Hi, Cousins. Mary P. sent me the most wonderful story of her memories of first hearing about Pearl Harbor. I do appreciate it so much! I am going to make a page on McCann Kin for the memoirs written by my cousins, and will post it on that page. First, however, I want to share it with you. This is her account of history in the making! Karen ----- MEMORIES OF PEARL HARBOR DECEMBER 7, 1941 BY MARY P. I was thirteen years old, living in Port Barre, Louisiana, with my father Clarence Barrett and my mother, Gertie Barrett. On December 7, 1941, I was in the 8th grade and was at my friend Doris Beauxis' home. We were playing some kind of game on their living room floor. Her dad was in an easy chair reading a newspaper, and the radio was on; an announcer broke into the music and said, "The Japanese have just bombed Pearl Harbor." "We are at war!" Mr Beauxis said "Where is Pearl Harbor? And I, being good in geography, said, "It's in Hawaii." I ran home to tell my parents and they were as shocked as everyone: stunned, and amazed. After the war started, like all towns and cities all over America, a War effort was started: Rationing, Gas Stamps, Newspaper drives, etc. Wonder of all wonders, Port Barre, whose Bayou Catabala cut it in half, was selected as a training ground for Black Troops. They were posted on guard duty over the one bridge that spanned the dirty bayou. We children who had to go to school almost two miles away on the other side of the bridge were frightened, yet curious about all these men in green uniforms, carrying rifles, and full gear. Suppose the Government thought the Nazi's and the Japanese were going to sneak into the United States via the Atchafayla River and Wetlands and capture South Louisiana. After all we were only fifty miles from Baton Rouge, and a hundred or less from New Orleans!