The Foreign Service Journal, January 2012

J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 25 F OCUS ON FS R EFLECT IONS R EMEMBERING A NOTHER U NFORGETTABLE D AY n mid-September, Americans focused on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. We honored the memories of those who died that Tuesday in 2001 — in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a Penn- sylvania field — as well as the soldiers and civilians who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the decade since then. We are still analyzing the knotty impact of that morning that “changed history” and its aftermath. But I find myself also remembering — as I always will — another world- shattering day: Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Last month marked the 70th anniversary of that “day that will live in infamy.” I was 7½ years old that boring afternoon, sitting on the floor at my grandmother’s feet in the Methodist parsonage in Magnolia, Miss. Sunday dinner was over, the dishes washed. The New York Philharmonic played softly on the round-topped, wooden radio. Suddenly, an announcer interrupted the broadcast. In an early morning sneak attack, Japanese planes had bombed ships in Pearl Harbor and strafed civilians in Hon- olulu. Later we learned that a substantial portion of the U.S. Pacific fleet had been sunk or damaged and more than 3,000 people killed or wounded. But in that moment, we could only listen in stunned, uncertain silence, straining to learn more. Growing Up Overseas Unlike most American children of that time and place, I actually knew something about Japanese soldiers. Dur- ing my first six years, “home” was a university campus in Tsinan (now Jinan), the capital of Shantung province in China. Our life there was “normal.” Daddy, a teaching missionary, taught public health and parasitology. Mummy started a playgroup and sang in a wavering voice. My younger sister and I were “just kids,” who ran around, listened to stories, watched Daddy play softball and chew gum, grew, explored our immediate world and learned things (snails leave a slime trail if they move up your arm; worms wiggle and can make you sick if they get inside you; shots hurt, but sting less if you watch them being given — stuff like that). Although I was oblivious to it, the Japanese had overrun our part of China in 1937. Then, on Sept. 1, 1939, Ger- many invaded Poland. That year we were caught in a A F OREIGN S ERVICE SPOUSE REFLECTS ON A WORLD - SHATTERING DAY THAT DEFINED A GENERATION : D EC . 7, 1941. B Y M ARGARET S ULLIVAN Margaret Sullivan, the wife of a retired FSO, has been in- volved in international affairs her whole life, for the past five decades mainly working on issues related to Indonesia and the Malay world.