Diary of an attack

Cindy Trane Christeson

The lives of 6-year-old little girls usually involve school, birthday

parties and playing with friends. But for 6-year-old Robin Randolph and

her 11-year-old sister, Glee, it involved blackouts, gas masks and

digging trenches.

Robin and her sister were 10 miles away from Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7,

1941, the day it was attacked. Their father, Ralph Randolph, was an

executive officer on board the USS Allen, a destroyer escort. Originally

from and stationed in San Diego,

Ralph Randolph was transferred to Honolulu, Hawaii, just four months

before the day that lives in infamy.

For the Corona del Mar women, that day not only lives on in memories,

it was recorded in a little black book by their mother, Maryedith

Randolph.

Robin Randolph, now Robin McDowell, recently discovered the diary in a

book case. Though mostly empty, the volume has brought the past back to

life for the sisters.

“I didn’t know mother kept a diary,” McDowell said.

The cover is faded black leather with the title “A Line A Day” in gold

writing.

The entire journal is empty except for the days from Dec. 7-12, 1941,

with just a few lines penned each day. But those lines are lifelines to

the past.

On Dec. 7, 1941, the entry is: “Japanese made surprise attack. Ralph

asleep. When I awakened him, he said, ‘Nuts I haven’t had a peaceful

Sunday since I got here.’ We’ve been sitting by the radio all day. It’s

still like a dream. If I don’t hear from Ralph, it will become reality.

This woman’s job of waiting.”

MEMORIES OF A LIFETIME

Both McDowell and Glee Randolph, now Glee Queen, remember

a lot of waiting and a lot of worrying during those days.

Theirmemories of the morning that forced the U.S. out of peace and into

world war are still sharp.

“Glee had spent the night with a girlfriend,” recalled McDowell, 66.

“Her friend’s parents were listening to the radio when the program was

interrupted with the announcement, and they sent her home. Mom was

getting me ready to go to church. We could hear planes in the distance,

but we didn’t pay any attention to it, since we were so close to Pearl

Harbor.

“Glee came in breathless that morning. We turned the radio on and

heard the call for all servicemen to return to their bases. Then came the

chilling words, ‘This is not a drill. This is not a drill.”’

The sisters remember that when their mother woke their father to tell

him the news, he didn’t believe it at first. But it didn’t take long for

him to spring out of bed and into his uniform.

“My mother insisted that my sister take me to church,” McDowell said.

“I think she stayed home to listen to the radio, and to worry. I don’t

think that church lasted very long that day.”

Queen remembers running to the school across the street, climbing up

on the roof and watching the planes.

“We took pictures of the planes. I was just a kid, and I was excited,”

said Queen, 71. “The planes were so low, we could see the pilot’s faces.

It felt like we could reach out and touch them. We could see the rising

sun on the wings.”

The next day, Dec. 8, the blackouts started.

“They continued for months,” Queen explained. “They put barbed wire on

all the beaches because they thought there would be a beach invasion. I

didn’t really start feeling scared until we had the blackouts, and they

started issuing gas masks in school. I know mom was terrified.”

THE JOURNAL ENTRIES

The entry for Dec. 8 says, “Another day of suspense -- terrific damage

done at Pearl Harbor, heard from Ralph, his ship got three planes. Laid

in as many supplies as possible.”

Dec. 9: “Ralph is here for a few minutes. Blackouts every night. The

President is now talking and an air raid has been sounded. Got off word

to our families today, they must be worried. Glued to the radio reports,

the need to stock up on provisions. I’m glad to see Ralph now and then.

Girls fine.”

Dec. 10: ‘It’s a rush to get everything done in the daytime and it

gets dark so fast.”

Dec. 11: “Have attempted to get in necessary supplies today. . . . We

are all very tired. Listening to radio reports. Blacked out kitchen, did

some Red Cross knitting tonight.”

Dec. 12: “Took the girls downtown for a little outing and Christmas

shopping. Had a call from Ralph this morning, hated to have him hang up

not knowing when he’ll call again. Will try to blackout the bedroom

tonight. I need sleep!”

The journal entries ended almost as quickly as they began.

“I just wish she’d written more,” McDowell said wistfully.

GETTING THE PICTURE

But what isn’t said in the journal can be brought back to life through

the family photographs the sisters have of those days. “This is how we

dressed to go to school,” Queen explained, pointing to a photo. “We were

barefoot, in dresses and had our gas masks in a bag slung over our

shoulders.”

There is also a picture of their mother with the gas mask on.

“My gas mask was a smaller version of what older people had. It was

called a Mickey Mouse mask,” McDowell said. “We also had to practice

holding our breath in case we didn’t have our masks with us. We dug

trenches, bomb shelters and victory gardens. I worked very hard and got a

ribbon for my victory gardens. I was much better at them than I was at

math.”

Queen has carefully kept the original edition of the Honolulu Star

Bulletin from that fateful day. It has browned a bit over the years, but

the words of war and destruction practically jump off the pages. A lot of

history lives in that newspaper, which is clearly worth far more than the

written price of 5 cents.

Both women recall being on edge after the attack.

“A month later a bomb was dropped near our house,” Queensaid. “They

missed Pearl Harbor, and it landed in the high school parking lot. It was

close enough to us that it really jarred our house, and the impact shot

me in my bed from one end of my room to the other.”

THE SOUND OF FEAR

The Randolphs were in Hawaii for about six more months, until they

were able to get passage home.

“We weren’t even there a year, but it sure seemed like longer,” Queen

said. “We went through a lot.”

McDowell said the whole experience really took a toll on their mother,

who became “plagued by fears and worries.”

McDowell has also found herself experiencing fears, finding it hard to

watch war movies.

“To this day, I can still hear the sound of those planes,” she said.

When they filmed “Tora! Tora! Tora!” -- a film about Pearl Harbor --

at El Toro several years ago, McDowell remembers being frightened at the

noise of the Japanese planes.

“I heard that same sound, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up

straight,” McDowell said. “I started crying.”

Queen nodded in agreement. “That was so spooky.”

The journey home to California was not easy for the women.

“I think we were all a little scared coming home,” Queen said. “We

were on a military transport ship with destroyer escorts for protection,

but one of our escorts was torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine.”

The girls spent the summer of 1942 at their grandmother’s house in

Long Beach.

“It was still wartime, and for some reason I pushed the dresser in

front of the door at night,” McDowell said. “I’m not sure why I thought

that would protect me from a bomb, but that’s what I did.”

AFTER THE WAR

Their father made his career in the Navy, which meant the sisters

traveled some. After the war, they spent two years living in Guam.

“There were Japanese living in the caves who didn’t know the war

ended,” Queen said.

McDowell remembers going with her father to the trial of a Japanese

medical colonel who was accused of torturing and experimenting on

American Marines.

“It gave me the chills,” McDowell said.

Today, the sisters live only three blocks apart in Corona del Mar with

their spouses, Bill McDowell and Tom Queen.

“It’s great to know she’s right nearby,” McDowell said.

Both have returned to Pearl Harbor as adults.

“It was very emotional when I took our children to see it,” McDowell

said. “It brought everything back to me.”

Queen said that visiting the memorial of the USS Arizona, which sank

during the attack, gave her the chills.

“It’s really sad to think of all those lost lives,” she said.

With this weekend’s release of the movie “Pearl Harbor,” the sisters

must decide whether or not to relive that day once again.

“I’m not sure I really want to see the movie, but I’m sure I will,”

McDowell said. ‘My curiosity will be too much.”

“Maybe we can get our husbands to go with us and hold our hands,”

Queen added.