Here I go again, resolving to do better about posting with some frequency.

About a month ago I told the story based on my father's WWII letters at the Senior Center in East Windsor, Connecticut.  There were only about a dozen people in the audience, but they were very engaged and we had a good discussion afterwards. 

One of the audience members was a lady who said she was ninety-four years old.  She began reminiscing about the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, when she would have been sixteen. She spoke about what a shock it was, mentioned specific things, then said "And all the girls who had boyfriends ran off to be with them". 

Pearl Harbor was bombed on a Sunday.  Far fewer workplaces would have been open than would be today, and schools would have been closed.  I had never thought of this, but what could be more natural than for a young woman's first thought to be "Oh my God they are going to grab my boyfriend for the armed forces and send him God knows where and God knows what will happen to him."  Just the kind of unexpected human touch you get when you start hearing about big historical events from ordinary people who lived through them - whether you hear by talking to them or by reading what they wrote.