Written by Chillie Falls, AccessAdventure.net, September 26, 2025
On December 7, 1941, Dean Darrow stood aboard the USS West Virginia when the sky over Pearl Harbor erupted in chaos. He was injured in the surprise attack — though the true depth of his wounds wouldn’t be known until months later, when doctors discovered a bullet lodged in his heart muscle.
That bullet nearly took his life. But it also led him to the woman who would become his wife.
Dean was transferred to Mare Island Naval Hospital in California, where he met a Navy nurse named Alice Beck. Before going into surgery, he made a bold request: if he survived, would she go out with him? She said yes. He survived. They married in 1942. And the bullet that had brought them together was kept as a symbol of both sacrifice and unexpected love.
Now, 83 years later, Alice Beck Darrow — 106 years old and still full of spirit — has donated that very bullet to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial museum.
She made the gift during a visit on September 18, 2025, while sailing aboard Holland America Line’s Westerdam on a 28-night “Legendary Glaciers & Volcanoes With History Channel” cruise. The voyage, which departed Seattle on August 31, includes stops in both Alaska and Hawaii, blending history with exploration.
Alice traveled with her daughter and son-in-law, not just for sightseeing, but to fulfill a mission decades in the making: to return the bullet to the place where her husband’s story began.
It’s a story of survival. Of love in wartime. And now, it’s one the world can see — on display at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.
