Dan's Papers - December 14, 2007 - Pearl Harbor And The North Fork

Emotions Run High For North Forkers Who Remember Thier Travels To An Important Place

Back in the late 1980s, I walked into my English classroom of high school seniors (I liked them then, but now I know I loved 'em) and said "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's December 7, Pearl Harbor Day. Let's think about that for a minute." Student Bonnie raised her hand and asked, "Mrs. L., is that the day they dumped the tea in the harbor?"

Well, this Mrs. L. thought about that and mumbled something like, "I know it was 1941, Bonnie, long before you were born. But it's important that we know and remember."

Later that night at our supper table, we talked about Bonnie and her question. My husband pointedly inquired what I knew of WWI when I was in high school. After all, that was long before I was born.

Even so, I think of Bonnie every December 7. And I page through local newspapers in search of significant attention to that not-quite-winter Sunday of our lives so many years ago. Occasionally I find a paragraph or two. Not much more. This year's just-passed December 7 was no exception. So I write now to comfort myself. And perhaps you.

I visited Pearl Harbor twice when my daughter, then in the U.S. Navy, was stationed in Hawaii. At Pearl Harbor I looked into the depths at the remains of that great battleship Arizona. And then out to the horizon, visualizing the planes, the ships, the men young and old. I'd seen all the action in the movies. Who hasn't? But this was different. This, for some reason, was peaceful The hundreds of tourists were quiet as befit this watery graveyard. Turning, I looked into the eyes of another sightseer who smiled and spoke. He told me and my uniformed daughter that he and his wife were tourists from Japan.

Other North Forkers have Pearl Harbor memories, too. Those memories are varied, for sure. For example, I met Thomas Noone and his wife Margaret in Riverhead. I just walked right up to Tom, said hello and asked him about Pearl Harbor. That's because he was wearing a cap reading USS ARIZONA, PEARL HARBOR.

Tom, who lives in Mattituck, told me he and his bride Margaret had honeymooned in Hawaii long years ago. They visited several islands, one more lovely than the next. They saw waterfalls, volcanoes, exotic flowers. They swam in the Pacific, ate wonderful new foods, listened to and loved Hawaiian music. But they did not go to Pearl Harbor. I guess my eyes questioned this.

And Tom responded, with sorrow in his own honest eyes. "I just couldn't. I felt the Arizona was a grave and I was unable to look into it." Here it was, so many years later, and this North Fork husband and wife, and the stranger who had approached them, were silent, understanding this moment.

"Well," I said, trying to lighten the mood, "why that hat?" Tom said his son had been in Hawaii recently and brought it back as a gift. As simple as that. I left Tom and Margaret, knowing I had chanced upon two North Fork people I really wanted to hug.

I'd hug this next guy, too, if the opportunity came along. He's Cutchogue's Stan Rubenstein and his only visit to Pearl Harbor came years before the December 7 Memorial was completed. In 1950, Stan, a proud Navy man, boarded the USS Missouri in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. From there through the Panama Canal, to Pearl Harbor and then to Korea.

Back in 1950, a night at a hotel on Waikiki Beach cost $5. Stan could afford that so he lived it up for a few days. Before going to Korea.

Take it from Stan. Not even a young guy with a few bucks in his pocket went to Pearl Harbor without thinking of what happened there - in Stan's case, fewer than 10 years before. Up until a few years ago Stan phoned, on each December 7, a cousin (also named Stan and now deceased) who was on a destroyer in Pearl Harbor on that day in 1941. The only destroyer that made it to safety.

Stan came home from Korea to teach high school social studies for 24 years. I suspect December 7 was never given short shrift.

So Bonnie, wherever you are, I trust this December 7 found you well and happy. If you recall that long-ago classroom, I hope it is not just for the grammar or literature that came your way. Now you know what so many have sacrificed for you and me. Pass it on to your kids - lest we forget.