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April 11, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“(I)f we did not do them good they might send us all away.”

Discussions and negotiations to allow the missionaries to stay went on for days. On April 10, 1820, “All the brethren went on shore to make one more united effort to obtain what appeared to all to be truly desirable.”

They sought and received assistance from some of the other foreigners. But, “Before anything decisive could be done, two youths presented themselves on the common near the King’s house, prepared, for a public dance. This drew the attention of all, and probably nearly 2000 people were soon collected”.

“The dancers were fantastically dressed in the manufacture of the country, having on their heads and wrists a small wreath, around the waist a large quantity of spreading tapa, and on the leg a cumbersome kind of gaitar, thickly set with dog’s teeth which rattled together at every step, and answered in time to the musick.”

“After many inquiries with respect to our designs and to the number of arts which we were able to teach, they seemed to be satisfied that our intentions were good, and that we might be of some service to them.”

“To obviate what had seemed to be an objection, the fear of displeasing G. Britain, they concluded that Mr. Young should write to England to inform the people that American missionaries had come to settle here, not to do any harm but to teach the people of these Islands all good things.”

“They added that we must not send for any more missionaries, from fear that we might be burdensome or dangerous to the government. When we had finished our propositions and made all the statements which we thought proper, we left them to have a general consultation tonight, and to give us their result tomorrow. We believe ‘the Lord is on our side’ and that our wishes will be gratified.” (Thaddeus Journal)

Then, the decision was made …

April 11, 1820
April 11 Brother Bingham being somewhat exhausted with the long continued negotiations and seriously indisposed today; brother Thurston and Dr. H went on shore to hear the result. A result highly creditable to the government and satisfactory to us, and we believe honorable to the great Lord of missions, and we thank God and take courage. Our joy is mingled however with the painful thought of so speedy a separation.
The decision of the government is, that two of the brethren with their wives, and two of the native youths should remain here and be furnished at the public expense with lodgings, water and fuel, and with fresh provisions end allowed to commence their work with the promise of protection; – and that the rest of our number should be allowed to proceed, to Woahoo and there be accommodated with convenient houses. The government were told that if we did not do them good they might send us all away. As it is the pleasure of the King that the Dr. should remain, with Thos. Hopoo and Wm Tennooe, it was easily agreed on among ourselves and settled thus far. It was also easily agreed that one of the ordained missionaries should be designated to remain. The question, which of the two was decided by ballot and brother Thurston was appointed to occupy this important post, to our mutual satisfaction. (Thaddeus Journal)

April 11 1820 – Still on board the Thaddeus. It is now the thirteenth day since we made the land. There is not the least hostility on the part of the natives; on the contrary, all appear friendly. It is difficult to say why we are so delayed. Among obstacles in the way of dispatch, may be reckoned their great indolence and total disregard of the worth of time.
1 o’clock. The important decision is made. We are to proceed to Hoahoo to make the principal establishment, leaving two of our brethren and sisters in this place.
The separation is painful.—If nature might be allowed to speak, we should say our dear brother and sister Thurston we must have with us. She is a lovely sister. But the Lord’s will be done. We hope we are enabled to say if from the heart. Our physician is the other to be left. Do not be alarmed, dear sisters, GOD will be our physician. The king insists upon his remaining on account of his art. As much as we may need that, some of the female part of our little band especially, yet, all things considered, I believe we are all disposed to view a kind providence in the present arrangement. (Sybil Bingham)

(Lucia Holman noted this as Saturday. 8th.) The King gives orders that Dr. H. and our teacher must land at Kiarooah – the village where he now resides, and the rest of the family may go to Oahhoo, or Wahhoo. We plead earnestly that we might all go to Oahhoo, at least to do our washing and become a little familiarized to the country before we separated – not knowing how a family could live upon a rock of Laver, without wood or water, with six months washing on hand. Our entreaties however were unavailing. The King and Chiefs said that everybody liked Oahhoo better than Ohyhee, and if we all went there we should not come back again. Besides, he wanted the Dr. to stay with them, as they had no Physician and appeared much pleased that one had come; as to pulla-pulla (learning), they knew nothing about it. Consequently it was agreed that Dr. H. & Mr. Thurston should stay with the King and the rest of the family go to Oahhoo. (Lucia Ruggles Holman)

April 11. The King has given permission for some of the mission family to stay here and the rest to go to the island of Woahoo. It is his request that the Physician, with two of the native youths should stay here and brother Thurston is appointed to stay with them. It is indeed trying to be separated from our dear brethren and sisters & especially from our Physician. But it seems to be the will of God and we ought cheerfully to submit, if in so doing we may be more useful. Woahoo is said to be more fertile than Owhyhee; especially than this part where the King resides. Our family can be much better accommodated there, then here. It is likewise the place where American vessels generally stopped & by being there, we probably shall have more frequent opportunities of conveyance to our friends. (Mercy Partridge Whitney Journal)

Kirooah bay, April 11, 1820. Voted that it is expedient that a part of our mission reside at this place. Voted that Rev. Mr. Thurston and Dr. Holman with their wives and Thomas Hopoo, and William Tennooe be left at this place. (Minutes of the Prudential Meetings of the Mission Family)

(While the initial decision that they “must not send for any more missionaries”, we learn latter, once the missionaries had started working with and teaching the Hawaiians, the Ali‘i asked, “Here is our hope for the improvement of the lands here in Hawaii. Give us more instructors like those you have in your land, America. …”)

(“If you agree and send these teachers, we will protect them when they arrive, provide the necessities to make their professions viable and give our support to these needed endeavors.”) (Letter in the Ali‘i Letters Collection: https://hmha.missionhouses.org/collections/show/178)

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Kamakahonu map by Rockwood based on Ii-Rechtman

April 10, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Whaling

The war for independence against the British on the American continent (1775-1783) closed the colonial trade routes within the British empire.

The merchantmen and whalers of New England swarmed around South America’s Cape Horn, in search of new markets and sources of supply. A market was established in China.

China took nothing that the US produced; hence Boston traders, in order to obtain the wherewithal to purchase teas and silks at Canton, spent 18-months or more of each China voyage collecting a cargo of sea-otter and other skins out of the northwest side of the American continent, highly esteemed by the Chinese.

Years before the westward land movement gathered momentum, the energies of seafaring New Englanders found their natural outlet, along their traditional pathway, in the Pacific Ocean.

Practically every vessel that visited the North Pacific in the closing years of the 18th century stopped at Hawai‘i for provisions and recreation; then, the opening years of the 19th century saw the sandalwood business became a recognized branch of trade.

Sandalwood, geography and fresh provisions made the Islands a vital link in a closely articulated trade route between Boston, the Northwest Coast and Canton, China.

The central location of the Hawaiian Islands between America and Orient brought many ships to the Islands. They needed food and water, and the islands supplied this need from its fertile lands.

Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 when two New England ships became the first whaling ships to arrive in the Hawaiian Islands.

At that time, whale products were in high demand; whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.

Rich whaling waters were discovered near Japan and soon hundreds of ships headed for the area.

Whalers’ aversion to the traditional Hawaiian diet of fish and poi spurred new trends in farming and ranching. The sailors wanted fresh vegetables and the native Hawaiians turned the temperate uplands into vast truck farms.

There was a demand for fresh fruit, cattle, white potatoes and sugar. Hawaiians began growing a wider variety of crops to supply the ships.

In Hawaiʻi, several hundred whaling ships might call in season, each with 20 to 30 men aboard and each desiring to resupply with enough food for another tour “on Japan,” “on the Northwest,” or into the Arctic.

The whaling industry was the mainstay of the island economy for about 40 years. For Hawaiian ports, the whaling fleet was the crux of the economy. More than 100 ships stopped in Hawaiian ports in 1824.

“At present the whale ships visit the Sandwich Islands in the months of March and April and then proceed to the coast of Japan, the return again in October and November remain here about six weeks, and then proceed in different directions …”

“… some to the Coast of California, others cruise about the Equator when they return thither again in March and April and proceed a second time to the Coast of Japan; it usually occupies two seasons on that coast to fill a ship that will carry Three Hundred Tons.” (Jones report to Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1827)

“The number of hands generally comprising the Company of a whale ship will average Twenty Five; and owing to the want of discipline, the length and the ardourous duties of the voyage, these people generally become dissatisfied and are willing at any moment to join a rebellion or desert the first opportu(nity) that may offer …”

“… this has been fully exemplified in the whale ships that have visited these islands, constant disertions have taken place and many serious mutinies both contributing to protract and frequently ruin the voyage.” (Jones report to Henry Clay, Secretary of State, 1827)

The effect on Hawaiʻi’s economy, particularly in areas in reach of Honolulu, Lāhainā and Hilo, the main whaling ports, was dramatic and of considerable importance in the islands’ history.

Over the next two decades, the Pacific whaling fleet nearly quadrupled in size and in the record year of 1846, 736-whaling ships arrived in Hawai‘i.

Then, whaling came swiftly to an end.

In 1859, an oil well was discovered and developed in Titusville, Pennsylvania; within a few years this new type of oil replaced whale oil for lamps and many other uses – spelling the end of the whaling industry.

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Port-of-Lahaina-Maui-1848

Lahaina as seen from Lahainaluna-(portion_Lahainaluna_engraving)-1838

Koloa_Landing-Kauai-(KauaiMuseumCollection)

Rotch fleet in the midst of a school of sperm whales off the coast of Hawaii-LOC-1833

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A view of whale fishery, from A Collection of Voyages round the World…Captain Cook’s First, Second, Third and Last Voyages, 1790 (NOAA)

Cutting up the ‘junk’ – central section of the head of sperm whales

head oil from sperm whales could be bailed directly into casks

Hoisting the blanket strip

Trying the horse pieces – the minced ‘horse piece’ to the ‘try-pot’

‘The wharf-gauging oil’, by David H. Strother, a New Bedford whaling wharf covered with casks of whale oil. (Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, June 1860)

Stripping the ivory for scrimshaw

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EarlyOilField-Titusville-WC

April 9, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻĀinahau

Princess Victoria Kawekiu I Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Kaʻiulani Cleghorn (commonly referred to as Princess Kaʻiulani) was born in Honolulu on October 16, 1875.

Princess Kaʻiulani’s mother was Princess Miriam Kapili Kekauluohi Likelike (sister of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani) and her father was Scottish businessman and horticulturist Archibald Scott Cleghorn, who later became Governor of Oʻahu.

Princess Kaʻiulani was the only child born to the Kalākaua dynasty; as such, she was the only direct heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

Kaʻiulani inherited 10-acres of land in Waikīkī from her godmother, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. Originally called Auaukai, Likelike named it ʻĀinahau; Princess Kaʻiulani spent most of her life there.

The stream that flowed through ʻĀinahau and emptied into the ocean between the Moana and Royal Hawaiian Hotels (where the present Outrigger Hotel is located,) was called ʻApuakehau (the middle of three rivers that used to run through Waikīkī.)

The family built a two-story home on the estate. At first the home was used only as a country estate, but Princess Kaʻiulani’s family loved it so much, it soon became their full-time residence.

The home was furnished with two grand pianos, elaborate brocade chairs, gold and glass cabinets and fixtures. Also, there were various art collections displayed on the walls and rooms.

The Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson was a frequent guest and used to read passages of poetry to the young Princess under the banyan tree. He even composed a poem for her where he described her as his “island rose, light of heart and bright of face.”

Archibald Cleghorn had an avid interest in horticulture. He imported plants and flowers from all over the world and planted them at ʻĀinahau.

Plants on the estate included mango trees, teak, cinnamon, camphor trees, date palms and sago palms. Its ten acres were filled with gardens, three lily ponds, 500 coconut trees, 14 varieties of hibiscus and 8 kinds of mango trees.

Reportedly, the first banyan tree in Hawaii was planted on the grounds of ʻĀinahau. As many as fifty peacocks, favorites of the young Princess, were allowed to roam freely on the grounds.

“The ʻĀinahau, with its waving, coconut trees, stately palms and winding roads and paths, has always been known as one of the most beautiful and romantic spots in Honolulu.” (Honolulu Star-Bulleting, September 23, 1913)

While attending a wedding at Parker Ranch at Waimea on the Big Island, Kaʻiulani got caught in a cold Waimea rain while riding on horseback, she became ill; she and her family returned to O‘ahu.

After a two-month illness, Kaʻiulani died at ʻĀinahau on March 6, 1899, at age 23. It is said that the night she died, her peacocks screamed so loud that people could hear them miles away and knew that she had died. Miriam Likelike passed away at ʻĀinahau 12-years before Kaʻiulani.

“Cleghorn, who survived both Princess Miriam Likelike and their daughter, died only a few years ago (Cleghorn lived until 1910 and also passed away there).” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

“Mr. Cleghorn … felt that he held ʻĀinahau in a sort of trust, to preserve it for the memory of Kaʻiulani, and indirectly also of Likelike.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, April 16, 1913)

“A bill to accept the fine gift passed the senate in 1913 but was killed in the house, and it was admitted at the time that some of the heirs under the will had joined in fighting against the acceptance bill.” (Honolulu Star-Bulleting, September 23, 1913)

“The deal by which the property was leased was completed yesterday. The name of the lessee is withheld at this time, but it was learned that local persons are interested in the project.”

“On the first of July the buildings already on the estate will be opened as a hotel. The buildings include one large structure, five cottages and one grass house. … The lease is made for a short period of time, with the privilege of extension. It includes the entire area of beautiful ʻĀinahau.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 21, 1913)

Mrs EH Lewis rented the property from the Cleghorn estate and operated the property as ʻĀinahau Hotel from 1913 to 1917.

There was an unfortunate later fire of the home, while occupied by William F Aldrich. He ran to the room where the gas heater stood and saw flames. Neighbors tried to help by beating them out with cloths.

A fire truck was summoned from Kaimukī, but the pin holding together the steering gear fell out and the truck crashed into a fence. By the time help arrived, the building could not be saved. (Cultural Surveys)

“With great difficulty the flames were prevented from spreading to adjacent buildings. Sparks were carried to the roof of the Moana Hotel by the high wind.” (Maui News, August 5, 1921)

“Historic ʻĀinahau, at Waikiki, was totally destroyed by fire August 2d (1921,) together with most of its furniture and fittings, on which $15,000 insurance was carried.” (Thrum)

“ʻĀinahau, home of the wide lanais and lofty palms, rendezvous of Honolulu society in the reign of King Kalākaua, and haunt of Robert Louis Stevenson in his Hawaiian days, is gone. “

“The age old coconut trees which surrounded the famous palace were torches of remembrance, flaming high into the tropic night long after ʻĀinahau had become only a ghost among its glowing embers, but today they are charred stumps around blackened ruins.” (Gessler, The Step Ladder, October 1921)

In the late-1920s, the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal dried up the streams and ponds on the ʻĀinahau estate. Today the Princess Kaʻiulani Hotel sits at the former driveway entrance to the ʻĀinahau Estate, across the street from Waikiki’s historic Moana Hotel, which opened in 1901.

In 1999, a statue of Princess Kaʻiulani was erected in a small triangle park (at the corner of Kūhiō Avenue and Kaʻiulani Avenue,) which also includes a bus stop, halau mound for performances, landscaping and walkway.

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Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House_after-1897

Kaiulani_and_father_at_Ainahau_in_1889-WC

Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House-after-1897

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Ainahau_-_Kaiulani’s_House-after_1897

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Liliy_pond_and_coconut_groves_at_Ainahau

Entrance_to_Ainahau,_near_Honolulu,_residence_of_Princess_Kaiulani-1901

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Ainahau-when used as hotel-cars-1915

April 7, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Aloha Tower

Coral doesn’t grow in freshwater. So, where a stream enters a coastal area, there is typically no coral growth at that point – and, as the freshwater runs out into the ocean, a coral-less channel is created.

In its natural state, thanks to Nuʻuanu Stream, Honolulu Harbor originally was a deep embayment formed by the outflow of Nuʻuanu Stream creating an opening in the shallow coral reef along the south shore of Oʻahu.

Honolulu Harbor (it was earlier known as Kuloloia) was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.

They called the harbor “Fair Haven” which may be a rough translation of the Hawaiian name Honolulu (it was also sometimes called Brown’s Harbor.) The name Honolulu (meaning “sheltered bay” – with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

Boats either anchored off-shore, or they were pulled into the harbor (this was done with canoes; or, it meant men and/or oxen pulled them in.) It might take eight double canoes with 16-20 men each, working in the pre-dawn calm when winds and currents were slow.

A few years after, in 1825, the first pier in the harbor was improvised by sinking a ship’s hull near the present Pier 12 site. As Honolulu developed and grew, lots of changes happened, including along its waterfront. What is now known as Queen Street used to be the water’s edge.

Between 1857 and 1870, the coral block walls of the dismantled Fort edged and filled about 22-acres of reef and tideland, forming the “Esplanade” or “Ainahou,” between Fort and Merchant Streets.

In 1904, the area around South Street from King to Queen Streets was filled in. The Hawaiʻi Department of Public Works reported that “considerable filling (was) required” for the extension of Queen Street, from South Street to Ward Avenue, which would “greatly relieve the district of Kewalo in the wet season.”

With the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914 and anticipated increased trans-Pacific shipping, government and business planned to further enlarge Honolulu Harbor by dredging Kalihi Channel and Kapālama Basin.

Even in today’s high-tech environment with tools and toys with satellite support, the simple illumination from a known point continues to serve as a navigational aid, as well as warn mariners of hazardous areas.

Carl W Winstedt and the National Construction Company began construction on the Aloha Tower in 1924. The project took a year and a half to complete.

Aloha Tower opened in 1926; at 10 stories and 184-feet, 2-inches tall it was the tallest building in the Territory (and remained such for the next forty years.) (LRB)

It has 4 clocks, each face 12 feet in diameter (by far the biggest clock in the Territory of Hawai‘i and one of the largest in the United States at the time) and facing different directions, were made of bronze and weighed 7 tons each.

“Large public clocks first appeared in the 1840s and 1850s. In 1842, James Hunnewell presented Kawaiahaʻo Church with the large church clock on the gallery wall below the new organ.”

The public clock served the functional purpose of telling passers-by the time. But it also served as a village landmark, a reference point, and a symbol of civic pride. Indeed, public clocks were something of a status symbol for a community, a sign that a town had reached a certain level of prosperity, that there was action there.

If a ship or person was too far away to read the clock, two other means of time synchronization were provided. A time ball was lowered to the bottom of the forty-foot mast atop the tower each day at noon, and the blast of a siren was sounded at 7 am, noon and 4 pm.

Aloha Tower was built as a control tower for the Honolulu harbormaster and a lighthouse as part of a modern freight and passenger terminal at piers 8, 9 and 10.

In addition, it provided offices for the harbor master, pilots and customs officials. The eleventh floor of the tower served as a lookout for the harbor pilots, with balconies on all four sides.

In the day (pre-1959 trans-Pacific jetliner service,) the method of travel to Hawai‘i was by ship. Aloha Tower welcomed cruise passengers/visitors to the islands.

When the attack on Pearl Harbor came on December 7, 1941, Coast Guardsmen took up defensive positions around Aloha Tower and protected it from being occupied.

The Aloha Tower received little damage during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but shortly thereafter, it was camouflaged with brown and green paint, and its light was extinguished for the remainder of the war.

Pre- and during WW II, the tower had been secretly a control facility for military convoy shipping for the Pacific Theater of Operations.

The military took control of the facility and painted it camouflage to minimize detection. (In 1947, the green camouflage paint was sandblasted from the tower and the brilliant white paint replaced.)

By the late 1960s, tall buildings were crowding the tower, and the Coast Guard decided to discontinue the beacon atop the Aloha Tower and install one on a 220-foot television tower.

This navigational aid served until 1975, when the present Honolulu Harbor Light was established on a metal pole at the end of Pier 2.

Owned by the State of Hawai’i, the Aloha Tower was renovated in 1994, at no cost to taxpayers, by the developer of the adjacent Aloha Tower Marketplace.

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Aloha_Tower-Honolulu_Harbor-Postcard-aerial-1935

19990624 CTY Construction of the Aloha Tower between 1924 and Sept. 1926 when the Aloha Tower was dedicated. COPY PHOTO BY DENNIS ODA FROM THE STATE ARCHIVES ON JUNE 23, 1999.

Honolulu_Harbor-Aerial-December 25, 1927

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USS_Honolulu_1939

Aloha Tower 1946, camaflaged. Press release photo.

aloha tower camouflaged

Aloha_Tower,_Honolulu,_1959

Aloha Tower Marker Under Tower

Old-Boat-Days

Matson_Boat_Day

April 6, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Giggle Hill

The “Fighting Fourth” was home-based at Camp Maui (aka “Giggle Hill”) during WWII operations in the Pacific. Camp Maui in Ha‘ikū (housing 20,000 Marines) was the main base of the 4th Marine Division.

It is said it was nicknamed “Giggle Hill” because American soldiers training there would bring their girls here to “neck”. At night, you could sometimes hear the giggles of young women.

At the outbreak of WWII, the Army rented 1,600 acres from various landowners in the Ha‘ikū area. The principal owners were: Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (490 acres,) Maui Agricultural Co. (397 acres) and the Copp Estate (220 acres). Thirteen different owners accounted for the remaining 493 acres. The rental for the site was $15,000 per year, prorated among the owners.

Buildings went up for offices, tents for living quarters; mess halls were constructed and roads carved out. Post Exchanges opened up; movie screens and stages were built and baseball diamonds were laid out.

The terrain and beaches of Maui provided excellent and rugged training ground. All the Division’s amphibious maneuvers for the Marianas and Iwo Jima operations were held off Ma‘alaea Bay. Haleakalā became a course with 13-mile hikes through its crater.

A total of 47 training areas, many of them belonging to the Army, were available to the Division. Six areas, consisting of gulches and rough terrain, near the camp, were used for non-tactical maneuvering.

On the outskirts of camp, a demolitions area, a live-grenade course, a pistol range and machine-gun range were set up. Five miles east of camp, in a gulch opening into the sea, was the Division’s bazooka area, and along the coast, east of camp for about ten miles, were combat firing ranges which permitted the maneuvering and firing of tanks and halftracks in coordination with the infantry.

The Division’s 100-target rifle range at Opana Point was also located in this area. Another area in the vicinity was used to train motor transport drivers in the movement of troops and supplies under both day and night conditions of combat.

The Ma‘alaea Bay area furnished an antitank moving-target range, a close-combat range, and a 20-point rifle range. The beach at Ma‘alaea Bay was fortified with pillboxes and emplacements modeled after the Tarawa Beach.

In addition to all this, there was a mortar and artillery impact area, a seacoast artillery range and an antiaircraft firing area. Inland were two artillery positions and maneuver areas. In the center of the island, near the Pu‘unene Air Station, were, the Division’s tank maneuver areas.

Maui was involved in the war effort as a staging center, training base and for rest and relaxation. At the 1943-44 peak, the number of troops stationed on Maui exceeded 100,000.

The 4th Marines were involved with four major battles: Kwajalein (Roi-Namur,) Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, suffering more than 17,000 casualties.

Kwajalein (Roi-Namur) – In one historic week, from January 29 to February 4, 1944, the 4th Marine Division set three new records: it became the first division to go directly into combat from the US.

It was first to capture Japanese-mandated territory in the Pacific; and it secured its objective in a shorter time than that of any other important operation since the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Camp Maui was first occupied by the 4th Marine Division in late-February 1944 after the Roi-Namur operation in Kwahalein (Marshall Islands.)

Saipan – The 4th Marine Division landed on Saipan June 15, 1944. The severity of this battle was indicated by the 2,000 casualties suffered in the first two days of battle. The Flag was raised on Saipan after 25 grueling and bitter days of combat.

The Division sustained 5,981 casualties killed, wounded and missing (27.6 percent of the Division’s strength.) The Japanese count was 23,811 known dead and 1,810 prisoners were taken.

Tinian – The 4th Marine Division landed on Tinian 24 July 1944. The island was defended by 9000 plus Japanese troops. This battle lasted nine days. The land assault on Tinian had cost the Division 290 men killed, 1,515 wounded and 24 missing in action.

Approximately 9,000 Japanese troops were dead and 250 prisoners taken. In recognition of its work on Saipan and Tinian, the Fourth Division was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

The Division arrived back on Maui from the Saipan-Tinian operations in late-August 1944.

Iwo Jima – The Japanese troops on Iwo Jima numbered 23,000. The first wave of Marines hit the beach the morning of February 19, 1945.

By the end of the second day casualties totaled 2,011. On March 16th, 26 days after the first troops landed, Iwo Jima was declared secured – the greatest battle in Marine Corps history was over.

After the battle of Iwo Jima, the Division arrived back on Maui in early-April 1945.

On July 4, 1945, a parade was held on the Camp Maui airstrip, at which time 714 men of the Division were decorated. The Divisions was awarded two Presidential Unit Citations and a Navy Unit Commendation. Twelve men from the Fourth Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry.”

The 4th Marine Division was deactivated November 28, 1945. In April 1946, the Camp Maui land was returned to the owners.

Today, the grounds are now a public park named “Kalapukua Playground” (“magical playground”;) Giggle Hill has a large children’s playground. The centerpiece of the park is the memorial to the Fourth Marine Division.

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