A Century of  Memories

100-year-old Claire McWilliams takes us back in time

by Stephanie Struyck Elgin

There I was, sitting with 100-year-old Claire McWilliams, talking about her upcoming birthday party with friends and family. Yes indeed, there are 100 candles on her birthday cake this year. And to my surprise, the real story wasn’t her milestone day, but rather the story she was about to tell. I couldn’t help but be captivated as she took me on a trip down memory lane, sharing a century of memories with me.  A registered nurse by trade, Claire decided to up and leave California to work in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1941.  Just three days after she arrived on the island, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.  Needless to say, her life hasn’t been the same ever since.

I always wanted to be a nurse.  In those days it was completely different than it is now.  I went to a nursing school and became a registered nurse.  I also went to UC Berkley and got a degree in Science, from the School of Medicine. I became a public health nurse, and I worked for the state health department in Imperial Valley giving vaccinations. Of course, that was a long time ago (taking us back to the 1930’s).   
In the early 1940s, I then decided to relocate to Honolulu, Hawaii.
Just three days after I got there, we were attacked by the Japanese.  I couldn’t hear the actual attack, but I remember vividly a man who came running to my door asking if he could use my telephone. He made a phone call and the first thing I heard him say was, “I was just out horseback riding when I saw the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.”
I couldn’t believe it.  
That night, I got a call from the nurse registry and I headed to the health department.  I got to the armory, just past Waikiki.  Everything was so dark.  
They took me to the first aid station. I stayed there for about three or four days, treating the burn victims.  I remember going to the nurse’s registry when they asked me to be a part of the five nurses on a ship that was taking some of the wounded soldiers to San Francisco.  They were all badly burned from the explosions.
I sat down crying for a moment.  I was just so scared.
We took off on ship from the mainland. It took us five days to get to San Francisco.  Two of the nurses, whose husbands were out to sea in the Navy somewhere in the Pacific, and I headed back to Honolulu. We were the first convoy to go back to Honolulu, and as far as you could see on the ocean, there were ships going in all the same direction.  
I remember those days vividly aboard ship.  We had two general alerts, and sometimes, the little cruisers would drop what we’d call “tin cans” on the submarines under our ship.  It sure was scary.  
It was on that convoy, when I met my first husband, Lieutenant Herbert “Mac” McWilliams.  
It took us about 15 days to get back to Honolulu.  After the war was declared over, “Mac” retired from the Navy.  He wanted to continue flying. At the time, Pan Am was a big company, which had a subsidiary in China.  They offered him a job, and we took it and headed to China.  
We spent about two years in Shanghai and one year in Beijing.  When we heard the communists were on their way, we left Beijing a day before they had arrived.  We flew to Hong Kong and a year and a half later moved to Thailand.
We were only in Thailand for a year and a half when we moved to the Island of Java in Indonesia.  Indonesia was such a magical place.  At that time, we had two sons, Herbert, who we refer to as “Mic” and Johnny.  After three years on Java, we decided to come home.  
It was in the mid 1950’s when we moved to the States. We lived in Moosehead Lake in the northern part of Maine. Mac and I decided to end our marriage and I came back to California and lived with my mother in Ventura. I went to UCLA and got my Masters in Community Health Education and worked for the L.A. County Health Department.  In 1971, I moved back to Hawaii and lived in Maui for a number of years.  I left to live in New Mexico and then back to California.  
Claire has been living in the Santa Clarita Valley for 15 years now and celebrated her 100th birthday in November.  She has two grandchildren and one great grandchild.  She spends her days enjoying her crossword puzzles and playing games at the clubhouse where she lives.