50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor

On Dec. 7, citizens of the British colony of Hong Kong will also commemorate the date they were attacked by the Japanese. There will be parades of gray-haired veterans, most of whom were civilians, who fought side by side with troops in a hopeless battle that lasted until Dec. 25, the day that Hong Kong fell. These marchers, including my brother, who ate grass to survive, and my sister-in-law, who acted as a nurse, will be marching proudly.

My mother and I were evacuated from Hong Kong together with 3,500 other women and children and sent to Manila and then to Australia--this was in June of 1941. If the British knew trouble was coming, why didn’t the Americans?

MARY PATRICIA WILSON

Laguna Hills