REMEMBERING DEC. 7: We were fortunate that reader Donald Neal shared his recollection of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Donald writes, “I remember the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.

“We lived in an old farmhouse on Route 666 between Sheffield and Tionesta. We didn’t have electricity in that house and got the news on an old battery radio.

“My oldest sister was on her way to Warren, with her boyfriend, and heard the attack on the car radio. They immediately turned around and brought the news to mom and dad.

“I also remember when the students at the Regan Run School, a one room school for grades from first to eighth, would go out and search for metal for the war effort. The money helped pay for books and the teacher’s salary.

“I had two brothers who enlisted in the Navy and, through the Grace of God, returned safely. I also had a brother-in-law who was a gunner on Mitchell B-25s and was stationed in Italy. He also returned safely after the war.

“It is strange but my sister was on her way to Warren the day the war ended. With the war being over, gas rationing was cancelled and dad said it was the first time in four years the gas tank was full.

“I remember that this was a time when Americans pulled together, for the good of our nation, but those times are gone and will never return.We need not grieve for those who lost their lives in that attack but grieve for what is happening in America today.”

TYPO: When we were retyping a poem that ran in Saturday’s column, we mistyped the last two lines.

The poem — a rendition of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” — describes Santa Claus visiting a home on Christmas Eve night, only to find a dog that had been given as a gift was being neglected.

The poem was a reminder not to give surprise puppies as gifts — as the recipient may not be prepared to take care of it.

Correctly, St. Nicholas exclaims “as he rode out of sight”:

“You weren’t given a gift!

You were given a life!”

Needless to say, that family did not receive any presents from Santa that year.