Vegas
12-07-2007, 01:28 PM
http://www.mlive.com/news/flintjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-47/1197039019124890.xml&coll=5
BURTON - It was just before dawn on Dec. 7, 1941, and 16-year-old Louise Bernhardt wasn't happy about the noise that began to envelop Ford Island in Hawaii.
She was getting dressed to teach a Sunday school class when everything suddenly changed.
"I can remember standing in the bathroom in my slip and being upset," she now says. "I was annoyed at the rumbling of the island because I thought they were doing dredging on a Sunday."
The noise, as the world soon found out, was the sound of Japanese torpedo planes en route to attacking the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor.
Today marks the 66th anniversary of the "date which will live in infamy." The attack vividly lives on in the minds of many Americans, especially those who were there, such as Louise Kinsman (her married name), now 82.
Kinsman's dramatic recollections are the stuff of history.
The Burton woman, a self-described Navy brat, recalls her father, a chief petty officer, piling the family into a small car and trying to get away from the attack.
"I remember my mother telling me to put my dress on and hurry because the (naval air) station was on fire," Kinsman said.
"My dad told my mother, 'Get the girls. We've got to get out of here before those ships blow up.' It's ironic that he used that language because 10 minutes later, the USS Arizona blew up."
More than six decades after Pearl Harbor, she said she can still smell and feel the scene.
"The smoke - I can still remember it. The trade winds kept it from being a breathing problem, but there was volumes of it," Kinsman said. "The Arizona burned from Sunday morning to Tuesday afternoon.
"The Arizona blew up about 200 yards from our house. One (Japanese) plane came so close to our house that the pilot looked at us standing on the porch of our house and smiled."
Kinsman - now a mother of four, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of two - stayed in the officers quarters on the night of the attack, then returned to the family home before leaving Hawaii with her mother and sister, Patsy, a few weeks later.
Her father remained in Hawaii, staying for 26 months during the war; his military career had already taken the family to Panama, Virginia and Chicago, among other places.
Kinsman and her mother and sister returned to her parents' hometown of Salisbury, N.C., where she graduated from high school and started college. While in North Carolina, she met Flint native Paul Kinsman and they eventually settled in Flint. They've been married for 63 years.
Pearl Harbor always has remained a part of her life, though, and she hopes to write a book about her experiences before she "forgets."
Kinsman has been active with the state chapter of Pearl Harbor survivors, staying in touch with others like her to talk about the historic event and its ramifications.
"I've met so many peothat I keep in touch with who are also survivors."
But the numbers of survivors are dwindling, said John Henry Wilberding of Shepard, a leader of the state group.
"We're like any veterans group," said Wilberding, 85, who spent 32 years in the service and left Hawaii a year after the Pearl Harbor attack to fight in Europe. "The only difference is we can't add any members."
On the day of the attack, he had just left Mass when the planes roared overhead. Eleven members of his Army unit were killed that day when tents on Wheeler Airfield were destroyed.
Kinsman said as the anniversary approaches every year, she thinks of those who died there.
"I think about all the ones who didn't survive the attacks and those who did but have since passed away," she said. " The fact that I'm still living and was there is an important thing."
Trips with family and senior groups have taken her back to the site of the attack several times. Kinsman is open about discussing Pearl Harbor, but she also would like to move on.
But such incidents as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks only revive the bad memories.
"Sixty-six years later, I'm still trying to put closure on this," she said.
BURTON - It was just before dawn on Dec. 7, 1941, and 16-year-old Louise Bernhardt wasn't happy about the noise that began to envelop Ford Island in Hawaii.
She was getting dressed to teach a Sunday school class when everything suddenly changed.
"I can remember standing in the bathroom in my slip and being upset," she now says. "I was annoyed at the rumbling of the island because I thought they were doing dredging on a Sunday."
The noise, as the world soon found out, was the sound of Japanese torpedo planes en route to attacking the U.S. Navy's Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbor.
Today marks the 66th anniversary of the "date which will live in infamy." The attack vividly lives on in the minds of many Americans, especially those who were there, such as Louise Kinsman (her married name), now 82.
Kinsman's dramatic recollections are the stuff of history.
The Burton woman, a self-described Navy brat, recalls her father, a chief petty officer, piling the family into a small car and trying to get away from the attack.
"I remember my mother telling me to put my dress on and hurry because the (naval air) station was on fire," Kinsman said.
"My dad told my mother, 'Get the girls. We've got to get out of here before those ships blow up.' It's ironic that he used that language because 10 minutes later, the USS Arizona blew up."
More than six decades after Pearl Harbor, she said she can still smell and feel the scene.
"The smoke - I can still remember it. The trade winds kept it from being a breathing problem, but there was volumes of it," Kinsman said. "The Arizona burned from Sunday morning to Tuesday afternoon.
"The Arizona blew up about 200 yards from our house. One (Japanese) plane came so close to our house that the pilot looked at us standing on the porch of our house and smiled."
Kinsman - now a mother of four, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of two - stayed in the officers quarters on the night of the attack, then returned to the family home before leaving Hawaii with her mother and sister, Patsy, a few weeks later.
Her father remained in Hawaii, staying for 26 months during the war; his military career had already taken the family to Panama, Virginia and Chicago, among other places.
Kinsman and her mother and sister returned to her parents' hometown of Salisbury, N.C., where she graduated from high school and started college. While in North Carolina, she met Flint native Paul Kinsman and they eventually settled in Flint. They've been married for 63 years.
Pearl Harbor always has remained a part of her life, though, and she hopes to write a book about her experiences before she "forgets."
Kinsman has been active with the state chapter of Pearl Harbor survivors, staying in touch with others like her to talk about the historic event and its ramifications.
"I've met so many peothat I keep in touch with who are also survivors."
But the numbers of survivors are dwindling, said John Henry Wilberding of Shepard, a leader of the state group.
"We're like any veterans group," said Wilberding, 85, who spent 32 years in the service and left Hawaii a year after the Pearl Harbor attack to fight in Europe. "The only difference is we can't add any members."
On the day of the attack, he had just left Mass when the planes roared overhead. Eleven members of his Army unit were killed that day when tents on Wheeler Airfield were destroyed.
Kinsman said as the anniversary approaches every year, she thinks of those who died there.
"I think about all the ones who didn't survive the attacks and those who did but have since passed away," she said. " The fact that I'm still living and was there is an important thing."
Trips with family and senior groups have taken her back to the site of the attack several times. Kinsman is open about discussing Pearl Harbor, but she also would like to move on.
But such incidents as the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks only revive the bad memories.
"Sixty-six years later, I'm still trying to put closure on this," she said.