december 7

December 7, but a couple days late

My sister Joyce was born in early May.

I turned 4 in late May.

Our father was killed in late August.

Pearl Harbor was December 7.

All in 1941, The events are permanently tied into my head. So when 1941 is mentioned, I think of all 4 events at the same time.

Father (I always called my step-father Dad -- usually) was the important man in my life that I knew so little, and my sister did not know at all. He was 28, in the prime of his early life, and whish he was gone.

Once I was talking to my aunt (my father’s sister, who at 93 is still kicking, though not as hard as she used to). She laughed and said: “David, you did not even know your father and you are just like him..”

I’ll leave it that way.