Author Archive: marcusandlani

Veterans Day – What does Veterans Day mean to you?

My Dad, Marcus Klein, was a Survivor of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and a Submarine Combat Veteran of WWII. His dream was that I serve, and I did from 1968 to 1978. When I was growing up in Honolulu in the 1950s, just about all of the men in my parents circle of friends …

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Our Sweet Leilani

via Our Sweet Leilani

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The Summer of ’68… From the Summer of 2017

Each year, on June 26, Induction Day, or I-Day for the U.S. Naval Academy Class of 1972,  I send this reminder to my Naval Academy Classmates and Company Mates of the Seventeenth Company…Seventeen, Mighty Mean…How Many Do You Want Sir? Our resolve was being newly formed… Greetings Classmates, 49 years ago today…and counting. It is …

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June 7, 1972…the first day of the rest of my life…The Day I graduated from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis. Annual Letter to Seventeenth Company

Thirty years ago, on June 7, I sent the following letter of reminiscence, and thanks to my Seventeenth Company Classmates at the United States Naval Academy, explaining what they and Annapolis mean to me, and how it and they inspired, and continue to inspire me today. They all hear the story every year, and if …

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Pearl Harbor Day – A Family Story

These are the stories of my childhood, and the words of my father…From Pop’s firsthand account of December 7, 1941… “The USS Honolulu started backing out and they dropped this 500 pound bomb thru the deck and it split the seams so she never got out. Some ships got out, I don’t know which ones …

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Growing up in Post War Pearl Harbor in the 1950s

Pop remained in the Navy and he and Mom remained in the Islands after the War. I was born in 1949 at Aeia Naval Hospital. In 1952 Pop was transferred to the USS Nereus in San Diego, where we lived until 1956, when our family was transferred back to Pearl Harbor after a 4 year tour of …

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After the Attack, Sub School, and Submarine War Patrols in the South Pacific…Interview with a Survivor

I interviewed Pop about 25 years ago and asked him questions about December 7, 1941, and about his World War II Experience, especially Submarine War Patrols in the South Pacific. His descriptive, first hand account of the attack on Pearl Harbor…From the moment he realized we were under attack, is chilling. I had heard many …

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Remembering Pearl Harbor – Interview with a Survivor

On the 50th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor, 25 years ago…my dad, Marcus G. Klein, Pearl Harbor Survivor, gave his First Hand Account of December 7, 1941, to my wife Janie Klein, and transcribed by my sister, Deborah Klein Smith. “Today is December 7, 1991. Fifty years ago today, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. …

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January 1…Uncle Red and Aunt Babe

Red Thompson and his wife Babe lived in an apartment somewhere in the “Macully” district, outside Waikiki. “Uncle Red” and “Aunt Babe” were friends and shipmates of mom and pop from during and after WW II. Uncle Red was a retired Chief (or maybe a Warrantr Officer), and his birthday was January 1. New Years …

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Blast from the Past – WWII

TBT – From WWII…Betty Grable and Linda Darnell After The attack on Pearl Harbor, my Dad became a submariner and spent the rest of the War on War Patrols in the South Pacific. My Dad was a believer in “putting in a chit.” That is “Navy” for asking for something. The worse thing that happens …

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