I reminded her that if the

events of that day had never happened, she would not be who she is.

A first-generation Polish pilot

from Buffalo, N.Y., would never have met a transplanted farm girl from

Indiana in the restaurant of the old Hangar Hotel in Hapeville, Ga. He

was training in C-47s with Delta and Eastern as assigned by the Ferry

Command. She was working for Army Finance at Candler Field. Two years

later, they were married. This daughter to whom I was raving is the sixth

of seven children resulting from that chance meeting.

If the Japanese had not attacked

Pearl Harbor, I told her, you would not have gone to many schools in different

states and countries. You would not have had to spell your surname and

answered to many botched attempts to pronounce it.

Words such as Babcia and Dziandzia

would not have been in your vocabulary. You would never have been taught

to make perrogi and torte. You would not have inherited the "bluest

eyes in the Air Force!" You would not have cousins that look like

your brothers alive and well in Olystyn, Poland.

You would not have called a

B-47 a "Daddy Go," nor would you have stood quietly at a graveside

at Arlington National Cemetery while Taps was played. You are who you

are because of that day, I reminded her.

She was very quiet and, finally,

so was I.

May I suggest that this year

on Dec. 7, you ask your grandparents or great-grandparents about their

memories of that day and what effect it ha d on their lives and,

in turn, on yours.

Rene Dziejowski

Fayetteville