“He has to be. We all love him too much to lose him.” But so did thousands of other parents, children, and men and women who had loved ones in Hawaii and would be waiting for news now. Audrey felt guilty keeping it from her mother. She would find out sooner or later. She listened to the radio at times, she read the newspapers, and she had a right to know that her son might be in danger. Audrey told her as calmly as she could, but the news was shocking. Audrey told her that the American naval base in Hawaii had been attacked. Ellen looked stunned, and asked Audrey to bring the radio in so they could listen together. Everything they heard on the radio was terrifying, and everyone in the country was wondering if the Japanese would bomb other American cities next.

Ellen and Audrey were awake until late that night, and the next day President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on the Japanese. Shortly after they heard his speech to the American people, the doorbell rang, and Audrey opened it with a pounding heart. They weren’t expecting anyone, and Mrs. Beavis was with her mother. Two naval officers stood at the door when she opened it. Audrey felt faint for a minute.

“Is Mrs. Parker home, Mrs. Ellen Parker?” they asked politely. Audrey had grown up with naval officers around her all her life, and she recognized immediately that one of them was a captain, the same rank as her father, and the other one was an officer of the Navy Air Force. She was sure that they knew who her father was, and that her grandfather had been a vice admiral, which was why they had sent such high-ranking officers. She was terrified of what they were going to tell her, and she was afraid to ask. She didn’t want to know. She wanted him to be alive, even if he was injured. He was only twenty-five years old and such a bright shining star, they couldn’t lose him. He was turning twenty-six in a few weeks.