Author Barbara Yuen OConnor's grandfather left the China mainland in 1877 when he was twenty years old.

It was the beginning of an amazing journey that took him to San Francisco just a few years before the Chinese Exclusion Act. He ultimately went to Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations, and it was there that he and his wife raised twelve children.

The second generation continued the family's tradition of working hard, putting family first, and traveling.

Barbara, a member of the third generation, was a schoolgirl when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. The cowardly bombing changed everything. Barbara suddenly had to participate in air raid drills, learn how to use a gas mask, and endure food rationing.

This tribute to three generations

Barbara looks back at growing up during the war, surviving three recessions, and finding the love of her life—her late husband of thirty-nine years, Frank. Even though times were not always easy, she and her family always treasured their freedom and heritage.