When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Pat Klein Mansfield was in her mother’s womb. She would be born 15 days later.

Mansfield’s father and mother, Victor Michael Klein and Edna Klein, were living in Hawaii when the Japanese attacked. Her father’s Army Air Corps squadron was stationed at Hickam Field.

Mansfield share some personal insights about her connections to the event the brought the United States into World War II during a Pearl Harbor service at the American Legion Post 15 home Saturday, 72 years after the attacked that killed 2,402 military personnel and civilians and wounded 1,247 others. She also shared some memorabilia related to Hawaii and her parents’ time there, including a photograph of them being married there and a menu from a Christmas party that never took place because of the attack.

“My mother was pregnant, very pregnant, with me on Dec. 7. It was a Sunday morning. Because maybe of being so pregnant and maybe because my dad was very careful with her — he was 10 years younger than she was — (they) didn’t party that night (before),” Mansfield said. “It was a weekend. Everybody was out partying, thinking about the holidays. What was most interesting was that my mother was woken up, maybe because of morning sickness, but anyway she said, ‘Victor, something is going on. Something is very strange. I don’t think it’s just maneuvers. I think something really is going on.’ So, he jumped out of bed, tried to get a whole bunch of people alerted. Everybody was not willing to get up and whatever. The event was amazing, as they have told it over and over again. So, all I can do, of course, is relay what they encountered.”

Mansfield’s father was a side-gunner on a B-17 bomber, according to the Travelers in Time website.

Mansfield said she was born at the King Kamehameha School for Boys because hospitals in Hawaii were filled with wounded from the attack. Large buildings, such as the school, were used as temporary hospitals in the aftermath of the attack, she said.

“I think what is most interesting to me is how that day affected so many people and how it has stayed with me and has kept coming back over and over again,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield told the story of how her parents returned to Hawaii years after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

“They want actually to the … housing for enlisted families. She rapped on the door of their apartment. There was a young newlywed there. My mother had a very nice, wonderful conversation with her. She was newly married. She was very apprehensive about the whole situation. … My other said, ‘Let me talk to you a bit. I had a wonderful experience here.’”

She concluded: “So, whatever happens, I know that I will always, always be touched by this extraordinary event that I feel like I was definitely a part of.”

The Pearl Harbor service included a ceremony that explains the meaning of each of the 13 folds made when an American flag is folded into a triangle, which represents the cocked hats worn by military personnel during the Revolutionary War.

The service also included the presentation of 92 American flags purchased by area families and individuals to honor U.S. military personnel killed while serving their nation, deceased veterans and living veterans. Those flags were displayed during the Veterans Day service at Veterans Memorial Park in Washington last month.