Patrick Lum

Honolulu is made up of sleepy-eyed neighborhoods, but of them all, thought 13-year-old Pat Lum, Kaimuki was undoubtedly the sleepiest.He looked around for the Sunday paper, but it hadn't been delivered.None of the guys were out yet, so he watched a few Army and Navy planes maneuvering lazily in the west near Pearl City.

Then suddenly, as if they had come from nowhere, wave after wave of planes screamed into sight, dived crazily, roared almost overhead, then zoomed away, only to be followed by more.

He noticed that some had red flags painted on them, and somehow, those flags looked vaguely familiar.Then he remembered -- they were the same kind the Japanese kids played with on holidays.They were probably supposed to be the enemy, and they were really putting on a show.

Must be trying to impress some Mainland brass.

After a while, the sun got a little warm on his back, but he was reluctant to go into the house, knowing that his mother would find some sissy job for him to do.

...
"Patrick Lum!You think I got nothing to do but watch maneuvers?Why they practice eight o'clock Sunday morning when people want to sleep?Why sirens 'eeeee' all the time?Better you do your ironing now.No more argument about which child should use the iron first."

...
"Pat, I tell you before many times, we all pinch.Older children, Henry, Richard, Margaret, not have a chance for college, but someday George, Kenneth, Mary, you -- all go to college on the Mainland.You'll see ..."

"I heard Auntie Chang tell you it's a waste of money to send girls to college."

"That's old-fashioned.
...
"Why the long face, Pat?Turn on the radio.Be happy."

We listened to the music until the announcer broke in:

"All Army, Navy and Marine personnel report for duty immediately.This is Station KGMB ..."

"Why they call men on Sunday?
...
Pat, please you tell other children to get up.And Papa, too.Sometimes siren's mean everything's OK.All the time now, something's not right.We all lounged around the kitchen, drinking coffee, listening to the newscasts and music.When the phone rang, Richard answered it.

"It was Uncle Luke.He says the Japanese really are bombing Pearl Harbor.They've sunk the Arizona.
...
"All right, Pat," Richard said, "get your books and get busy.It's study time now."

"You mean I have to study with a war on?"

He gave me a crack with a stick he kept in the corner.I opened a book.
...
Though Pat Lum had longed fiercely to do something spectacular toward the war effort, all his spare time was spent frying hamburgers in the stand Mama set up across from Fort DeRussy.

And Mama, despite the fact that she could neither read nor write, did make her dream come true.Thanks to her intelligence and hard work, four younger children did go to college on the Mainland.

When Pat graduated from the University of Illinois, he worked several years in Florida, then transferred to Savannah, Ga., where he did scientific research for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It has been 60 years since that chaotic day at Pearl Harbor.But the other day when a squadron of maneuvering plans roared overhead, a siren screamed in the distance ... and he was back in Kaimuki.

Sixty years?Only yesterday.

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