With the okame cherry tree in full bloom on April 6 1946, the day could have never been a better time to get married.  Charlie Rose was with his beautiful wife dolorous.  They were standing side by side in front of a very important person. This person will not just change their lives but others too, but that wasn’t important to them, all that mattered was that the judge saw it through that they were married.  Dolorous gazed upon Charlie Rose with gitty joy.  Charlie was staring blankly almost as though he were watching a movie put onto the wall behind the judge.  “Charlie, are you OK” said Dolorous.  With no reply, dolorous knew what was happening, Charlie always had a hard time letting go of his tough past.

Soft almost noiseless foot steps could be heard between the group of 4th division marines as they were working at the pearl harbor bay.  They day had blue skies with the sun smiling down upon everyone on the bay.  Charlie Rose was just 24 years old.  He had been raised up rough and was determined to enlist in the marines.  He felt some pride in the fact that he enlisted where as most were drafted.  Nothing out of the ordinary had happened today along with the past weeks he was stationed here.  The murmurs of the marines out on work were quite loud actually but not as loud as the roar of engines.  That’s weird Charlie thought, no plains were to be incoming at this time of the day.  As the plains inched closer from the horizon the talk amongst everyone outside began to pick up and get louder.  The plains were still too far to see if they were Americans.    Questions started to whirl into Charlie’s mind as he continued to keep himself calm.   Could they be German or Japanese? No, of course not! How would they have found us without the U.S having pre existing knowledge?  Before he could stop himself he said in quite a loud and questioning tone, “what the hell is that” in reference to the swarming army of aircraft emerging from the skyline. 

“I don’t know” sneered john one of the guys he had became close with during training,” I just don’t know Charlie.”  As soon as the plains grew louder and were upon the stationed military at Pearl Harbor sirens were at blast with People running everywhere.  It was indeed the Japanese.  The red sun could be seen gleaming across the white paint of the A6m Japanese zero much like the sunset upon a still watered lake.  Charlie could feel the adrenaline rush through his veins and arteries instantaneously.  Before Charlie had time to react the Japanese were dropping bombs.  Time seemed to slow down for Charlie as seconds seemed like the blink of an eye.  Bombs exploding all around him as shrapnel ripped off limbs and debris and scattered them throughout the fresh battle field.  The putter of machine guns as they spit bullets out as though they were bees fleeing from a hive.  All of this made Charlie really question his life.  Ever since he was six years old his life had been a never ending spiral towards hell. At the age of six he lost his mother and three years later he lost his father.  He was raised with abusive step brothers and was finally sent to live with another step brother.  His new house hold spent their extra money to buy him clothes and food.  At the age of 15 he moved up north from Arkansas and joined the CCC.  He raised himself in an almost in an emancipated state.  Sending back the money he earned from the CCC he felt it was his obligation to repay his “family” back for what they did for him.  “Get your ass moving Rose” from a nearby combatant was a it took to wake Charlie up from his fear stricken daze.  As Charlie looked around he saw what had happened to Pearl Harbor.  Charlie noticed that his pants had become wet and thought about it.   Must have been the shaking from all the bombs along with the adrenaline and fear. He closed it from his mind and tried to focus on the task at hand.  Nothing really felt like reality though.  If it weren’t for the minor cut on his cheek he would have thought he was still sleeping back at the barracks in a stiff wooden bunk.   The screams of these men are too real to be a dream thought Charlie.  What sounded like a tea kettle finishing its boil wailed through the air.  As Charlie and his division were at full sprint the mortar went off around them as did Pain that shot into Charlie’s back simultaneously.  The world started to twist and turn in his vision.  With no stability near him he dropped to the ground limply.  Having no motor skills left, Charlie was conscious but with little sense of his surroundings.  His spine felt hot, and wet.  Most 23 year olds are usually athletic but at this particular moment Charlie wanted to do anything that consisted of moving.  He was tired and couldn’t even open his eyes and the pain in his back grew worse as did the screaming and explosions. Finally, things went black…