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October 21, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

O’Connor Task Force

The 100th/442nd arrived at Bruyères, Belmont and Biffontaine, September 29, 1944; after arriving in France, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team joined the 36th Division, as part of the 7th Army. In October 1944, the 442nd reached the outskirts of Bruyères, a quaint little town in northeast France.

The Allies were only 40 miles from Germany. But standing in the way were the Vosges Mountains and a cornered, yet determined German army.

The town lay in a valley bordered by four conical hills that the Allies named A, B, C and D. To take Bruyères, the Nisei had to take the hills. On October 15, under the command of Major General John Dahlquist, the 442nd went into combat.

The Germans had the terrain and the weather on their side. The mountains were more than 1,000 feet high and were covered with tall pines. The fog and the thick underbrush limited visibility to a dozen yards.

For three days, the infantrymen fought back constant German attacks. With the help of artillery fire from the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, the 100th took Hill A, and the 2nd took Hill B. The 3rd Battalion routed the enemy out of Bruyères, but the Germans still held Hills C and D.

Finally, the 442nd captured Hills C and D. The men began pushing the Germans north, across a railroad embankment and toward the forested area of Belmont. It was here that a K Company soldier shot a German officer and captured a complete set of German defense plans. (Go For Broke)

Using the information in the defense plans, the regimental commander formed a task force comprised of Companies F and L, reserve companies of the leading battalions.

He then placed Major Emmet L. O’Connor, 3d Battalion executive officer, in command, and formed the staff and command group from personnel of regimental and 3d Battalion headquarters.

This task force moved without detection during the night of 20 October to a position in the enemy’s left rear. At dawn of the 21st, the commander launched his attack after a preparation of prearranged fires controlled by a forward observer with the task force. (442)

F and L Companies, led by Major Emmet O’Connor, infiltrated the German lines during the night. At dawn they attacked the enemy from behind, while the 2nd and 3rd Battalions attacked in front. The men were aided by the pinpoint artillery fire of the 522nd. (Go For Broke)

Companies F and L, 442d Regimental Combat Team, were cited for outstanding performance of duty in action on October 21, 1944, in the vicinity of Belmont, France.

“By direction of the President, under the provisions of Section IV, Circular No . 333, War Department, 1943, the following named organizations are cited for outstanding performance of duty in action: Company F. 442d Regimental Combat Team Company L. 442d Regimental Combat Team:

“For outstanding performance of duty in action on 21 October 1944, in the vicinity of Belmont, France. Assigned the mission of assaulting the flank and rear of the resistance which had stopped two frontal attacks by the Combat Team, Companies F and L, 442d Regimental Combat Team, designated the O’Connor Task Force …”

“… launched an attack down the north slope of the wooded ridge, Foret de Belmont. Company L, leading the assault, defeated a security group in a short sharp action, capturing several prisoners.”

“Then, by the prompt use of rifle grenades and mortars, the garrisoned houses just outside the woods were quickly reduced.”

“The capture of these houses was an important factor in the success of the mission, as it gave the Task Force observation of the ground to the enemy’s rear.”

“To complete its work, the Task Force now had to interdict enemy movement, drive a wedge through the forces resisting the Combat Team, and effect a junction with the main force.”

“Heavy casualties were inflicted by artillery fire directed by the Task Force’s forward observer on the enemy positions. Then, assault groups began to clear the defenders from houses to the north of La Broquaine.”

“The capture of these houses not only divided the enemy forces, but made certain that large numbers of the enemy would be trapped between the Task Force and the advancing Combat Team.”

“By mid-afternoon the Task Force and the Combat Team made contact, and what enemy troops were not surrounded were completely routed, thus bringing to a close a plan brilliantly conceived and expertly executed. By the next day the Combat Team had secured the high ridge which dominates Belmont. “

“This ridge was both a protective arc around the recently won communications center of Bruyeres, and an entering wedge in the drive to the Meurthe River.”

“In destroying the enemy Main Line of Resistance and advancing the Divisional front lines by approximately 2000 meters, the Task Force captured fifty-six prisoners, killed eighty of the enemy, and captured considerable quantities of enemy materiel and equipment.”

“The fearless determination, daring and intrepidity displayed by the officers and enlisted men of the O’Connor Task Force exemplify the finest traditions of the Armed Forces of the United States.” (Army Citation of Unit)

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October 20, 2018 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Charter Fishing

The family hailed from San Diego – four boys, Herbert, William, Jack and Edgar, and older sister Edith. The family patriarch, John, had sailed through the Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco from New Brunswick in 1849 then skippered the schooner Champion for several years along the West Coast.

The boys must have inherited this nautical bent because, at an early age, they were hiring themselves out for fishing trips using a small skiff that they sailed around the bay.

In the summer of 1899, all four boys ran a glass-bottomed boat excursion at Catalina Island. This marked the beginning of the famous glass-bottom boat rides which were to prove of such great interest and profit at Catalina.

“(P)aying customers were wanted, and the make the island a popular vacationing spot the Banning Brothers (the island’s owners) erected tents which could be rented for the season – from May to September.”

“(S)o, we hoisted sail one day, Herb and I, and went to Avalon, Catalina, where we immediately became engaged in taking fishing parties out daily, and conducting excursions to sunken gardens under the sea.”

“Business at Avalon was good. Possibly because we made a practice of taking parties of hotel employees for a moonlight rail several times a month, the guests usually found the ‘Santa Barbara’ most highly recommended and we never lacked for good crowds at two dollars a head on fishing and sailing trips.”

“In 1899 all four of us were on hand at the island. In addition to the marine garden excursions we offered the special attraction of exhibition diving … Herb would dress and go down. Picking up objects as souvenirs and catching brightly colored fish with a butterfly net for various shore aquariums.”

“Not averse to picking up a few dollars here and there, we four would often conduct parties to the sandab grounds. Sandab, a tasty fish and much in demand, were to be caught only in deep water … We caught then on lines with dozens of hooks each …” (William)

Then the Hawaiian Islands attracted their attention, and, as William put it, they “went with high hopes and the spirit of a pioneer toward strange lands and all the beauty of sky and sea in the blue Pacific.” (Herb and William were headed to Hawai‘i.)

“On January 9, 1900, we sailed out of Golden Gate toward the Great adventure …”

Then, on January 19, 1900, 29-year old Herbert and 25-year old William had their first view of Honolulu after a ten-day journey from San Francisco.

Shortly after, Jack, age 18, arrived on October 16, 1900; youngest of all, Edgar, arrived in July 1901 (but being only fifteen at the time, he attended McKinley High School before returning to California to study medicine.)

“For years we had heard tales of Hawaii; now at last we were to see it for ourselves. Every passing hour, every wave curling under our bows brought us so much nearer, and the eyes of youth, straining ahead of the ship, seemed almost to glimpse a palm-fringed shore where life was gay and living carefree.”

They started a charter boat company in Honolulu, for “Pleasure cruise or fishing, between the islands or whatever they want.” (Jack Jr) It was “an early sport fishing (service)”. (Krauss) The ‘Sea Scout’ was their charter boat. (Jack Jr) Some suggest this was the beginning of charter fishing in the Islands.

Looking at pictures “of a woman holding up fish. And a row of men holding up fish. It looks to me like those were people they took out, just like today in Kona you’ve got people standing there with their fish catch. When they corne back, they take their picture.” (Krauss)

They expanded into shark fishing … “Singularly enough, for the first time since I had become fired with the ambition to hunt sharks. I found myself giving little thought to the possibilities of shark fishing among the Islands.”

“The prospect of seeing and living in these elysian isles had unceremoniously overshadowed my original purpose in going there. I was, to put it mildly, all anticipation.” (William)

Shortly after arrival, the boys were “building a boat fitted in the bottom with a cased pane of the finest plate glass procurable, one-fourth of an inch thick. This will be so placed that it can be easily removed, as one of the most important conditions for success is that the glass be perfectly clean.”

“This kind of boat is much used on Catalina island.… With a glass bottomed boat, where the light from above is excluded be a wide awning the bottom may be inspected at from twelve to eighteen fathoms.”

The boys planned “to take passengers out to the reef surrounding the (Honolulu) harbor”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 31, 1901)

They also added other adventure. “Professor PM Stewart who occupies one of the chairs of language in Cambridge University, England, has had an experience during his visit to Honolulu that probably never came to him before. He went shark fishing”

“On Friday he caught a shark. His wife who has attracted much attention in this city on account of being a very tall striking looking blonde with very ultra English appearance, accompanied him and to catch the first shark.”

“He hooked one shark yesterday morning and drew the shark close to the boat and then started to dispatch the sea wolf with a spade. The weapon was bent and then Professor Stewart took a hatchet to strike the monster. In his excitement the professor struck the line with the hatchet cutting the line and allowing the shark to escape.”

“Later in the day a second shark was caught near the bell buoy. This time the shark was dispatched without cutting the line and was towed in shore. The shark measured about 14 feet in length and was of the man eating variety.”

The boys “have hit on a new scheme for shark fishing. They are able now to take the sharks with a hook and line instead of harpooning them as was done formerly. Some very successful expeditious have been taken out by tile young men.” (Hawaiian Star, June 2, 1906)

They also looked at other fish activities …

It was the idea of Jack … “He has been plying the waters of the bay at all hours of the day and night for many years and had grown so accustomed to seeing the buzzing blue fish leap out of the water as his launch plowed past that he knew, almost to a foot, where every school of flying fish is between the bell buoy and Diamond Head.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 23, 1910)

“Yesterday a new sport was born; Waikiki bay was the birthplace, and HP Wood of the Hawaii promotion committee was the accoucheur. For the first time in the history of the field and gun were flying fish flushed with a steam launch and shot on the wing.”

“It was a brand new experience in the hunting line that a party of local nimrods and visitors indulged in yesterday morning, an experience that will undoubtedly be shared in by many others before long.”

“Taking pot shots at fish on the wing is sport of the first water, affording plenty of exercise in the good sea air, giving the opportunity for quick shooting, providing for the use of all the alertness contained within a man and being not too hard upon the fish.”

Oh, the boys of this story … the brothers, Herbert, William and Jack formed a company, Young Brothers; it eventually grew over the years into an active interisland freight company. (Jack, the youngest of the Young Brothers is my grandfather.)

In 1999, Saltchuk Resources, Inc of Seattle, Washington, the parent company of Foss Maritime, acquired Young Brothers and selected assets of Hawaiian Tug & Barge. In 2013, Hawaiian Tug & Barge was rebranded and incorporated into the Foss Maritime fleet, while Young Brothers remains a wholly owned subsidiary of Foss.

Currently, Young Brothers is undergoing a fleet modernization initiative to meet neighbor island cargo needs into the next generation. By the end of 2018, Young Brothers will have made capital investments of over $180 million in new vessels and shore-side equipment. (YB)

Lucas_Tower_in_background-Young Brothers Launch ‘Sea Scout’ in Honolulu Harbor-PPWD-9-3-030-1905

Jack Edgar and Will Young 1903

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Young-Brothers-Captain_Jack_Young_on_Makaala

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Young_Brothers-Fleet-1915

Young_Brothers-Sea_Scout-1905

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Young Brothers shark hunt

Honolulu Harbor Shark-Jack Young-PCA-June 14, 1907

FLying_Fish Shooting-PCA-Aug_23,_1910

FLying Fish Shooting-PCA-Aug_23,_1910

October 19, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waikīkī Beach Agreements

Waikīkī Beach was eroding.

As early as 1901, both the government surveyor and Lili‘uokalani had residences at Waikīkī Beach with walls across their seaward frontages that were in the ocean, blocking public passage along the beach.

Another Waikīkī residence and the Moana Hotel also had portions of their structures similarly situated in the water. By the late-1920s, walls were common along Waikīkī Beach.

A 1927 report by the Engineering Association of Hawai‘i pinpointed seawalls as the primary cause of erosion in Waikīkī. The report concluded that beach nourishment and groins could be used to rebuild the beach.

During the same time period, plans were underway to turn Waikīkī district wetlands into an urban community. The Ala Wai Canal was dredged from 1922 to 1928.

In 1927, the Territorial Legislature authorized Act 273 allowing the Board of Harbor Commissioners to rebuild the eroded beach at Waikīkī. By 1930, the Board of Harbor Commissioners reported on construction progress, which included 11 groins along a portion of the shoreline.

On October 19, 1928, property owners at Waikīkī signed the Waikīkī Beach Reclamation Agreement between the Territory of Hawai‘i and Property Owners – an agreement with the Territory of Hawai‘i to not build any obstructions on what would become Waikīkī Beach.

The agreement was to “forever thereafter keep the beach free and clear of obstructions and open for the use of the public as a bathing beach and for passing over and along the same on foot.”

The Beach Agreement illustrated the need to control and limit seaward development on Waikīkī Beach. The agreement establishes limitations on construction along the beach in response to the proliferation of seawalls and groins in Waikīkī.

The 1928 agreement consists of a) the October 19, 1928 main agreement between the Territory and Waikīkī landowners, b) the October 19, 1928 main agreement between the Territory and the Estate of Bernice Pauahi Bishop and c) The July 5, 1929 Supplemental Agreement between the Territory and Waikīkī landowners.

The agreement provides that the Territory was to use “best efforts” to construct beach area 180-feet seaward for the purpose of beach erosion control together with “maintenance, preservation and restoration thereof as may be necessary from time to time.”

The expanded beach would “be deemed to be natural accretion attached to the abutting property, and title there to shall immediately vest in the owner or owners of the property abutting thereon in proportion to their sea-frontage, subject only to the easement in favor of the public as above stated.”

The private landowners agreed they “will not erect or place on any part of such beach so to be constructed as aforesaid within seventy-five (75) feet of mean highwater mark of such beach as it may exist from time to time …”

“… any building, fence, wall or other structure or obstruction of any kind unless such mean highwater mark shall be more than seventy-five (75) feet from the present line of mean highwater mark.”

The agreement covers the Waikīkī beach area including the area from the Ala Wai Canal to the Elks Club at Diamond Head. The Waikīkī Beach Reclamation Agreement of 1928 gave property owners title to beach fronting their seawalls.

According to the 1928 Waikīkī Beach Reclamation Agreement, no commercial activities are permitted to take place on Waikīkī Beach. All commercial activities originate from private property and people traverse the beach to gain access to the water.

As part of the 1928 Beach Agreement, eleven groins composed of hollow tongue and concrete blocks were built along Waikīkī Beach with the intent of capturing sand. (SOEST)

A lot of the sand to build the beach was brought in to Waikīkī Beach, via ship and barge, from Manhattan Beach, California in the 1920s and 1930s.

As the Manhattan Beach community was developing, it found that excess sand in the beach dunes and it was getting in the way of development there. At the same time, folks in Hawai‘i were in need for sand to cover the rock and coral beach at Waikīkī.

In addition, the segment between the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and the Moana Surfrider (Surfrider-Royal Hawaiian Sector Beach Agreement) is the subject of a separate agreement between the Territory and the subject Waikīkī landowners entered into on May 28, 1965.

State law states that the right of access to Hawai‘i’s shorelines includes the right of transit along the shorelines. (HRS §115-4)

The right of transit along the shoreline exists below (seaward of) the private property line (generally referred to as the “upper reaches of the wash of waves, usually evidenced by the edge of vegetation or by the debris left by the wash of waves.”) (HRS §115-5)

Waikīkī Beach is unique because the State does not own all of the land in front of the Royal Hawaiian, Outrigger Waikīkī and Moana Surfrider hotels.

The 1965 agreement between the State and the hotel landowners gave the owners of the abutting hotels 75-feet of the beach in exchange for cooperation with the State’s proposal to extend Waikīkī Beach up to 120 feet from the existing shoreline.

The abutting private beach land is subject to a 75-foot public right of way for the public to pass along the Beach, sunbathe or do other beach activities. The easement in favor of the public restricts commercial activities in the right-of way.

According to the agreement, the State is responsible for maintaining and policing the easement. This easement would be extinguished upon the State building 75-feet of beach seaward of the existing beach, but since that has never happened, the easement remains in effect. (DLNR)

Waikiki-Moana_Hotel-1920

Waikiki-fronting_old-Seaside_Hotel-seawall-1915

Royal_Hawaiian-rice-taro-duck_ponds-in-background-1929

Royal_Hawaiian_Hotel-Aerial-December 5, 1928

Moana_Hotel-Aerial-1929

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Seaside_Hotel-noted-(Moana_Hotel-Apuakehau_Stream-marshland_behind)-1920

Waikiki_Beach_Houses_(UH_Manoa)-1924

Natatorium-1928

Honolulu_and_Vicinity-(portion)-(UH_Manoa-Hamilton_Library)-1923

USGS_Map-Waikiki-1927

October 18, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hygienic Dairy

“Sugarcane was introduced to Ko‘olaupoko in 1865, when the Kingdom’s minister of finance and foreign affairs, Charles Coffin Harris, partnered with Queen Kalama to begin a partnership known as the Kāne‘ohe Sugar Company.”

“After Queen Kalama passed away in 1870, Mr. Harris purchased the land from her estate to continue the sugar production, which, by 1880, was yielding as much as 500 tons of sugar annually. At about this time, the He‘eia Agricultural Company (HAC) was also cultivating about 250 acres of sugarcane”.

“To transport the sugar, HAC built a pier in Kāne’ohe Bay (He‘eia Kea pier) so that rail cars could take the sugar out to ocean vessels for transportation to Honolulu harbor.”

“The ocean steamer ‘J.A. Cummins’, owned by John Adams Cummins of the Waimanalo Sugar Plantation Company, made trips twice a week between He‘eia and Honolulu, exporting sugar and returning with supplies and goods.”

“After almost four decades of a thriving sugar industry in Ko‘olaupoko, the tide eventually turned bad and saw the closures of all five sugar plantations by 1903. The closures were due to poor soil, uneven lands, and the start-up of sugar plantations in `Ewa, which were seeing much higher yields.”

“As sugar was on its way out in Ko‘olaupoko, rice crops began to emerge as the next thriving industry. The demand for rice in Hawai‘i increased as the number of Asian sugar workers migrating to the islands from Japan and China increased. In the upland areas of Kāne‘ohe and He‘eia, Chinese farmers converted terraces and abandoned taro patches (lo‘i) to rice paddies.”

“Another agricultural crop, pineapples, emerged throughout Ko‘olaupoko in the early 1900s as sugar and rice steadily declined. From 1901 to 1925 lands in several ahupua`a previously unused for agriculture were now being covered up with pineapple fields, especially the hillsides and upslopes.”

“It was estimated that approximately 2500 acres of land throughout the Ko‘olaupoko region was converted to pineapple cultivation. A pineapple cannery along with numerous old-style plantation houses popped up in 1911, and became known as ‘Libbyville’ (named after its owners, Libby, McNeill, and Libby).”

“The pineapple industry in Ko‘olaupoko did not prosper as well as those on the ‘Ewa plains of central O‘ahu though, and the result was the closure of the cannery in 1923.”

“After the closure of the cannery, the pineapple fields were left to grow over and was then converted to grazing pasture land for cattle.”

“By the mid-1920s, large landholdings were converted to ranch land, such as the Judd Family’s Kualoa Ranch, the McFarlane Family’s Dairy in Ahuimanu, and the ranch lands of the Kāne‘ohe Ranch Company, which was originally a part of 20,000 acres belonging to Queen Kalama.” (History of Ko‘olaupoko)

“Today Ahuimanu is proud of the fact that it has one of the best dairies on Oahu. This dairy is called the Hygienic Dairy and is visited by many people. The dairy was started in 1924 by Mr Young.”

“At that time it was called the Ahuimanu Stock Farm. It was located below its present site. Mr. Young raised cows, pigs and chickens. There were about ninety milking cows in his herd.”

“In 1927 Mr. Young shifted his dairy to the present site. In 1930 he sold it to (Col Charles E) Davis.” (Hawaii Educational Review, 1938)

“Work is being rushed on the new hygienic dairy which the Ahuimanu stock farm is building on its property in windward Oahu. A milk house and a milking barn are under construction.” (Star Bulletin, June 23, 1931)

Apparently, the operation fell under hard economic times and in November 1931, creditors were organizing and bankruptcy was contemplated. In 1932, the dairy property was sold at auction to Shattauer, the former manager.

“Located in the very heart of the picturesque Ahuimanu Valley, a section of Oahu rich in legends and Hawaiian folklore, lies the Hygienic Dairy, one of the most up to date and modern in the territory.”

“Ownership of the dairy was taken over the first of the year by Herman von Holt and GW Knowles, who have been sparing no expense in making constant improvements. The herd now consists of many high grade cows. (Advertiser, February 12, 1934)

“The Hygienic Dairy, Ltd., has acquired 5,000 acres of land at Ahuimanu on a long term lease from the He‘eia Co., according to Herman von Holt, president of the dairy.”

“The estate adjoins 2,000 acres already controlled by the dairy, in addition to 1,000 acres at Kaneohe. The company therefore has 8,000 acres of grazing land for a herd of 1,000 cattle.”

“GW Knowles Is vice president and general manager of the dairy company. The New Fair Dairy Is the distributing agency. (Nippu Jiji, February 12, 1937)

The remaining remnant of the Hygienic Dairy (reportedly once the largest dairy in the state) is the Hygienic Store. “Simon Chong, took over the store from the dairy in 1950”.

“(It) was a full-service gas station and general store, complete with fresh meat and produce, hardware and rubber boots. In the late ’70s, the Chongs leased the store to Millie Kim, who ran it with her son Michael through 2003, when So Cha Hashimoto took over.” (Keany; Honolulu)