Art Gallery of Multimedia-Storyteller.com, Sarah Poff

Magic of Christmas

Sitting on that bench, just waiting because your son is stationed in Pearl Harbor.

Gordon and Helen Medsker (another couple in a car) Gordon and Helen had just left church that cold December day. They turned on the radio and heard the interrupted broadcast . Pearl Harbor has been bombed. It brought fear to the young couple for they knew what that meant to the young men of their community. They lived in just outside of St. Joseph, Missouri. As told by Helen to Sarah Poff

Ellen being slapped by her father because she was talking during the radio broadcast.

Winnie Ferst (Dinner & the Radio) My memory has to do with radio also. My family had an after church dinner with friends. After dinner their son happened to turn on their table radio and we heard the news that Pearl Harbor was being attacked. My second memory is our High School assembly the next morning, where we all listened, again via radio, to President Roosevelt speaking to Congress and declaring war. Immediately following, we were told that a graduate of our High School was killed at Hickman Field as he tried to get his Army airplane off the ground That hit home quickly; his family lived just a few blocks from my family. The air base at Knob Noster is named for him, Lt. George Whiteman. Winnie Fuerst