My mother was in her mid-20s when she woke up on the other side of Diamondhead (with her father, a civilian Army employee) with a couple of girl friends spending the night. They heard the bombs, but that was normal, as ships frequently had shooting exercises at sea near the island. Then they heard neighbors coming, talking excitedly. Then the radio came on. She was in the first ship out of there, she said, because people knew what the Japanese did in Nanking and other places in China.
I’m thankful your mother got out... we would have been one freeper short...