Richmond Hill Photographer

Richmond Hill Photographer December 7, 1941 - Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor and I remember that day as if it was yesterday. It was dusk and the paperboy was walking down George Street shouting "Extra Extra Perl Harbor bombed", "Read all about it", "Extra Extra Perl Harbor bombed". Such a quite surrounded me as a soft breeze touched my skin and it was a scary eerie feeling that evening. President Roosevelt came on the radio as everybody gathered and sat quietly paying intense attention to each word coming from that AM cackling sound that huge radio was making. I had a hard time trying to sleep that night and my prayer just did not seem to comfort as it normally did. My mind was running a hundred miles an hour trying to understand why someone would do such a thing to us. I was five at the time. Four days later Hitler declared war on the United States. Neighbors and my kinfolks were drafted or joined in to defend my country and me too. Every evening we would sit around that big radio and listen to the news of what was going on with the war. All gave some and some gave all.

My uncle Grafton was lost at sea in the Pacific. Many of our neighbors lost loved ones and it was a very sad time.At three years old When I was three years old at a neighbor's house, the Moore's on the back porch I put a real chill in the air for everyone in the house. The men had been hunting that morning and left their shotguns on the back porch when they took the hunting clothes off. Well being a little boy with a lot of curiosity over to the shotguns as soon as I saw them. They were too heavy to pick up so I just played with them standing up and all of a sudden BAROOOOOOM and a big hole appeared now in the ceiling on the back porch. All the Moore family, mother and Sara thought the worst, that little Johnny would be in a pool of blood. As they ran to get me and stop the bleeding they heard "I just touched the gun and it went BANG and hurteee my arm when it jumped." That back porch still has a hole in the ceiling.Click Here For More Information Richmond Hill Photographer