Harlocker viewed Japanese raid from rooftop
<p>Nancy Harlocker, 85, witnessed the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor 75 years ago from the rooftop of her home in Manoa Valley, which is 6 miles away from Pearl Harbor. Harlocker vividly remembers her father, Henry Gibson, come into her room to wake her. "Get up. Get up. We're at war," her father said.</p>
<p>Nancy Harlocker holds "We Remember Pear Harbor." The book, written by Lawrence Reginald Rodriggs, includes a collection of 50 personal accounts by civilians who lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor and subsequent war years on the Hawaiian Islands.</p>
<p>Nancy Harlocker witnessed the attack on Pearl harbor from the rooftop of her home, shown here.</p>
DALTON GARDENS — When Nancy Harlocker was awakened to the roar of Japanese planes flying above her home in Hawaii 75 years ago today, the 10-year-old didn't hit the deck.
She went to her rooftop with her brother, Bob, to view the commotion instead.
"We had a three-story house and my bedroom opened onto the roof," said the Dalton Gardens woman, reflecting on today's 75th anniversary of the surprise Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor that led to the United States' involvement in World War II.
"My father (Henry Gibson) said, 'Get up. We're at war.' I climbed out to see the planes fly through the valley."
Harlocker lived in Manoa Valley about 6 miles from Pearl Harbor, but she could see the "red rising suns" on the Japanese airplanes as they flew through the valley sideways.
"They flew less than a mile from the house," she said. "My father was out in the front yard shooting at them with his rifle. He knew that we were going to war, but just didn't realize that it would start in our backyard."
After realizing Harlocker and her brother were on the roof, Gibson yelled for them to go inside the house.
A gas station was bombed about 2 miles from their home and Harlocker vividly remembers the huge plume of smoke that rose as a result.
Harlocker said her dad, who was a dentist, was the "original preparer" so the family had a lot of guns, ammunition, stored water and supplies.
"We were prepared," she said. "We had our bags backed and were ready to go to the mountains. We had two bathtubs filled with water in case they poisoned the water.
"We later learned that the Japanese intended to take over the island. They didn't, but they could have."
The attacks changed life on the island for years, said Harlocker, now 85.
"We couldn't have lights on for almost five years because, if the Japanese came back, we didn't want them to see us," she said. "We had one room where we'd go at night to listen to the radio because we didn't have TV."
During that timespan, the shorelines were restricted with barbed wire so neither residents nor the Japanese could enter that area.
"I'll never forget the day that we were allowed to finally go back to the beach," she said.
The locals assisted with the recovery efforts after the attacks.
"There was a lot of teamwork," she said. "There were Japanese people on the island, and we all got along. I don't remember my friends' parents being interrogated."
Harlocker's father cared for patients at the hospitals due to his medical background and the overwhelmed facilities. Harlocker's school was converted into a hospital, so she attended class at the University of Hawaii instead.
Throughout the war, residents were warned with sirens in case of a possible attack and, when that occurred, residents jumped in trenches with gas masks.
"Ufh, I can still smell those gas masks, that rubber," Harlocker said. "At school, we'd have air raid alarms instead of fire alarms."
Harlocker said her family took in one family whose military husband and father was temporarily missing. She said her mother, Helen, sat at a card table downtown collecting donations for the American Red Cross.
Harlocker said many parents sent their children to the mainland to be with other family members during the war. She said she's glad her parents refrained from that.
"We had a lot of inconveniences — stores were closed for days, we didn't have much meat, we had to use powdered milk — but those weren't really inconveniences to me," she said.
Harlocker said she saw Pearl Harbor a few days after the attack.
"It was nothing but a mess — debris and destruction," she said. "I didn't want to go back. I have never seen the movie 'Titanic.' Anything to do with sinking ships bothers me."
Today, on the 75th anniversary of the attacks, Harlocker said she'll speak with friends to reminisce about that horrific day and the aftermath that changed their lives. She also has a deep big-picture thought about Americans' attachment to their history.
"What I wonder about is that, 25 years from now, are people going to care?" she said.