ignored the rebels joint military offensive and implied that it was the Assad government and its Russian backers who were responsible for the collapse of the ceasefire and the new round of open warfare.

In any case, it is a very interesting read.

And an important one, given the central role that the Syrian conflict now plays in both the reemerging cold war between the U.S. and Russia, and the refugee diaspora that now threatens Europe in many different ways.