Stranded on an Alaskan Island

It was November 7, 1931. My family and I were living in Hawaii, on the big island. We lived there for ten years until the United States military got word that the Japanese military was planning to bomb Pearl Harbor (on December 7, 1941)! Upon hearing this, the governor announced an immediate evacuation for all Hawaiian citizens. My family and I evacuated as quickly as possible to the nearest dock, where hundreds of large ships were waiting for their passengers. As soon as we boarded, the captain (a military officer tasked with getting the citizens to safety), started to give commands to his crew, telling them who did what and giving a brief explanation of how he wanted the tasks completed. After, he announced to the passengers how long we were supposed to be on the ship (approximately three months), and where our destination would be (Jamaica).

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About a month into our escape voyage (December 7, 1941), the captain announced that the Japanese military was coming! By the time we all rushed under the deck, it was too late. The ship had exploded.

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The next thing I knew, I was awaking from a very deep sleep. I think I passed out shortly after the ship exploded. I checked the condition of my hands. They looked terrible. I was probably banged up all over, but there was no way to tell. It took a while for my brain to register that I was floating around on a small piece of driftwood, presumably a remnant of the ship I was previously on. I wasn’t sure where I was or where my little piece of driftwood would take me; I imagined I was going north (towards Alaska) judging the fact that it was getting colder and colder as the time passed. Knowing that there was nothing I could do about my dire situation, I lay down and fell into another deep sleep.

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When I awoke again, I was on the shore of a large island, with snow-capped mountains and forests of pine trees. It was foggy, and a light mist fell from above. The more and more I explored the oddly remote island, the more my hunch was proven correct: I was stranded on an Alaskan island.