Virginia Flickinger is living a wonderful life, surrounded by loving family and friends, and reaching the age of 100 this year. Most remarkably, Ms. Virginia, who was born and raised in Hawaii, was working as a nurse’s aide for a nursing unit at the Pearl Harbor Base Hospital in December 1941, when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese and survived that ordeal.

At 7 am on Sunday, December 7, 1941, she and her best friend were awakened by loud concussion noises. The entire house shook and pictures had fallen off the walls. They went outside to see two Japanese bombers flying overhead after they released their bombs that caused so much destruction and cost many lives. Inside, they turned on the radio and heard the report of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

“On Monday, I was afraid to go to work, so I went to work on Tuesday, December 9. On my way I saw the destruction of bombed buildings, bodies lying on the ground and in the water. A captured Japanese submarine was in the harbor and the Arizona Battleship was only partially visible and sinking in the harbor,” Mrs. Flickinger said.

Later in the day, a report from government officials ordered that no lights should be turned on in the event of a second attack. Instead, they put blankets on the windows, so that a little light could be used to treat the injured and feed the children and the babies. Eventually everyone fled to higher ground in the hills to avoid the direct path of a possible second attack.

Born in 1920, Ms. Virginia was one of six siblings, four sisters and two brothers. She had four sons including Glenn, Tom, and John who live in the Pittsburgh area, her daughter Kathy and son Bill live in California, 10 grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. Currently Ms. Virginia will be a consumer with Christian Home Health Care and her neighbor Maxine Berton will be her caregiver.

“I have been blessed with a wonderful life with the love of my parents, husband, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and friends. My best advice is to eat healthy and exercise including walking and to stay busy, so I like to crochet. I have a loving family,” she stated.

There were some good memories during the war years of friends and family. She enjoyed the Big Bands Era and still enjoys watching her favorite movie, White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, Vera Ellen, and Dean Jagger. She laughs about one of her favorite songs; Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.

In recent years, Ms. Virginia has visited her daughter in San Diego every Christmas and then would travel back to Hawaii to visit other family and friends. “This year, I am staying in Pittsburgh because of the pandemic so it will be the first year that I have seen snow in a number of years, so I guess we will be having a “White Christmas,” Ms. Virginia said. If she is able, Ms. Virginia will be listening to the radio for Bing Crosby’s classic Christmas song, Mele Kalikimaka, which means Merry Christmas in Hawaiian.