[My dad was Navy in Borneo, after Pearl the U.S. told them “Japan started hostilities; govern yourselves accordingly.”]
Given what happened to a couple of capital ships of the Royal Navy just days after Pearl Harbor, those would have been exciting times for anyone at sea, civilian or military, on either side.
How lonely it must have been for various military people around the world, small detachments, ships, small commands, and isolated outposts, the horror of learning that you are on your own and there is little hope that things will end well for you.
No one is coming to help and you don’t even know what is happening to them.