The riverboat captain is a storyteller. Captain Don Sanders shares the stories of his long association with the river — from discovery to a way of love and life. This a part of a long and continuing story.
By Capt. Don Sanders
Special to NKyTribune
Eighty-four years ago today, Sunday, December 07, 1941, the Empire of Japan “suddenly and deliberately attacked” the U. S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war. The Senate responded with a unanimous vote in support of war; only Montana pacifist Jeanette Rankin dissented in the House.
At 4 p.m. that same afternoon, President Roosevelt signed the declaration of war.
The attack on Pearl Harbor happened in my lifetime, but having been less than two months old then, I am hard-pressed these days to remember that fateful occurrence; however, I do recall many other events from those wartime days following the Pearl Harbor onslaught.
Everyone’s life changed immediately. Uncle Raymond Robert Sanders, 21, my father, Jess Sanders, Jr.’s brother, enlisted in the Navy. Dad, a Covington police officer, had a temporary exemption from military service. I must have grown quickly, for I often wore an authentic, tailor-made naval uniform Uncle Ray ordered for me from the same California tailor who custom-sewed his sailor suits. As a small lad, as much as possible, I soon assumed my own wartime duties, doing my part to help our nation’s fight against tyranny throughout that troubled world.
Among my duties was carrying a small container of kitchen grease into Mac’s grocery store on Southern Avenue in Latonia, a requirement before purchasing soap during wartime rationing. I still recall how proud I was to shoulder my tiny share of the tremendous burden of responsibilities cast upon all patriotic Americans.
Other chores included helping my grandparents and parents cultivate the Victory Garden in what had been a grassy backyard lawn. I also helped a neighborhood girl sort and bundle old newspapers in our backyard shed. Finding and sorting scrap metal for the Cub Scouts from our church to collect was another task I learned to handle.
Years later, soon after my marriage to Peggy, we began Can-Do All-American, All-Aluminum Recycling Company in Covington. I’ve always credited my love of recycling to my homefront experiences during those wartime years.
Most of all I remember the fear everyone had for the safety of their loved ones overseas, the fear of two terrible enemies on each side of the North American continent, fear of the unknown, and the icy, chill of gathering around the radio as I sat on the rug in our, or my grandparent’s living room listening to Walter Winchell, H. V. Caltenborn, or Edward R. Murrow with the latest news from battlefields strung all across the globe.
I remember the fear of an O-1 observation aircraft flying low over our neighborhood, looking for uncovered leaks of light from residential dwellings during air-raid drills. I can still hear the gruff voice of our Block Warden barking at Mother and me to get “our asses back inside” the house when we slipped onto the porch to peek at the little airplane flying so close overhead.
What I didn’t see was the suffering and dying all over the world. I had never experienced the horror of the rounding up and the extermination of human beings because of who, or where, they were born. I didn’t have bombs falling into my backyard or approaching armies invading my neighborhood. My tender age spared me from landing on Omaha Beach on D-Day, or on some sandy shore of a previously unheard-of island somewhere in the South Pacific.
I remember waking up in the middle of the night to the sobs of my mother sitting alone at the tattered rolltop desk, crying as she held my father’s draft notice, shortly before the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which ended the war with Japan. Later, I learned that Uncle Raymond was safely aboard his ship in Yokohama Bay during the surrender proceedings held aboard the Battleship MISSOURI on September 02, 1945.
The world changed for the worse 84 years ago, until that “greatest generation” of men and women around the globe gave their utmost to restore order. Virtually all are gone today.
Were their sacrifices worthwhile, or were they made in vain? The world is again facing a crossroads on December 07, 2025. In what direction will civilization go?
One thing is sure: the world can never return to what humanity faced 84 years ago and survive as a species. Whichever direction world leaders choose, it won’t be for those like me, remnants of that long-ago Pearl Harbor generation.
Hopefully, common sense will prevail, and there will be hope for the world again, as there was when the last signature closed the surrender proceedings on the deck of the Battleship MISSOURI, with expectations that a bright future for all humankind will triumph.
Captain Don Sanders is a river man. He has been a riverboat captain with the Delta Queen Steamboat Company and with Rising Star Casino. He learned to fly an airplane before he learned to drive a “machine” and became a captain in the USAF. He is an adventurer, a historian and a storyteller. Now, he is a columnist for the NKyTribune, sharing his stories of growing up in Covington and his stories of the river. Hang on for the ride — the river never looked so good.
Purchase Captain Don Sanders’ The River book
Capt. Don Sanders The River: River Rat to steamboatman, riding ‘magic river spell’ to 65-year adventure is now available for $29.95 plus handling and applicable taxes. This beautiful, hardback, published by the Northern Kentucky Tribune, is 264-pages of riveting storytelling, replete with hundreds of pictures from Capt. Don’s collection — and reflects his meticulous journaling, unmatched storytelling, and his appreciation for detail. This historically significant book is perfect for the collections of every devotee of the river.
You may purchase your book by mail from the Northern Kentucky Tribune — or you may find the book for sale at all Roebling Books locations and at the Behringer Crawford Museum and the St. Elizabeth Healthcare gift shops.
Click here to order your Captain Don Sanders’ ‘The River’ now.