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March 18, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Bob Crosby

Born George Robert Crosby in Spokane, Washington, on August. 25, 1913, he was the youngest of seven children: five boys, Larry, Everett, Ted, Harry and Bob; and two girls, Catherine and Mary Rose.

His parents were English-American bookkeeper Harry Lowe Crosby and Irish-American Catherine Harrigan, the daughter of a builder from County Mayo in Ireland.

Bob Crosby’s roller-coaster career began, like his brother’s when he came out of Gonzaga University in show business. With his big brother Bing’s (Harry) urging, he started with bandleader Anson Weeks.

“Bob’s big chance came about when established bandleader Ben Pollack began devoting more energy to romancing and building the career of his singer Doris Robbins, than to his orchestra.”

The band broke up and eventually they thought Bob – young, pleasant and connected – the most promising. The job called for him to stand out front, smile, sing and make introductions. (Gaddins)

“This, of course, can either be the makings of the younger brother, or perhaps complete anhilization of the younger crooner’s career.” (Crosby; Gaddins)

“But the idea worked like a charm. Fans came to gawk at the new Cosby and stayed to enjoy his cordial demeanor and swinging band … though Bob felt they never accepted him as his own man. ‘They wanted to see what Bing’s kid brother looked like.’” (Gaddins)

“Best known as the easygoing front man for Bob Crosby’s Bobcats, a rollicking octet that was the cornerstone of a larger Dixieland band, Crosby sought during his career to distinguish himself from his older brother.”

“While Bing Crosby made a fortune crooning, for example, Bob rarely sang and once described himself in self-deprecating humor as ‘the only guy in the business who made it without talent.’” (LA Times)

Crosby led big bands from 1935 to 1942, starting the Bob Cats, an eight-piece band-within-the-band, during that time. He sang but did not play an instrument. His bands were known for swing and Dixieland sounds.

When World War II began, the band broke up; Crosby joined the Marines. Lt. Bob Crosby and other Marines in his band put on shows in Hawaii that were seen as morale boosters.

The Marine Corps organized a 5th Marine Division Show for a tour of a Pacific bases in the war zone Crosby spent 18-months with the Marines, touring with bands throughout the Pacific. (NY Times)

“They would respond to anything,” Marine corporal Max Berg (and comedian/impersonator who traveled with Crosby). “We all just got so much back from the crowds. They were so happy to have people come out there and play to them.”

“We went to islands where they wouldn’t let the regulars go, half-occupied by Japanese. They were not even secure. We had to be careful we didn’t get knocked off by snipers.”

At the tour’s end, arriving at Honolulu, the entertainers discovered that their unit shipped out without them. “We were all sad we couldn’t go but it was too late,” Berg recalls.

The 5th Marine Division was off to invade one of Japan’s last island bastions in the Pacific, heavily fortified Iwo Jima. It proves to be one of America’s costliest victories of the war. Navy corpsmen are in vital demand.

“We had four Navy corpsmen they took,” Berg says. “They flew them out special, and within (a few) weeks they were dead. I lost so many of my buddies in my division. I don’t like to think about it. I wouldn’t be here talking to you. I always wondered why did I get to come back, when so many other people lost their lives?” (Berg)

For a time Crosby appeared in such films as the 1944 “The Singing Sheriff,” before joining the U.S. Marines, where he served with distinction, leading a service band in the Pacific.

After the war, he worked mainly as a daytime radio host, moving in the 1950s to daytime television. He headlined an Australian nighttime talk show, tried the car-rental business in Hawaii. (LA Times) “I went into the car rental business in Hawaii, managed to lose $75,000 and go broke in eight months.” (Crosby)

Crosby enjoyed popularity as a daytime radio entertainer for several years. But he was unable to attract a nighttime sponsor and retired to Hawai‘i where he took occasional assignments as a disc jockey. (UPI)

On heading back to Las Vegas, Crosby to the Commanding Officer of the USS Providence, “Have to go to hell so I can afford to live in paradise” [Hawaii]. (Crosby)

But Crosby’s career was often overshadowed by his older brother’s and he readily acknowledged that he had no special talent. His warm personality and natural flair for leadership, however, helped him attract excellent musicians. (UPI) Bob Crosby was inducted to the Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960 with 2 stars (television & radio). He died March 3, 1993.

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Al Caiola, Bob Crosby and Tubby Oliver

Lt. Bob Crosby signs autographs while visiting with patients

March 17, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Saint Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of the island.

Legend credits St. Patrick with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons (the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit) in one God. (Shamrocks are a central symbol for St Patrick’s Day.) St Patrick is also credited with ridding Ireland of snakes, chasing them into the sea.

St. Patrick features in many stories in the Irish oral tradition and there are many customs connected with his feast day. March 17, popularly known as St. Patrick’s Day, is believed to be his death date and is the date celebrated as his feast day.

St. Patrick has never been formally canonized by a Pope; nevertheless, various Christian churches declare that he is a Saint in Heaven (he is included in the List of Saints.)

So, today, we celebrate the death of St Patrick; we also celebrate the “birth” of Kauikeaouli.

On the night of his birth, the chiefs gathered about the mother. Early in the morning the child was born but as it appeared to be stillborn.

Then came Kaikioʻewa from some miles away, close to Kuamoʻo, and brought with him his prophet (Kamaloʻihi or Kapihe) who said, “The child will not die, he will live.”

The child was well cleaned and laid upon a consecrated place and the seer (kaula) took a fan (peʻahi), fanned the child, prayed, and sprinkled him with water, at the same time reciting a prayer.

The child began to move, then to make sounds and at last he came to life. The seer gave the boy the name of “The red trail” (Keaweaweʻula) signifying the roadway by which the god descends from the heavens. The name Kauikeaouli means “placed in the dark clouds.”

Kauikeaouli was the second son of Keōpūolani by Kamehameha, and she called him Kīwalaʻo after her own father. She was the daughter of Kiwalaʻo and Kekuʻiapoiwa Liliha, both children of Kalola and hence Keōpūolani was a niʻaupiʻo and a naha chiefess, and the niʻaupiʻo rank descended to her children and could not be lost by them. (Kamakau)

Kauikeaouli was only nine years old when his older brother Liholiho sailed to England; Liholiho died on that trip, leaving Kauikeaouli successor to the rule over Hawaiʻi. As he was then too young to assume command, affairs were administered by his guardians, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku, and the other chiefs under them.

We more commonly reference Kauikeaouli as Kamehameha III. He was the longest reigning Hawaiian monarch, serving 29-years, from 1825 to 1854.

There is scarcely in history, ancient or modem, any King to whom so many public reforms and benefits can be ascribed, as the achievements of his reign. Yet what King has had to contend with so many difficulties as King Kamehameha III? (The Polynesian, 1855)

“That the existence of the King, chiefs and the natives, can only be preserved by having a government efficient for the administration of enlightened justice, both to natives and the subjects of foreign powers residing in the islands, and that chiefly through missionary efforts the natives have made such progress in education and knowledge, as to justify the belief that by further training, they may be rendered capable of conducting efficiently the affairs of government; but that they are not at present so far advanced.” (Kamehameha IV, in Obituary to his hānai father)

In private life, Kamehameha III was mild, kind, affable, generous and forgiving. He was never more happy than when free from the cares and trappings of state. He could enjoy himself sociably with his friends, who were much attached to him. (The Polynesian, 1855)

Having associated much, while a boy, with foreigners, he continued to the last to be fond of their company. Without his personal influence, the law to allow them to hold lands in fee simple could never have been enacted. (The Polynesian, 1855)

It is hardly possible to conceive any King more generally beloved than was Kamehameha III; more universally obeyed, or more completely sovereign in the essential respect of independent sovereignty, that of governing his subjects free from any influence or control coming from beyond the limits of his own jurisdiction. (The Polynesian, 1855)

Under his leadership, Hawaiʻi changed from an isolated island kingdom to a recognized member of the modem world. Many of the things he did as king still influence life in Hawaiʻi today. (Kamehameha Schools Press)

The following are only some of the many accomplishments of Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli:)

On June 6, 1825, Kauikeaouli was proclaimed king of Hawaiʻi. To the people he said, “Where are you, chiefs, guardians, commoners? I greet you. Hear what I say! My kingdom I give to God. The righteous chief shall be my chief, the children of the commoners who do you right shall be my people, my kingdom shall be one of letters.” (Kamakau – Kamehameha Schools Press)
June 7, 1839, he signed the Declaration of Rights (called Hawai‘i’s Magna Charta) that, in part, noted, “God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on the earth, in unity and blessedness. God has also bestowed certain rights alike on all men and all chiefs, and all people of all lands.”
June 17, 1839 he issued the Edict of Toleration permitting religious freedom for Catholics in the same way as it had been granted to the Protestants.
June 28, 1839 he founded Chief’s Children’s School (The Royal School;) the main goal of this school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chiefs’ children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaiʻi’s Kingdom. (He selected missionaries Amos and Juliette Cooke to teach the 16 royal children and run the school.)
October 8, 1840 (the King was about 27-years-old) he enacted the Constitution of 1840 that, in part, changed the government from one of an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. It provided for a separation of powers between three branches of government, with executive power in the hands of the king, the kuhina nui (similar to a prime minister) and four governors; a bicameral legislative body consisting of a house of nobles and a house of representatives, with the house of representatives elected by the people; and a judiciary system, including a supreme court.
April 27, 1846 he declared that “the forests and timber growing therein shall be considered government property, and under the special care of the Minister of the Interior …;” effectively starting the process of protecting our mauka watersheds.
January 27, 1848 through March 7, 1848 he participated in what we refer to as the “Great Māhele” that was a reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi and allowed private ownership.
June 14, 1852 he enacted the Constitution of 1852 that expanded on the Declaration of Rights, granted universal (adult male) voting rights for the first time and changed the House of Nobles from a hereditary body to one where members served by appointment by the King. It also institutionalized the three branches of government and defined powers along the lines of the American Constitution.
Toward the end of Kauikeaouli’s reign there were 423-schools in Hawaiʻi with an enrollment of over twelve-thousand-students. Most of the schools were elementary schools using Hawaiian as the language of instruction.

Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) died December 15, 1854 (at the age of 41.)

Kauikeaouli’s exact birth date is not known; however, the generally accepted date is August 11, 1813. Never-the-less, Kauikeaouli was apparently an admirer of Saint Patrick and chose to celebrate his birthday on March 17. Happy Birthday and Cheers to Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III.

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Keōpūolani-(1778–1823)mother Kamehameha II, Kamehameha III-1790

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March 16, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Camp Tarawa

Camp Tarawa trained over 50,000 servicemen between 1942 and 1945.

Originally an Army camp named Camp Waimea, when the population in town was about 400, it became the largest Marine training facility in the Pacific following the battle of Tarawa.

There were three ways to get to Camp Tarawa – by narrow-gage sugarcane freight train; by hard-axle truck or on foot.

Many arrived to sleep outdoors on rough lava beds until Seabee construction could catch up with the surge – all were appreciative of the shelter and the respite from war.

Pyramid tent cities and streets of long convoys of jeeps, trucks, half-tracks, tanks, artillery, amphibious ducks made up the formidable, but top secret, Camp Tarawa.

The town warmly received the Marines who:
• Bought all the goods from the farmers and storekeepers
• Brought in Bob Crosby’s (Bing’s brother) Band
• Set up outdoor movie theaters
• Played baseball with the locals
• Ate Thanksgiving dinner in Kohala homes
• Conducted live fire training

Marines and Sailors trained for what has been referred to as the toughest marine offensive of WWII.

1300 miles northeast of Guadalcanal, the Japanese had constructed a centralized stronghold force in a 20-island group called Tarawa.

RADM Shibasaki, the Japanese commander there, proclaimed, “a million men cannot take Tarawa in a hundred years.” Ultimately, the objective took 9,000 marines only four days – but not without a staggering 37% casualties.

The victories at Tarawa, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands marked a turning point in the war. The Marines would reconstitute at the Camp Tarawa camp site.

At Iwo Jima, Lt General Kuribayashi, Japanese ground forces commander, concentrated his forces in the northern two-thirds of the island. The miles of interlocking caves, concrete blockhouses and pillboxes proved to be one of the most impenetrable defenses in the Pacific.

While the 4th Marine Division defeated heavy opposition to take a Japanese strong-point called the quarry, the 28th Marines of 5th Marine Division seized Mount Suribachi.

The 36-day assault on Iwo Jima cost America more than 26,000 casualties, including 6,800 dead. Of the 20,000 Japanese defenders, only 1,083 survived.

Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines and Sailors, many posthumously – more than for any other single operation during the war.

The camp closed in November 1945 as 5th Marine Division was transferred to Japan for occupation. The Army took over the camp and auctioned off the remaining assets.

Camp Tarawa memorial was erected on July 3rd 1984 – the large rock is symbolic of Mt Suribachi on Iwo Jima; the brass plaque is made from shell casings. The memorial has three panels.

The left panel is dedicated to 2nd Marine Division for the battle of Tarawa and their training here until they departed for Saipan and Tinian.

The center panel honors Richard Smart, Parker Ranch, the community of Waimea and the Big Island.

The right panel commemorates 5th Marine Division through the battle of Iwo Jima and occupation of Japan.

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Mt. Suribachi, the most prominent geological feature on the island of Iwo Jima

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Iwo Jima map

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Marines and Navy Corpsman from Easy Company 2nd Battalion 28th Marines after raising the flags on Mt. Suribachi-Iwo Jima February 23, 1945

Iwo Jima Memorial

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Battle of Tarawa Memorial

March 15, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ala Loa

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, A.D. 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, transportation and communication within the Hawaiian kingdom was by canoe and by major trail systems.

Although the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawai‘i, extensive cross-country trail networks enabled gathering of food and water and harvesting of materials for shelter, clothing, medicine, religious observances and other necessities for survival.

Ancient trails, those developed before western contact in 1778, facilitated trading between upland and coastal villages and communications between ahupua‘a and extended families.

These trails were usually narrow, following the topography of the land. Sometimes, over ‘a‘ā lava, they were paved with water worn stones.

Over time, as needs and technology changed, the trails evolved to address these changes.

Various archaeologists note the following evolution of Hawai‘i trails:

Pre-contact/Early historical … Single-file footpath … Follow contours of coast
1820-1840 … Widened for one horse … Coastal – curbstones added
1820-1840 … Built in straight lines, inland
1841-1918 … Widened for two horses … Straight, leveled
Late-1800s-early 1900s … Widened for horse cart … Straight, leveled

Bridges also became necessary. Perhaps the first was a footbridge across the Wailuku River in Hilo, described in 1825. The first important span on O‘ahu was the Beretania Street bridge built over Nu‘uanu Stream in 1840.

By the 1830s, King Kamehameha III initiated a program of island-wide improvements on the ala loa, and in 1847, a formal program for development of the alanui aupuni (government roads) was initiated.

Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood, as early as 1838. The first sidewalk made of brick was laid down in 1857 by watchmaker Samuel Tawson in front of his shop on Merchant Street.

Until the 1840s, overland travel was predominantly by foot and followed the traditional trails. By the 1840s, the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing, and many traditional trails – the ala loa and mauka-makai trails within ahupua‘a – were modified by removing the smooth stepping stones that caused the animals to slip.

Eventually, wider, straighter trails were constructed to accommodate horse drawn carts. Unlike the earlier trails, these later trails could not conform to the natural, sometimes steep, terrain.

They often by-passed the traditional trails as more remote coastal villages became depopulated due to introduced diseases and the changing economic and social systems.

By the early 1850s, specific criteria were developed for realigning trails and roadways, including the straightening of alignments and development of causeways and bridges.

This system of roadwork, supervised by district overseers, and funded through government appropriations – with labor by prisoners and individuals unable to pay taxes in another way – evolved over the next 40 years.

Paved streets were unknown until 1881. In that year, Fort Street was macadamized (a paving process using aggregate layers of stone with a cementing agent binder – a process named after Scotsman John Loudon McAdam,) followed by Nu‘uanu Avenue.

In 1892, Queen Lili‘uokalani and the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i signed into law an “Act Defining Highways, and Defining and Establishing Certain Routes and Duties in Connection Therewith,” to be known as “The Highways Act, 1892.”

Through this act, all roads, alleys, streets, ways, lanes, courts, places, trails and bridges in the Hawaiian Islands, whether laid out or built by the Government or by private parties were declared to be public highways; ownership was placed in the Government (typically, under the control of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.)

Today, trails serve more as recreational features, rather than transportation links. While I was at DLNR, we oversaw “Na Ala Hele,” the State of Hawai‘i’s Trail and Access Program, administered by DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

It was established in 1988 in response to public concern about the loss of public access to certain trails and the threat to historic trails from development pressure.

The goal of the Na Ala Hele Program is to provide public outdoor recreation opportunities for hiking, biking, hunting, camping, equestrian and off-highway vehicle use.

Na Ala Hele has become increasingly engaged in trail management and regulatory issues due to both public and commercial recreational activities and emerging legal issues.

In addition, Na Ala Hele is charged with locating and determining whether a historic road or ancient trail falls under the Highways Act of 1892.

Likewise, the program is responsible for the inventory, and documenting ownership of specific historic trails and non-vehicular old government roads for public use where it is feasible and culturally appropriate.

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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Ancient Hawaiian trail of smooth stone across the 1823 Keaiwa (seaward) flow of Kilauea Volcano. July 10, 1924-USGS)-400

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Trail up the windward side of the Pali, Honolulu Hawaii-(BishopMuseum) ca. 1890

Driving Cattle up Pali Trail to Market – 1887

Hoapili Trail-(NPS)

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1871 Trail looking north toward the Pu’uhonua, Keanae’e Cliffs to the right

Mamalahoa_Trail_as_horse_trail-1900s-(HMCS-NPS)

March 14, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Na Ki‘i Pōhaku

When Captain Cook first visited the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through chants and songs.

This doesn’t suggest however, that the Hawaiians did not communicate through “written” symbols – Hawaiians also communicated through na ki‘i pōhaku, petroglyphs.

Petroglyph is a word that comes from the Greek words “petros,” for rock, and “gypheian,” to carve. Thus, petroglyphs are rock carvings.

Petroglyphs occur throughout the world. Certain shapes and forms appear to be universal. A petroglyph of a man or dog in Sweden looks just like a petroglyph of a man or dog in Hawai‘i.

It is probable that the first settlers to Hawai‘i started carving in the rocks after they arrived here. With no other writing, the ancient Hawaiians used petroglyphs as forms of communication, with the gods, spirits and others who viewed them.

Hawaiian petroglyphs are more often found near or at junctions of trails, or areas when ‘mana’ (cosmic power or force) was found.

It was this mana that was supposed to be absorbed by the petroglyphs to insure the efficacy of the spiritual rite or act of magic that affirmed the petroglyph’s intent.

Petroglyphs are not the result of trifling doodle or pastime. Many petroglyphs were made in connection with religious/magical rites or acts.

Despite appearances, the making of a petroglyph was a purposeful and deliberate act with the given expectation of result and/or consequence.

Hawaiian petroglyphs evolved into different forms and styles over time.

Many times in clusters of petroglyphs, in the center of a cluster tend to be of the earliest type, the “stick man” – this is the oldest universal form around the world.

Another form appears to have a wider body format, sometimes referred to as the ‘columnar’ form. A more recent form has the triangular body.

Animals were also drawn; many animals were their guardian spirits (aumakua.) Animal figures also represented spirits that inhabited the areas where the petroglyphs were made.

Canoes, paddles, fishhooks, fans and feather capes were also drawn. These sometimes represent the mode of travel to reach the petroglyphs, i.e. canoe, on foot, etc.

The majority of petroglyphs are on the ground with carving into the smooth pāhoehoe lava. Other surfaces include boulders, cliff faces and smooth-walled interiors of lava tubes and caves.

Hard surface petroglyph carving was done with a stone, repeatedly smashing the stone against the surface. Designs on smoother walls in caves can be scraped with a pointed rock.

The petroglyph fields I am most familiar with are the clusters at Puakō, South Kohala. In fact, years ago – decades before I was involved with DLNR – when I was an appraiser, I was given an assignment to value the state land where the petroglyphs are located.

The State was leasing the land and was going to require the tenant to farm the property. In doing so, it meant the lessee would have to grade and plant the entire site. I called attention to the fact that there are numerous petroglyphs in this area and grading (and farming) should be voided.

I recommended that they amend the lease requirements to protect the petroglyphs. Fortunately they did; but it also meant my appraisal assignment was cancelled (which was fine with me.) (Lots from Ski Kwiatkowski and his book “Na Ki‘i Pohaku”.)

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