Victory Collection-Book Two

Kalani

Kalani

Kalani's father was Hawaiian, but had worked for the American Air Force where he was part of a combat team flying missions out of Pearl Harbor. His plane was shot down in a skirmish, a dogfight, it was called. Kalani was proud that her dad was a hero, but she wanted him back!

During the attack on Pearl Harbor, at least 8 battleships were destroyed and about 200 Navy and Army Air Corp planes; along with roughly 2400 American military and civilians killed, with 1000 wounded! Kalani had a neighbor who lost his sight from an explosion at Pearl Harbor. The hospitals were full of burn victims!

The attack was in retaliation for the trade embargo against Japan. Due to the Japanese Imperial Expansion, Japan declared war on China, who produced many products for the US. It was also because of the U.S. cutting off oil exports to Japan, which they relied on for 80 % of their oil. This disabled their navy from the desired free-reign in the Pacific. Pearl Harbor is part of Honolulu, which is on Oahu Island.

The harbor was bombed at 8 a.m.. Sunday morning. Kalani had been up getting ready for church. She loved the touch of her mother's gentle hands as she brushed Kalani's long, silky, black hair and sang to her. That was a special memory to cherish. Most personal were on leave that weekend so relatively less men were on duty, ready to fight! The day after the attack, the U.S.A. went to war with Japan!

Japanese friends and neighbors, some of whom settled in Hawaii generations before, were divided in their loyalty during WWII; some siding with the Americans and some with the Imperial Japanese forces, under Michinomiya Hirohito. And then there were the Japanese Internment Camps! There was an American regimental combat team (14,000 men of Japanese descent). They fought on the European Front against Germany and Italy, and were the most decorated regiment of that time.

That same year, Kalani's mother died of Influenza. Kalani was a teenager in 1941. Her parents's death left deep, emotional scars. She knew that hate was not a good thing. Like many others, she questioned God, asking: "Why did I survive? Does it mean God loves me or hates me?"

Other than the presence of the naval base buildings, Ford Island was pretty bare. Not much happening except for church services and inviting a few sailors and marines to Sunday dinner each week. The liked their stories about the families back home. Kalani especially enjoyed hearing about pets, since she always wanted a dog. But her father said the sound of the planes flying over would hurt a dog's ears if he was outside.

On the morning of the attack, Kalani's father was already at the harbor. She and her mother went out to the backyard just as as Japanese bomber was flying low over their house. They heard the explosion of the ships and heard their planes taking off (with no doubt Kalani's father among them). They ran into the house and hid under the kitchen table, as though it would be some protection and they prayed.

She missed her mother and father, and was unable to cope. That is when she was sent to a mental hospital in the Colorado, U.S.A.. It was not at all like she'd heard. The people, there, and caring.
In the mental facility, Kalani continually held a doll, believing "she" was a real child. She taught her things a daughter should know. Was Kalani lonely, delusional... or both? All she knew was that this little girl needed protection, not unlike herself.

It was another way to grieve, clinging to a doll to protect, the way she, herself, needed deliverance from the pain. She thought that by giving the comfort and knowledge to the doll, she would receive what she needed to feed her own soul. Beside, she needed to be mother and father, now that her parents were gone.

Kalani had started Kindergarten at age four because her birthday fell before the December cut-off date, in Hawaii, to start school by five. Now, almost ready to finish high school at seventeen, she was at the top of her class. She wanted to get a head-start on her college courses.