General | Page 252 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 18, 2015 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Soaring of Nighthawk

A little before 8 am, radar informed the Air Warning Service at Nielson Field that at least 30 Japanese aircraft were flying south over Luzon apparently headed for Clark Field. (Gough)

Ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, ‘another Pearl Harbor’ occurred in the Philippines, 4,500-miles to the west. On December 8, 1941, at 12:35 pm, 196 Japanese bombers and fighters crippled the largest force of B-17 four-engine bombers outside the US and also decimated their protective P-40 interceptors. (Bartsch)

Fifty minutes after the first bombs fell on Clark, the Japanese flew back to Formosa, leaving Americans confronting death and wounds, destruction and damage, fire and smoke, and demoralization.

When the Japanese flew away, half the B-17s and one-third of the P-40s were destroyed, and two of the four P-40-equipped pursuit squadrons were eliminated as combat units. (Gough)

One of those killed at Clark Air Base was Lt William Alexander Cocke, Jr, a pilot.

“In May, 1941, 2nd Lt Cocke and the 19th Bombardment Group (H) GHQ AF, left California to ferry B17s first to Hawaiʻi, and then, in October, to Clark Field in the Philippines.”

“Due to his role under the adverse conditions encountered on these historic and dangerous trans-Pacific flights, Cocke was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for the San Francisco to Hawaiʻi leg, and the Air Medal for the Hawaiʻi to Clark Field leg.” (Blacksten)

It was these events, as well as an event about 10-years prior that Cocke is remembered. In the Islands in 1931, he didn’t just fly airplanes, he also soared.

Gliding/Soaring is a generic term for the art of flying a heavier than air craft similar to an airplane, but not provided with an engine.

In gliding, the apparatus loses altitude continually throughout its course, never rising above its starting point. In soaring flight, however, the machine is carried aloft by the rising air currents and is capable of completing maneuvers, high above the point of departure. (VinDaj)

Because of prohibitions imposed on military aircraft by the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, Germany embraced gliding and was the first to use them in the subsequent invasions leading to and part of WWII.

But it wasn’t military aviation activity that Cocke is known for in the Islands, it was an “off duty time” flight, December 17-18, 1931, that brought Cocke national, as well as international fame.

Reportedly, an International Glider Meet was held November 22 to December 19, 1931. LT Cocke, with the help of his BOQ roommate, Jack Norton (and others, including Lts Crain and WJ Scott) designed and built a ‘pretty good’ sailplane glider – called ‘Nighthawk.’ (WestPointAOG)

Based in Wheeler, Cocke and his support crew set up on the windward side of Oʻahu, at what was referred to as John Galt Gliderport (some related references also note the ‘Kaneohe experimental grounds.’) Cocke attempted to break the endurance record.

Launching on December 17, 1931 and flying along Oahu’s Nuʻuanu Pali, he flew his homebuilt sailplane glider through the night and set the World and US Duration Record of sustained powerless flight at 21 hours, 34 minutes, 25 seconds and traveled an estimated 600 miles. (hawaii-gov)

This broke the previous record of approximately 14-hours set by Germany in 1927. (WestPointAOG) Although the World mark was subsequently broken, the Nighthawk still holds the official US Duration Record. (Blacksten)

Illuminating the path for Cocke and his Nighthawk along the cliff face during the night was the US Army’s 64th Coast Artillery Battery. (Soaring Museum)

A memorial plaque was placed at the Nuʻuanu Pali lookout, dedicated to the people of Hawaiʻi who helped make this flight possible and to the thousands of glider pilots inspired by this feat. (National Soaring Museum Marker)

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Lt. William A. Cocke of Wheeler’s 19th Pursuit Squadron by “Nighthawk” glider in which he broke the official world record of 14 hours & 7 min. Note unofficial 19th Pursuit Squadron insignia on tail of glider.

Launching Nighthawk

2nd Lt William A. Cocke of Wheeler Field broke the world’s record for glider flight (both endurance & distance) by remaining in the air for 21 hrs, 34 min, 25 sec. and traveled an estimated 600 miles. Nov 22 to Dec 19, 1931.

FAI letter congratulating Lieutenant William A Cocke and accepting his duration flight of 21 hrs, 34 mins as a new World Duration Record

William A. Cocke-World Gliding envelope

National Soaring Museum Marker

December 16, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Everybody Has It – Everybody Needs It

“The most interesting medical journal that has come to this desk in a long time is Number 3 of the first volume of the Hawaii Medical Journal. Although the publication date given on the cover is January, the Journal did not arrive until the middle of April.” (North Carolina Medical Journal, May, 1942)

“The delay in the publication of this issue of the Journal is due in part to the pressure of activity following the events of December 7th (1941) which delayed the preparation of material by the authors and in part to the necessity for securing permission from the office of the Military Governor for continuance of publication. That permission was finally received on January 15th…”

“The whole issue breathes the spirit of American medicine at its best. The first page of reading matter is headed ‘War Came to Hawaiʻi’, and briefly retells the story of the Pearl Harbor tragedy.”

“A dramatic story of the Honolulu Blood and Plasma Bank is told by its director, Dr Forrest J Pinkerton. He first tells of how ‘wounded men … very evidently marked for death … still live because of the life-giving plasma poured back into their veins.”

“A call for donors was broadcast over local radio stations and the response was overwhelming. From a previous maximum of 8-donors a day, 4-days a week, volunteers were now being bled at the rate of 50 an hour, 10-hours a day, 7-days a week. This continued over a period of 2-weeks. Every available doctor and nurse was enlisted to assist.”

“Men and women waited in line for hours. Soldiers stood their guns with fixed bayonets in the surgery hallway and rolled up their sleeves and helped; sailors gave their few precious hours of liberty to wait their turn. Mothers asked strangers to hold their small children and took their turns on the surgery tables.”

“Civilian defense workers from Pearl Harbor, and workers from Red Hill, red eyed from long hours of welding, stopped by to donate before snatching a few hours rest.”

“A crew of husky iron workers in their oily work clothes came en masse; whole crews from dry docks and inter-island steamships; the dock workers and society folks waiting in line side by side to do their part. Sugar and pineapple plantation employees came direct from their work in the fields…”

“The question most commonly asked was ‘How soon can I come again?’” (North Carolina Medical Journal, May, 1942)

Founded in 1941, the organization was originally known as the Honolulu Blood and Plasma Bank operating out of The Queen’s Hospital.

The Blood Bank operated as a war-time agency with the outbreak of World War II returning to its civilian status in 1942. Over the years, the name changed to Blood Bank of Hawaiʻi, services were expanded to include neighbor island blood drives and Hawaii’s unique ethnic population became nationally recognized as a source for many types of rare blood.

Later, to encourage folks to donate, ‘Fang’ called into Aku’s morning radio program (Hal Lewis – J Akuhead Pupule) to announce a coming Blood Drive. That was Betsy Mitchell (the Blood Lady;) she was Director of Donor Recruitment and Community Relations for the Blood Bank.

The Mitchells used to live in our old neighborhood on Aumoana on Kaneohe Bay Drive. In the early-‘80s she moved to Volcano, co-founded and was past president of the Cooper Center Council, and was one of the most energetic and community-minded people you would ever meet. Unfortunately, Betsy passed away on December 16, 2013.

I looked forward to the monthly meetings we had in Volcano; I think of Betsy a lot, especially when I give blood.

Unlike the post-Pearl Harbor waiting lines to give blood, the Blood Bank of Hawai‘i needs folks to drop into their offices or mobile locations to make donations to meet Hawaiʻi’s needs; they require approximately 250 donors every day.

There’s no substitute for blood. If people lose blood from surgery or injury, or if their bodies can’t produce enough, there is only one place to turn – volunteer blood donors.

You may donate if you are in good health, weigh at least 110 pounds, have a valid photo ID with birth date and are at least 18 years old (or 17 years old with signed Blood Bank parent/legal guardian consent form.)

Every donor completes a health history questionnaire and screening interview to identify behaviors that indicate a high risk for carrying blood borne disease. There is strict confidentiality.

They like my blood (O-negative,) it’s a universal donor type (can be transfused to almost any patient in need;) I’m also CMV-negative (not been exposed to the cytomegalovirus (so I am a ‘baby donor.’))

They regularly call me for donations – there is an 8-week wait period between donations. I was called again last week. The process is relatively painless – the worst part for me is when they pull the tape holding the needle down and it pulls the hair on my arm.

Please consider giving blood.

More on the Blood Bank of Hawaii here:
http://www.bbh.org

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Blood Bank of Hawaii

December 14, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mauka-Makai Watch

Before I became Chair and Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources I was Deputy Managing Director for Hawaiʻi County. I had regular (daily) interaction with the Police Department on a wide variety of issues.

Police tell us that an engaged community is one of the best ways to reduce crime. They then help organize and support Neighborhood Watch programs across the Islands.

It’s a program that discourages preventable crime by organizing awareness meetings to help neighbors get to know one another and look out for each other, and recognize and report suspicious activity.

At DLNR, we initiated the Mauka-Makai Watch program. It’s modeled after the successful Neighborhood Watch program; the intent is to get communities working with resource managers and enforcement.

However, here community volunteers focus on natural and cultural resources, especially the coastline and nearshore waters, when partnering with Department of Land and Natural Resources DLNR enforcement officers.

The program incorporated experience DLNR had with the Miloliʻi community, with the assistance of The Nature Conservancy and the Community Conservation Network, as well as with the Wai ‘Opae community.

The Mauka-Makai Watch program is based on the idea that the people who use, live closest to or are involved with the resources are in the best position to help in ensuring compliance with resource protection and preservation. Think of it as a community “watch” program in the forests and/or coastal areas.

It’s not about vigilantism or exclusion, but simply a willingness to help prevent wrong-doing through presence and education, look out for suspicious activity, monitor and care for the resources, and report inappropriate activity to law enforcement and to each other.

The program is flexible and versatile; it can focus on marine and coastal related context under a “Makai Watch” reference, or it can center on forest, hunting or other inland issues under a “Mauka Watch” reference. Or, it can incorporate a broad, comprehensive network linking inland and coastal matters under a Mauka-Makai Watch.

Most attention has been to the “Makai” aspect of the program. Makai Watch focuses on caring for near-shore marine resources with the active participation of local communities.

Makai Watch volunteers in over ten communities across the state serve as the ‘eyes and ears’ for conservation and resource enforcement officials (DLNR-DOCARE), as well as help monitor and protect the resources.

The Makai Watch Program was initially created as a partnership effort by the DLNR and several non-governmental organizations including Community Conservation Network (CCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Hawaii Wildlife Fund (HWF) and several community-based organizations.

Community-supported natural and cultural resource protection and preservation programs represent a win-win opportunity. DLNR wants and needs citizens to take more personal and collective responsibility for protecting the resources.

Over the years, DLNR has developed various programs to involve communities in resource protection and management. Until now, these programs worked interdependently and, although very successful, lacked a coordinated effort by the department.

When the community is part of an ongoing stewardship-type presence and educational outreach, they can help monitor and care for the resources. This protection can also extend to being aware of suspicious activity, and reporting it to each other and law enforcement.

The Makai Watch Program has grown over the past 10-years and DLNR partners with communities and non-governmental organizations including The Nature Conservancy, Kua‘aina Ulu Auamo, Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, Project SEA-Link and funding provided by Conservation International Hawaii and the Harold K Castle Foundation.

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Makai_Watch

December 10, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Watershed Partnerships

I have often said these are one of Hawai‘i’s best untold stories.

Let’s look back …

Hawaiʻi’s native forests evolved over millions of years to become one of the most remarkable natural assemblages on Earth. Yet since the onset of human arrival, about 1,000-years ago, their history has largely been one of loss and destruction.

The worst damage occurred during the 19th century, when cattle and other introduced livestock were allowed to multiply and range unchecked throughout the Islands, laying waste to hundreds of thousands of acres of native forest.

The situation became so dire that the captains of government and industry realized that if the destruction continued there would be no water for growing sugarcane, the Islands’ emerging economic mainstay. (TNC)

On May 13, 1903, the Territory of Hawaiʻi, with the backing of the Hawaiʻi Sugar Planters’ Association, established the Board of Commissioners of Agriculture and Forestry. (HDOA)

That year, the Territorial Legislature created Hawaiʻi’s forest reserve system, ushering in a new era of massive public-private investment in forest restoration.

With Hawai‘i’s increase in population, expanding ranching industry, and extensive agricultural production of sugarcane and later pineapple, early territorial foresters recognized the need to protect mauka (upland) forests to provide the necessary water requirements for the lowland agriculture demands and surrounding communities. (DOFAW)

After more than a century of massive forest loss and destruction, the Territory of Hawai‘i acknowledged that preservation of the forest was vital to the future economic prosperity of the Islands.

While forest reserves were important watersheds, their boundaries were drawn “so as not to interfere with revenue-producing lands,” and such lands were not generally thought to be useful for agriculture. (hawaii-edu)

Forest reserves were useful for two primary purposes: water production for the Territory’s agricultural industries, and timber production to meet the growing demand for wood products. The forest reserve system should not lead to “the locking up from economic use of a certain forest area.” (Hosmer)

Even in critical watersheds the harvesting of old trees “is a positive advantage, in that it gives the young trees a chance to grow, while at the same time producing a profit from the forests.” (LRB)

Forest Reserves are commonly known and were critical steps forward in protecting our mauka resources. But, while they are the foundation of the focus of this summary, it is what happened 100-years later, and that continue today, that folks should also be aware of … Watershed Partnerships.

Watershed Partnerships are voluntary alliances of private and public landowners and others working collaboratively with common goals of conservation, preservation and management of Hawai‘i’s precious natural and cultural resources to protect forested watersheds for water recharge, conservation and other ecosystem services.

The first Watershed Partnership was formed in 1991 on East Maui when several public and private landowners realized the benefits of working together to ensure the conservation of a shared watershed that provided billions of gallons of fresh water to the area.

In the following years six more watershed partnerships formed including, Koʻolau Mountains Watershed Partnership, East Molokai Watershed Partnership, West Maui Mountains Watershed Partnership, Lanaʻi Forest and Watershed Partnership, The Kauai Watershed Alliance, Kohala Watershed Partnership. The success of these partnerships highlighted the need to address watershed issues statewide.

One of the first forestry-related actions I worked on while I was Chair of DLNR related to Watershed Partnerships. We worked to get the independent Watershed Partnerships into a cooperative association.

On April 24, 2003, the 100th-anniversary of Hawaiʻi’s Forest Reserve System, Governor Linda Lingle and the seven existing watershed partnerships signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formally recognizing the State’s dedication to watershed protection and established the Hawai`i Association of Watershed Partnerships.

Four additional watershed partnerships, Leeward Haleakalā Watershed Restoration Partnership, Three Mountain Alliance, Waiʻanae Mountains Watershed Partnership and Mauna Kea Watershed Alliance have since been established. (HAWP)

Most management actions “blur” boundary lines (they are habitat, rather than ownership, based) and revolve around combating the main threats to forests: feral animals (such as goats, deer, sheep, pigs, etc) and invasive species.

Actions include fencing and animal removal, invasive species control, rare plant outplanting and native habitat restoration, and outreach and education.

These management actions make a critical difference by benefitting native forests, watersheds, coastal and coral reef areas by reducing erosion and sedimentation run-off into streams.

Together, eleven separate partnerships involve approximately 75 private landowners and public agencies that cover nearly 2-million acres of land in the state (about half the land area of the state.) There is no model like it with respect to watershed management breadth, scope and success.

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Native forest, Alakai Plateau, Kauai

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Aerial of Olokele Valley, Kauai

Iliiliula north falls with ohia lehua blossom in foreground, Kauai

Iliiliula North Falls, Kauai

Laau ridge, Alakai region, Kauai

Native landscape, Kalalau Valley, Na Pali coast, Kauai

Native landscape,Alakai Plateau, Kauai

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Watershed Partnerships State-map

December 6, 2015 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘It’s Different’

These weren’t the words expected by the questioner in my response to what I thought about my first trip into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (now the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.)

I think she was expecting words like: spectacular, pristine, resource rich, special, abundant, etc.

Yes, it’s all those descriptors, too; and for me, therefore, “different.”

I wasn’t trying to be cute, but, rather, acknowledge the responsibility we faced in protecting this place. (I have been to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands several times, each time reinforced the feeling.)

My first trip – a 3 ½ plane ride there, 3 ½ hours on the ground and 3 ½ hours back – was to Tern Island at French Frigate Shoals (it looks like an aircraft carrier in the reef.)

French Frigate Shoals is the largest atoll in the chain, taking the form of an 18-mile long crescent. It is estimated to be 12.3 million years old.

Tern Island (approximately 30-acres) in the atoll is the site of a Fish & Wildlife Service field station, which occupies a former U.S. Coast Guard Long-Range Aids to Navigation (LORAN) station that closed in 1979.

A relatively deep (80 to 100 feet) coral reef at this atoll has been recently discovered to function as a spawning site for Ulua (the giant trevally); a rare discovery of spawning sites for top predators.

The lagoon is also unusual in that it contains two exposed volcanic pinnacles representing the last vestiges of the high island from which the atoll was derived, as well as nine low, sandy islets.

The sand islets are small, shift position, and disappear and reappear. These islets provide important habitat for the world’s largest breeding colony of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal.

On a tour around Tern Island we saw monk seals and turtles resting on the sandy shore, as well markings in the sand of a turtle who laid her eggs the night before.

And lots of birds … mostly terns —> Tern Island.

On that trip, we were unexpectedly greeted by Jean-Michel Cousteau; he was on the island during his filming of “Voyage to Kure.”

Here’s a link to the Google ‘Street View’ on Tern Island.

https://goo.gl/fE0dni

I also visited Midway. Look at a map of the Pacific and you understand the reasoning for the “Midway” reference (actually, it’s a little closer to Asia than it is to the North American continent.)

Kuaiheilani, suggested as a mythical place, is the traditional name for what we refer to as Midway Atoll. Described in the legend of Aukelenuiaiku, the origin of this name can be traced to an ancient homeland of the Hawaiian people, located somewhere in central Polynesia. (Kikiloi)

According to historical sources, this island was used by Native Hawaiians even in the late-1800s as a sailing point for seasonal trips to this area of the archipelago.

The Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and in particular Midway Atoll, became a potential commodity in the mid-19th century. The United States took formal possession of Midway Atoll in August of 1867 by Captain William Reynolds of the USS Lackawanna.

Midway’s importance grew for commercial and military planners. The first transpacific cable and station were in operation by 1903. In the 1930s, Midway became a stopover for the Pan American Airways’ flying “clippers” (seaplanes) crossing the ocean on their five-day transpacific passage.

The United States was inspired to invest in the improvement of Midway in the mid-1930s with the rise of imperial Japan. In 1938 the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the lagoon during this period and, in 1938, Midway was declared second to Pearl Harbor in terms of naval base development in the Pacific.

The construction of the naval air facility at Midway began in 1940. At that time, French Frigate Shoals was also a US naval air facility. Midway also became an important submarine advance base.

Here’s a link to the Google ‘Street View’ on Midway Atoll.

https://goo.gl/NaAi28

Here’s a short video of some of the albatross on Midway.

https://youtu.be/cG7JOpL2tEA

Here’s a link to the Google ‘Street View’ on Laysan Island.

https://goo.gl/63WGFK

Here’s a link to the Google ‘Street View’ on Lisianski Island.

https://goo.gl/e8kYHW

Here’s a link to the Google ‘Street View’ on Pearl and Hermes Atoll.

https://goo.gl/9kuFWZ

While I was Chair at DLNR, we created the Refuge rules whose intent is “To establish a marine refuge in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the long-term conservation and protection of the unique coral reef ecosystems and the related marine resources and species, to ensure their conservation and natural character for present and future generations.“ Fishing is prohibited.

This started a process where several others followed with similar protective measures. The BLNR unanimously adopted the State’s Refuge rules, President Bush declared it a Marine National Monument and UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site.

Some ask why we imposed such stringent limitations on use in this area. For me, it ended up to be pretty simple; it is the responsibility we share to future generations, to allow them to see what it looks like at a place in the world where you don’t take something.

Check out more on the Monument (look at the Images and Videos, you’ll see this place really is different:) http://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov

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