Meet Harold Eberly White

Human nature is a fickle thing. When sorely tested, it tends to run away from the bad things. Uncomfortable things. Sad things.
Ask 82-year-old Harold Eberly White. Harold knows a lot about the subject of mankind. He's seen the best of humanity. He's experienced the worst. It's all in his history -- the good, the bad and the ugly.
It's been a long life, and through it all Harold's learned to be brave. It came as no surprise to spot him recently at a poolside bar in Kona, finishing lunch, chatting and joking with those around him.
The smiling face was a clever guise for the depression and loneliness he's been feeling since he lost his beloved wife, Georgetta Ruth, three months ago to cancer at their home in Apache Junction, Arizona. The couple had been married for 61 years, and a few short months couldn't erase his longing for her.
Yes, Harold needed a change. He needed to run away, but deep down inside he felt the inexplicit desire to run to something. Something from his past. The distant past.
That brought him to Hawaii. Oahu first. Then a quick trip to the Big Island.
The warm tropical breezes and swaying coconut trees brought Harold back to a bygone era. A simpler time. The days of strength and young adulthood.
Harold was ready to take on the world then. He was full of life. Vim and vigor. His girl--his future wife--waiting back home for him with all the hopes and dreams their young love could muster.
Life was grand. So grand, in fact, that Harold visited a tatoo parlor one Saturday evening in Honolulu and had a tatoo put on his upper left arm in "Ruthie's" honor.
The next morning Harold woke up. The pain and sensitivity was still there, but he couldn't help admire the new emblem of his love for his special gal.
All of that changed in one second. First explosions. Then sirens. The orders followed, "All men to your battle stations."
It was December 7, 1941. Harold was stationed on the Farragut, a battleship anchored between the Aylwln and Dale on the west end of Pearl Harbor.
Everyone moved fast, trying desperately to survive the chaos. The bombs. Torpedoes. The smoke.
"I can remember that day as if it were yesterday," Harold said. "Everyone was afraid, but they did their jobs."
Another set of orders quickly followed to move the ship out to open seas. They were able to save the boat, but not others. As the ships around the harbor burned beyond recognition, so did the memories of that day sear into Harold's mind.
"Our ship went by the Arizona four minutes after it was gone," Harold remembered. "We saw men swimming for their lives among the oil slick in the harbor but we couldn't stop to pick them up because we thought Hawaii was going to be invaded."
The Farragut was a lucky tub. It went on to fight proudly all during World War Two, surviving a brutal typhoon in Iwa Jima.
Harold continued to serve his country faithfully, earning a total of seven medals, including a purple heart for getting shot in the eye during the Coral Sea Battle.
"The bullet went in one eye and out the back of my head," Harold said. "Now I have a metal plate in the back of my head and my eyes are crooked."
Fast forward to an old veteran of war sitting on the barstool in Kona, finishing his sandwich and talking about his life. A living, breathing piece of history, telling of his recent visit to Oahu, paying homage and tribute to his past. To that one fateful day at Pearl Harbor.
It was an emotional journey for Harold. Perhaps it's because a lonely sailor sees Pearl Harbor as a symbol of womanhood -- a warm, nuturing bay eagerly bidding all tired sailors and ships to come and rest in her port.
The memories flooded in when Harold stepped onto the Arizona Memorial, and he couldn't hold back any longer.
The grieving of Ruthie and Pearl intermingled, releasing Harold from the two greatest women in his life. It turned out to be a good day. A cathartic day. A time for healing and peace.
"I bawled like a baby when I got to the Arizona," he said. "The tears rolled down my eyes. I couldn't hold myself back. I cried worse than when my wife died."
In one day Harold hugged his past goodbye and embraced the future. Sure, he still needs to use a wooden cane to steady himself, but a new man has emerged. One that will never run away, from anything, again.