Eyewitness Account From Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941

Pictured above is the first page of a typewritten letter from Beth Slingerland to her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Haskell, written Dec. 7, 1941, in Honolulu. Slingerland’s husband, John, was a crane operator at Pearl Harbor, where he was working on the day it was bombed by the Japanese.

Slingerland’s letter to her parents describes the scene as she witnessed it from her home in the hills above Pearl Harbor. Throughout the day, she updated the letter, jotting additional notes by hand. Despite her fears, Slingerland’s husband survived the attack.

The three-page letter, typed on onion-skin paper and including the original envelope, is in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and is not currently on display. View all three pages and a transcription of the letter.