To mark the 75th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy has enlisted the help of an Arkansas attorney and his guitar.
Don Eudaly, 60, of Searcy will be in Hawaii this week to perform an original song at several events to honor the 2,403 who died in the attack seven decades ago that propelled the U.S. into World War II.
The song's story begins some 20 years ago with Eudaly's now-late father, Bosco.
Bosco Eudaly, a retired World War II sailor, and his wife, Tina, had spent several years of retirement in New Zealand. They decided to return home, and along the way stop at Pearl Harbor.
As Tina Eudaly read an attack memorial plaque, she noticed that her husband had wandered to the edge of the pier.
He stared into the sea where the USS Arizona remains broken on the ocean floor. All that broke the silence were the waves and an American flag whipping in the wind.
Soon, fighter jets roared overhead, leading to a moment that's best explained in the song it inspired:
"He snaps to attention
The first time he's done that in years
He can smell the gunpowder
He can still see the fires
The oil-smoke as black as the night
Is it all just a dream?
Can he hear sirens scream?
Or is it boys who went down in the fight?
Then it's one last salute to all his lost comrades as the fighter jets roar overhead."
Don Eudaly wrote the song, "White Sailor Hat," after his mother described that moment to him shortly after the visit.
He was hesitant to write it at first, but his wife insisted.
"Once I got going, it just flowed right out," he said.
The Navy invited him to perform it after his sister Carol Myers sent in a copy of the song. At one of his three coming appearances, Eudaly said he'll perform it alongside a U.S. Navy band, which created its own arrangement of the song.
He's a tad anxious about that one.
Bosco Eudaly was 16 when the Japanese attacked the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. A close boyhood friend was killed there and is still entombed in the Pacific Ocean.
The images from that infamous day inspired Bosco Eudaly to join the Navy in the middle of World War II at age 17. Sailors were required to be older than 18, so he wrote the number "17" on the bottom of his shoes.
"That way, he could honestly say he was over 17," Don Eudaly said with a laugh.
Bosco Eudaly rarely talked with his children about his experiences overseas, Myers said.
Hearing the song years later gave him an emotional release, she said.
The first time Don Eudaly played it for his dad was over the Christmas holiday in 1996. Don Eudaly, his wife and his parents were the only ones in the room.
"They were just stunned," Eudaly said.
With watery eyes, they asked him to play it again.
It's a soft, folksy ballad, and Eudaly sings it in a warm voice. It starts with his childhood memories of playing in his father's white Navy hat and ends with his father's misty eyes on the Pearl Harbor pier.
Bosco Eudaly died five years ago. At his funeral, the family played a recording of the song, which will soon be available on iTunes.
There wasn't one dry eye, Myers said.
"Even the honor guard had tears rolling down their cheeks," she said.
Don Eudaly's eyes glistened and his voice wavered slightly as he talked last week about his father. He's eager to see in person the spot that his father saw at the Pearl Harbor pier.
"He'd be thrilled," Eudaly said.
Metro on 12/04/2016