Chapter 1

I SURVIVED THE BOMBING OF PEARL HARBOR, 1941

CHAPTER 1 DECEMBER 7, 1941 8:05 A.M. PEARL CITY, HAWAII America was under attack! Hundreds of bomber planes were swarming over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They swooped down, machine guns roaring. Bombs and torpedoes rained down.

Explosions ripped through the blue Hawaiian sky. Kaboom … Kaboom … KABOOM! America's mightiest warships were in flames. A curtain of smoke — black and bloody red — surrounded the harbor. Eleven-year-old Danny Crane had moved to Hawaii just weeks before. Ma had brought Danny to Hawaii to get him out of trouble, away from the crime and the rats and the dirty, dangerous streets of New York City. But he'd never felt more terrified than he did right now, alone and running for his life. One of the attacking planes had burst out of the smoke and was closing in on him across an empty beach. Danny sprinted through the sand, but there was nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. He peered over his shoulder as the plane flew closer. He could see into the cockpit. The pilot was glaring at him through his goggles. Rat, tat, tat, tat. Rat tat tat tat. Machine-gun fire!

Danny pushed himself to run faster. Searing pain filled his chest as he inhaled the smoky air. Rat, tat, tat, tat. Rat tat tat tat. Sand flew up into Danny's eyes. And then from behind him, a huge explosion seemed to shatter the world. The force lifted Danny off his feet and threw him onto the ground. And then Danny couldn't hear anything at all.