San Francisco • Eight-year-old Alan Harrison was sound asleep on Nov. 20, 1969, when he was roused from bed at 2 in the morning by his mother.
“She told me that we were going camping. I loved camping, so we grabbed our sleeping bags, fishing poles and were really happy about it,” Harrison said. “We got on a boat that left from Sausalito. When we arrived, my mom took us to the warden’s office because it was the only room that was carpeted, and she didn’t want us sleeping on the concrete.”
Harrison was one of the first children brought to Alcatraz during the occupation.