Woman born on Pearl Harbor Day: Family jokes 'I caused the war'

The cry of a newborn echoed through the halls of St. Francis Hospital in Honolulu as Japanese fighter planes aimed for the nearby United States naval base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Almost 75 years later, that newborn, Juliette "Judie" Lane, is far from danger, sitting inside her home's lanai on a sunny September day in Emerald Lakes. She's lived in Naples, Fla., for the past 19 years. However, she keeps her Hawaiian roots close, safeguarding mementos, such as her uncle's handmade seashell jewelry, and an unopened Hawaiian alcoholic spirit, Okolehao. She wore a plumeria behind her right ear, which in Hawaiian culture means she's single. A flower behind the left ear would mean she's married.

Lane turns 75 on the 75th anniversary of the attacks on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor.

She was born around 1:15 a.m. The attack commenced just before 8 a.m., killing more than 2,000 Americans. The attack triggered the U.S. to enter into World War II.

"My mother thought she was kind of hallucinating because of all the noise and all the bustle that was going on in the hospital. Then she found out what it was and then when my father came to the hospital they left with me without the hospital knowing because she was scared," Lane said.

At the end of the war in 1945, Lane said she remembered looking through her home's windows for the first time.

"We lived in this two-story house where the living area was on the top floor. After 1945, when the war ended, they were able to take the black paint off of all the windows," Lane said. The black paint was used across the island as protection against the enemy. "I can remember walking to the windowsill and putting my hands on the windowsill and looking out through the glass and thinking, 'I can see through the house,' because I'd never seen what a window looked like."

Hawaii became a state in 1959, the year Lane graduated from Star of the Sea Catholic School in Honolulu. She left Hawaii, and lived several years in California before permanently moving to Florida.

Her younger sister, Diane Simmons, who also lives in Naples, was born in 1945.

The sisters laughed, saying Lane started the war, and Simmons ended it.

"I was born the year the war started, and she was born the year the war ended," Lane said. "My stepfather used to always say that I caused the war because I'd been the one to stir things up, and she has always been the peaceful one."

Simmons, 71, added, "That's true. Isn't that something? I would always stop her from arguing to keep the peace."

Both sisters worked as bookkeepers. Now, Simmons works part time and Lane spends her days involved with local organizations, and tracing back her ancestry.

For years, both sisters lived thousands of miles from their homeland, visiting occasionally, with the most recent trip being last year. An unexpected turn of events brought them closer to home. They never met their real father, but five years ago, they learned they had four half-sisters, and a half-brother, who's deceased.

Social media helped Lane get in touch with her sisters. She heard from them after reaching out to a cousin of hers in Hawaii.

"That night all four talked to me. It was so good (to talk to them) because we learned about our real father," Lane said. Simmons and Lane's mom never told them who their real father was. "When my mother told us that our father was our stepfather, accompanying those words were, 'I'm your real mother. But he's not your real father. He adopted you and we will never talk about it again.' I remember those words like they were recorded in my head."

Simmons wasn't as open to talking to and eventually meeting the half-sisters, who had a time share in Las Vegas.

"I was very apprehensive. I was younger. As far as I was concerned, (Lane) was my sister," she said.

They eventually met their sisters in Vegas, the halfway point between Hawaii and Florida, and the connection was instant.

"Growing up I felt like I was given up," Lane said as her eyes welled up with tears. However, she found solace when her half-sisters shared that their dad knew about them. "So it was nice to find out that he didn't toss us. That he knew about us, and told (our sisters) about us."

The sisters now have four more relatives to add to their already large family, many of whom still live in Hawaii. Their mother, and stepfather, are buried in Diamond Head, Hawaii.

"A lot of our cousins are still there. Our mom had 13 sisters and brothers," Lane said.

Lane has two children and several grandchildren and great grandchildren. Simmons has one child, and grandchild.

Lane looks forward to her 75th birthday.

Over the years, her birthday has always been correlated to the day of the Pearl Harbor attack.

"Everyone said 'Omigosh, that's Pearl Harbor day.' For the past 30 years, you have to be really old to recognize the date because the majority of people I run into, (the date) doesn't mean anything," she said.

She makes sure her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren know the significance of that date.

When asked if she has any birthday plans, Lane shared that her children plan to throw her a party at a local country club, inviting more than 70 relatives and friends, some flying from out of state for the occasion.

"It's going to be such a great celebration. I'm so excited," she said.