On Sunday,December 7, 1941, I was a student in the 5th grade in the old Franklin School. It consisted of grades one through eight in a two room school house. I can well remember the feeling of fear that went though me when we heard the announcement on the radio, that Sunday afternoon, of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I wondered if it was the end of the world. On Monday, as we were back in school, one the teachers brought a radio to listen to. As we listened to the speech given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt concerning the attack and then asking Congress to declare a of state of war existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire I felt another feeling in my heart that all was not lost--we live in the United States and we are not going to be taken over by another country.
As the weeks went by the schools were told to have air raid drills with their students so we would be prepared in case something happened. My class was instructed, when the alarm was sounded, to go down on the basement steps, and when told to do so, place our heads between our knees and cover our ears with our hands.
Since then, I have often wondered why ANYONE, even the Japanese, want to bomb a tiny school in Franklin, Arizona.
A few weeks after President Roosevelt's talk was given it was published on 78 rpm records, one of which, I still have in my possession.
As the weeks went by the schools were told to have air raid drills with their students so we would be prepared in case something happened. My class was instructed, when the alarm was sounded, to go down on the basement steps, and when told to do so, place our heads between our knees and cover our ears with our hands.
Since then, I have often wondered why ANYONE, even the Japanese, want to bomb a tiny school in Franklin, Arizona.
A few weeks after President Roosevelt's talk was given it was published on 78 rpm records, one of which, I still have in my possession.
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