When I asked Dr. Elizondo where he was and what he remembered about December 7th, 1941 the day Pearl Harbor was attacked he answered:
“I was 11 years old working in my dad’s grocery store on Nogalitos. It was the afternoon and we were listening to the news on the radio. In those days, that’s how you we received the news. There’s where we heard it; Pearl Harbor had been bombed. The first thoughts that came to mind was the service men and their families that lived in our area. They were like family to us. They visited our grocery store on a weekly basis. It was hard not to think of how this would affect their lives and their family’s lives. Then as it sank in, it became surreal. Our security was lost. Some country had the audacity to attack our homeland. What was going to happen to us? December 8th, 1941, the United States declared war. The draft started. The impact was harsh. I remember many mothers coming in saying the same thing, “Se llevaron a mi hijo. No sé dónde lo llevaron. dijeron las islas.. quien sabe donde esta eso.” All we could do is pray for them. What an awful feeling for them not to know where their boys were at. I would say this was the time the seed was planted that I would be drafted one day and I too would be sent away to “Las Islas.” When I was 18 years old, I was not drafted but I chose to serve my country. I joined the Marines and went to the Korean War, but that’s another story.”