General | Page 254 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

April 28, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Pan-Pacific Union

The first gathering from different Pacific countries met in Hawai‘i on August 2-20, 1920 in the First Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference. Later, the First Pan-Pacific Educational Conference was held in Honolulu, August 11-24, 1921. About this time the Bureau of American Republics was being organized into the Pan-American Union at Washington, DC.

“The Pan-Pacific Union, representing the lands about the greatest of oceans, is supported by appropriations from Pacific governments. It works chiefly through the calling of conferences, for the greater advancement of, and cooperation among, all the races and peoples of the Pacific.” (Pan-Pacific Union Bulletin, December 1924)

“In the beginning, the union may with justice be acclaimed the handiwork of one man, Alexander Hume Ford. He it was who in 1908 translated an idealistic dream of a brotherhood of Pacific races into an equally idealistic but more substantial organization dedicated to the furtherance of interracial good will and amity.”

“He it was who, after a long battle to gain the support of an at first skeptical Hawaii to the new Pan-Pacific Union visited the capitals of the oriental countries, the Australasian states, Canada and the United States, gaining pledges of support for the new movement from statesmen wherever he went.”

“And again it has been Ford who has fought for legislative appropriations to carry on the work, Ford who has personally fostered and built up a strong spirit of mutual respect and friendship among the diversified nationalities of Hawai‘i”. (Pan-Pacific Union Bulletin, July 1922)

‘Pan-Pacific Union’ was the local expression of the larger ‘Hands-around-the-Pacific’ movement, which embraced all countries in and about the vast western ocean – the future theatre of the world’s greatest activities. (The Friend, May 1, 1918)

Ford’s “‘The Mid-Pacific Magazine,’ published at the Cross-Roads of the Pacific, (served as a) Pan-Pacific publication, presenting monthly interesting facts, fictions, poetry and general articles concerning the lands in and bordering on the great ocean.”

The projected calling of a Pan-Pacific conference to meet in Hawaiʻi, the establishment of a Pan-Pacific commercial college in Honolulu and the project of a Pan-Pacific peace exposition here after the war was launched by a number of influential business men. (Mid-Pacific Magazine, 1918)

A Pan-Pacific commercial college was considered one of the best means to bring Hawaiʻi into closer communion with the countries of the Far East while the exposition and general conference would create a sentiment in the countries of the Pacific to make the Pacific independent in its resources and make Hawaiʻi a real cross-road of the Pacific. (Oregon News, June 26, 1918)

In 1924, the Mary Castle Estate allowed the Pan-Pacific Research Institute to use her former home, Puʻuhonua, in Mānoa for University of Hawai‘i student and other use to “tackle the scientific problems of the Pacific peoples, especially those of food production, protection and conservation.”

“The assistant students will, it is expected, attend the University of Hawai‘i, where they will take their degrees. Two such students from the mainland now with scientific party here, are expected to be the first of such entries in the University of Hawaii with others to follow from lands across the Pacific.”

“The gift will be used as the nucleus of the Pan-Pacific University, for which charter was granted some years ago. This will be graduate university chiefly for research work.”

“The chief work of the Pan-Pacific Research Institute will be along lines of research study of food resources of Pacific lands and of the ocean itself. It will be entirely Pan-Pacific Institute connected with no other body but cooperating with kindred bodies in all Pacific lands. It will be neither American, Hawaiian nor Japanese, but governed by scientists from all Pacific regions.”

“Conferences are being held with the heads of several delegations already here from Pacific lands, and cable invitations have been sent to others to hurry on and take part in the deliberations as to the work the institute shall undertake for the peoples of the Pacific area.” (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, September 1924)

In the following 16-years the Pan-Pacific Union became a sort of early “think tank” capable of providing “perfect quiet for study, remote from disturbances, with ample room for visiting scientists to live and work.”

Many other institutions were happy to cooperate. The Bishop Museum lodged research fellows there, often for a year at a time. There was one charge for the lodgers: a visitor was expected to give at least one of the weekly public lectures.

A Junior Science Council was added. In 1933 Ford wrote that “twenty students of all races and from many localities, members of the Pan-Pacific Student’s Club who are attending the University of Hawai‘i, are occupying the barn and carriage house in a cooperative housekeeping arrangement and working out in their own way ideas which may promote happier international relations.” (Robb & Vicars)

The big house was finally torn down in 1941. The other associated structures lay empty, and gradually they disintegrated. Termites had long been a problem.

A combination of lack of attention to administrative detail, inadequate long-term funding arrangements, declining governmental support (compounded by the global economic depression,) and, perhaps above all, a shift in support on the part of Hawai‘i’s socio-economic leaders from the Pan-Pacific Union to the new Institute of Pacific Relations, resulted in the group’s slow decline.

By the advent of WW II, Pan-Pacific Union had withered into insignificance and, with Ford himself in rapidly declining health, it simply disappeared.

This does not mean the Pan-Pacific Union and Ford were at last irrelevant. (UH) As a local newspaper editorialized at the time of Ford’s death in 1946, he “did more than any other man to acquaint the whole wide world with the importance of Hawai‘i in the Pacific theater.” (Honolulu Advertiser, October 18, 1946; UH)

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Pan-Pacific Union-1921

April 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lake Waiau

Mauna Kea falls in the senior line genealogy. (Maly)

Former Queen Emma, widow of the late Alexander Liholiho Kamehameha (IV,) and David Kalakaua were in competition for the position of monarch of Hawai’i.

Both of them needed to prove their connection to the senior line and connect back to a wahi pana (celebrated and storied places). Kalakaua went to Kanaloa-Kahoʻolawe to bathe in the waters of the ocean god Kanaloa.

Emma went to the top of Mauna Kea to bathe in the waters of Waiau. The ceremony was to cleanse in Lake Waiau at the piko of the island.

The water caught at Lake Waiau was considered pure water of the gods much like the water caught in the piko of the kalo leaf, the nodes of bamboo or the coconut and is thought of as being pure. (Maly, Mauna-a-Wakea))

Papa is a goddess of earth and the underworld and mother of gods. Wakea is god of light and of the heavens who “opens the door of the sun”. (Beckwith)

“In the genealogy of Wakea it is said that Papa gave birth to these Islands. Another account has it that this group of islands were not begotten, but really made by the hands of Wakea himself.” (Malo)

Waiau is named for the mountain goddess, Waiau (Ka piko o Waiau), and home of the moʻo (water-form) goddess Moʻo-i-nanea.

It is a place where piko of newborn children were taken to ensure long life; and from which “ka wai kapu o Kane” (the sacred water of Kane) was collected. (Maly)

Lake Waiau, located at the 13,020-foot elevation, is on the Island of Hawaii, near the summit of Mauna Kea.

The ancient Hawaiians believed that spirits traveled to and from the spirit world through Lake Waiau, which had ‘no bottom.’ (Actually, the lake has been measured in modern times at 10 feet deep.) The lake freezes over in winter. (Allen)

Lake Waiau is a ‘perched’ water body, in which water is held in a depression by an impermeable substrate of layers of silty clay, interbedded with ash layers, and it has been proposed that permafrost also underlies the lake. It has also been suggested that permafrost surrounds the lake and provides a catchment that directs water into the lake. (USGS)

In 1830, Hiram Bingham and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) ascended Mauna Kea and stopped at Lake Waiau – Bingham noted, “In the morning we proceeded slowly upwards till about noon, when we came to banks of snow, and a pond of water partly covered with ice.”

“In his first contact with a snow bank, the juvenile king seemed highly delighted. He bounded and tumbled on it, grasped and handled and hastily examined pieces of it, then ran and offered a fragment of it in vain to his horse.”

“He assisted in cutting out blocks of it, which were wrapped up and sent down as curiosities to the regent and other chiefs, at Waimea, some twenty-eight miles distant.”

“These specimens of snow and ice, like what are found in the colder regions of the earth, excited their interest and gratified their curiosity, and pleased them much; not only by their novelty, but by the evidence thus given of a pleasant remembrance by the youthful king.”

“After refreshing and amusing ourselves at this cold mountain lake, we proceeded a little west of north, and soon reached the
lofty area which is surmounted by the ‘seven pillars’ which wisdom had hewed out and based upon it, or the several terminal peaks near each other, resting on what would otherwise be a somewhat irregular table land, or plain of some twelve miles circumference.” (Hiram Bingham)

Others made the ascent, “(T)hrough the sliding, weathered lava and cinders, to the pass to the right of the summit cone, and down the slope of the shoulder of the mountain wherein nestles the surprise of Mauna Kea – Lake Waiau.”

“Here, as the sun dipped behind the blue waters of the Pacific, curving up to meet it, we gazed with astonished eyes upon a tiny emerald gem, glacier made in some past time, set in a niche in the arid side of Mauna Kea.”

“We pitched our tent hurriedly by the green, cold lake, built a fire in the whipping trade wind, with its chilly bite, ate an early supper, and retired like packed sardines between our blankets. We were in an arctic zone under a tropic sky.”

“Taking our last look across the lake, we saw the image of fair Venus, streaming in white and shimmering light across the tiny, rippling waves. A thousand jewels glittered in the reflected phantom light of our neighbor planet. The next morning, ice over a half-inch thick was found in the gravel bar about the lake.” (Daingerfield, Paradise of the Pacific, December 1922; Maly)

Another noted, “At last, about 3 PM, we clambered over the rim of a low crater west of the central cones, and saw before us the famous lakelet of Waiau, near which we camped.”

“It is an oval sheet of the purist water, an acre and three quarters in extent, surrounded by an encircling ridge from 90 to 135 feet in height, except at the northwest corner, where there is an outlet, which was only two feet above the level of the lake at the time of our visit.”

“The overflow has worn out a deep ravine, which runs first to west and then to the southwest. A spring on the southern side of the mountain, called “Wai Hu”, is believed by the natives to be connected with this lake.”

“The elevation of Waiau is at least 13,050 feet, which is 600 feet higher than Fujiyama. There are few bodies of water in the world higher than this, except in Thibet or on the plateau of Pamir. No fish are found in its waters, nor do any water-fowl frequent its margins.” (Alexander, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 14, 1892)

“Lake Waiau … is the highest lake within the boundaries of the Pacific Ocean Basin. The southern rim of the depression containing the lake is a low segment of a cinder cone, Pu‘u Waiau, on which rests moraine of the latest period of glaciation.”

“The lake water is perched on a layer of silt and mud washed into the basin from the sides of the cone and from the glacial moraine. … The lowest point of the rim is on the western side, where the lake water occasionally overflows into the headwaters of Pohakuloa Gulch.”

“The water is derived entirely from precipitation and runoff from the edges of the basin.” (Geology and Groundwater Resources of the Island of Hawaii, Stearns & Macdonald, 1946)

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Lake Waiau on September 26, 2013

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April 13, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Myrtle Boat Club

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi. Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and at sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating convenient canoe travel.

The ancient Hawaiians also participated in canoe racing. When they wished to indulge this passion (including betting on the races,) people selected a strong crew of men to pull their racing canoes.

If the canoe was of the kind called the kioloa (a sharp and narrow canoe, made expressly for racing) there might be only one man to paddle it, but if it was a large canoe, there might be two, three or a large number of paddlers, according to the size of the canoe.

“The racing canoes paddled far out to sea – some, however, stayed close to the land (to act as judges, or merely perhaps as spectators), and then they pulled for the land, and if they touched the beach at the same time it was a dead heat; …”

“… but if a canoe reached the shore first it was the victor, and great would be the exultation of the men who won, and the sorrow of those who lost their property.” (Malo)

Then, another form of racing, rowing, debuted in Hawai‘i in the late-1860s. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

An early account of competitive rowing appeared in the December 16, 1871, issue of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser: “There was a race between two-oared boats, of which four were entered, Young America the winner … there was splendid rowing exhibited, and the winners became such by purely hard work.”

King Kalākaua’s birthday on November 16th, 1875 marked Hawai‘i’s first regatta with extensive rowing competition. The King, a rowing buff, viewed the event from his yacht along with other members of his royal family.

There were aquatic sports, including five-oared whaleboat races, canoe races, yacht races, and swimming. Capping the day were spectators who climbed greased poles extending over the water. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

“The Myrtle Rowing Club is the first boat club ever organized in this city, we believe. Last February some of the most energetic young gentlemen in town entered into the project of getting up the club, and it is now in a thriving condition.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 7, 1883)

“At present they number only ten, their ages vary from 16 to 22 years, yet, being very fond of boating they have built a boat house and purchased a four-oared barge, and a pair-oared shell. Unfortunately they have contracted a little debt, which it is at present out of their means to pay.”

“They are not starting their club with too much enthusiasm, and intention of letting their ardor cool down, for they intend to stick to it; but they want a little public encouragement and some pecuniary assistance to enable them to purchase better boats, either here or on the Coast, a good four-oared racing boat and a good shell.”

“They cordially invite people down to their bout-house that they may see for themselves what sort of a start has been made; and, knowing the generous support that is always given in Honolulu to encourage young men in athletic exercises, I hope that my appeal in their behalf may not be in vain. I am Old Oarsman.” (Letter to Editor, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 7, 1883)

“Every evening the members practice in the harbor, and a laudable spirit of enterprise is manifested in the manly sport of rowing. The club owns two boats, one of which was donated to the organization by Mr. George Ashley. They also have a neat boat house down on the Esplanade, with racks for oars and other necessaries. “

“The club deserves encouragement. There is not enough life and enterprising activity among the young men in sporting matters, as a general thing, in Honolulu, but the members of this club have taken the matter of rowing in hand with the evident intention of making the sport popular, and we are confident they wili succeed.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 7, 1883)

“It would be well if another rowing club could be organized to compete generously with the Myrtle Rowing Club. Competition in sporting matters, as well as in matters of business, always promotes and invigorates, when it is entered into with a friendly desire to excel. But whether another club is organized or not, the Myrtle Rowing Club is bound to succeed, for it is very judiciously managed and has the best wishes of the whole community. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 7, 1883)

Other clubs formed; in 1890 the Healani Boat Club, with president WE Wall, and the Leilani Boat Club, headed by David Kawānanakoa, were formed. Two years later the first regatta at Pearl Harbor was held, all three clubs raced at Pearl Harbor. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

“Rowing is very popular, especially at Honolulu, where the Myrtle and the Healani Boat Clubs have for more than twenty years been rivals in four-oared shell, six-oared and pair-oared sliding seat barge rowing contests.”

“Regatta Day, the third Saturday in September, a legal holiday, is the important rowing carnival day, but races are also held on July 4, and at other times. Occasionally crews from the other islands or from the Pacific Coast participate in these races.” (Aloha Guide, 1915)

In the 1920s, there were five rowing clubs in Hawai‘i. The men’s clubs were Myrtle and Healani from Oahu and Hilo from the Big Island. The Oahu-based Kunalu and Honolulu were the two women’s clubs. Kunalu was coached by Healani, while the Honolulu Girls were affiliated with Myrtle. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

In 1957, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu added rowing to its list of sports. Five schools competed for the inaugural ILH title: ʻIolani, Kaimuki, Mid-Pacific, McKinley and Punahou.

In 1964, ʻIolani became the first high school team in the nation to race in the finals of the Olympic Trials. “To reach the finals, we had to win a trial race (known in rowing as a “repechage.”) To do that, we had to beat the New York Athletic Club and the Penn Athletic Club. Those were all former college oarsmen and several had competed in the Olympics in the past. One of the boats was stroked by a former Olympic gold medalist.” (Rizzuto)

“Needless to say, we made it to the finals after a very hard-fought race.” (Rizzuto) The Red Raiders four-man crew finished a respectable sixth place behind winner Harvard. Despite ʻIolani’s success, the ILH dropped rowing in 1966 due to a lack of teams. ʻIolani continued their program another nine years before the sport was dropped in 1975. (Honolulu Rowing Club)

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Healani Boat Club-formed in 1890 and was the only active rowing club during World War II

March 31, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

US Annexation (almost, in 1854)

“I have positive and undeniable information, from the highest sources at Honolulu, to the effect that a Treaty is about concluded between Mr (David Lawrence) Gregg, the United States Commissioner, and the Government of the Islands, for their annexation to the United States forthwith. “

“The only unsettled question in relation to the annexation is, whether the Islands shall come in as a Territory or a State. Mr Gregg insists on the former.” (New York Daily Tribune, July 20, 1854)

Whoa, let’s look back …

The subject of annexation to the United States was for the first time seriously considered by the Hawaiian Government in 1851. (Alexander)

Through a Protectorate Proclamation (March 10th, 1851,) King Kauikeaouli “By and with the advice of our kuhina nui and counsellors of native chiefs … hereby proclaim as our royal will and pleasure that all our islands and all our rights as sovereign over them are from the date hereto placed under the protection and safeguard of the United States of America …”

“… until some arrangements can be made to place our said relations with France upon a footing compatible with my rights as an independent sovereign under the laws of nations and compatible with my treaty engagements with other foreign nations; or, if such arrangements be found impracticable, then is our wish and pleasure that the protection aforesaid under the United States of America be perpetual.”

On March 31, 1851, an appeal to the President of the US, by Robert Crichton Wyllie, Hawai‘i’s Minister of Foreign Relations and Luther Severance, Commissioner of the United States (and signed by King Kauikeaouli and Keoni Ana (Kuhina Nui,)) noted, in part:

“the King and chiefs remembering the events of 1839 and 1849, distrust France and fear her”
“France has not kept her engagement with Great Britain and does not mean to treat this Kingdom as under the protection of international law”
“The King … believes that Great Britain is so fettered with France that she can afford him no certain hope of present relief”
“the King, … appealed in his helplessness to the Commissioner of the United States, and now solemnly appeals to the President”
“the King would prefer that this Kingdom be received as an Independent State, under protection merely from foreign aggression”
“If that cannot be done, rather than continue to be the victim of foreign aggression, the mere shadow of a king without the power, but with responsibilities measured out by the arbitrary rule of the strong, We will resign the Sovereignty of these Islands into the hands of the United States”

On June 21, 1851, a Joint Resolution by the Nobles and Representatives of the Hawaiian Islands in Legislative Council Assembled, resolved that “if France should persist … it will be the duty of the King to shield himself and his kingdom from insult, and oppression by placing this kingdom under the protection of some friendly state …”

“The discovery of gold in California in 1848, which led to the speedy settlement of that State, and to the opening of new routes across the American continent, ushered in a new era in the history of the Hawaiian Islands. It opened a new market for their productions, and brought them into closer commercial relations with the United States.”

“During the years 1850-54 a considerable immigration from California took place. It embraced many restless, ambitious spirits, some of whom came for the purpose of exciting revolution. They found the foreign community already split into factions, between which bitter feuds existed of long standing.”

“Many of the newcomers naturally joined the opposition party, which claimed to be the liberal and progressive element in the country. The plan of the leaders of the new movement seems to have been to reconstruct the government, and then to turn it over to the United States.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 11, 1909)

In February 6, 1854, an order of the King to Wyllie noted, “that plans are on foot inimical (unfavorable) to the peace of Our Kingdom and the welfare of our people, and such as if carried out would be wholly subversive of Our Sovereignty, and would reduce Us to the most deplorable of all states, a state of anarchy …”

“Whereas, exigencies (emergencies) may arise of such a nature as to render it imperative upon Us, for the security of the just rights of Our chiefs and people, that We should seek the alliance of the United States of America.”

“We Do Hereby command you, Our Minister of Foreign Relations, to take such immediate steps as may be necessary and proper, by negotiation or otherwise, to ascertain the views of the United States in relation to the Annexation thereto of these Islands …”

“… and also the terms and conditions upon which the same can be affected, with the object of being fully prepared to meet any sudden danger that may arise, threatening the existence or independence of Our Kingdom.” (Signed by the King and Keoni Ana (Kuhina Nui))

Subsequent instructions from the King to Wyllie (February 21, 1854) noted, “You will immediately enter upon a negotiation ad referendum with the Commissioners of the United States of America, in case of necessity, and which shall fully secure Our rights and the rights of Our chiefs and people …”

“When the treaty ad referendum as aforesaid, is completed, you will submit the same to Us, which will be subject to Our approval, modification or rejection; and in case We shall deem it wise and necessary, to submit it to the Representatives of Our people, subject also to their approval.” (Signed by King Kamehameha III, and approved by Prince Liholiho, Keoni Ana and all the Ministers)

“On the 4th of July, 1854, the foreign community expressed their hopes of annexation by a grand celebration of the day. A car, decorated with evergreens, in which were seated thirty-two girls of American parentage, dressed in white, wreathed in flowers, each bearing the name of a State on her sash, in large gold letters, was drawn by a power unseen.”

“Next followed ‘Young America,’ a company of very young men in uniform, with another triumphal chariot, on which was placed a beautiful boy, the very personification of health, strength, and beauty. ‘Young Hawaii’ was in tow, and represented by a boat gaily trimmed, in which were eight young native lads, fancifully dressed, and carelessly eating sugar-cane.”

“The procession marched through the principal streets to the stone church, where an eloquent address was delivered by the American Commissioner, in which it was more than hinted that a new star was about to be added to the glorious constellation.” (Judd)

As noted above, “a Treaty is about concluded … (for Hawaiʻi’s) annexation to the United States … The only unsettled question in relation to the annexation is, whether the Islands shall come in as a Territory or a State.” (New York Daily Tribune, July 20, 1854)

The issue of State vs. Territory was a little deeper than that simple choice – it related to when Hawai‘i was annexed whether Hawai‘i would or would not allow slavery. (US President Franklin Pierce wanted Hawai‘i to have Territorial status.)

At that time, the US was on the verge of a civil war over the slavery issue.

If the Islands came in as a State, it would have been with a constitution forever excluding slavery, while if came in as a Territory, the people of the Territory would decide the slavery question for themselves. (Alexander)

It is interesting (and important) to note that, “The protestant missionaries at these Islands have never engaged in any scheme of annexation. It has been their cherished wish, that the government may remain independent under the present constitution and rulers.”

“Whatever may have been done by merchants, planters, or others, the protestant clergymen at the Islands have neither advised, nor signed any memorial to the King touching annexation.” (American Protestant Missionaries Ephraim Weston Clark and Peter Johnson Gulick, in a statement in The Polynesian, September 10, 1853.)

Later, “In a letter published in August, 1864, Mr. Clark stated that at the annual convocation in May, 1853, he had frequent conversations with other missionaries on this engrossing subject. ‘Not one of them expressed an opinion in its favor …”

“… but on the contrary, they did express doubts as to its expediency, and grave apprehensions of disaster to the natives from the influx of lawless and unprincipled foreigners.’” (Alexander; Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 11, 1909)

The Annexation Treaty was never finalized, “The signatures were yet wanting; His Majesty more determined and impatient than ever, when he was taken suddenly ill, and died in three weeks (December 15, 1854.)” (Judd)

As Mr Severance truly said, “His partiality to Americans has always been strong, and it will be universally conceded that by his death they have lost a faithful and honorable friend.”

His adopted son and heir, Alexander Liholiho, was immediately proclaimed king, under the title of Kamehameha IV. Soon afterwards he expressed his wish that the negotiations that had been begun with Mr Gregg should be broken off, which was done. (Alexander)

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March 15, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Harold Melville Clark

Harold Melville Clark was born October 4, 1890, to Charles Asa Clark and Amanda Palmer Clark in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Clark family had a strong military tradition dating back to the Revolutionary War.

His father fought Spanish forces in the Philippines while assigned to Company E, 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, during the Spanish American War of 1898. Clark’s older brother, Charles, served as a field-artillery officer with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I.

The end of the Spanish American War brought a period of growth and interest in the Philippines. In 1904, the Clarks moved to Manila, where they enjoyed considerable wealth and prestige due to the family’s business ventures. During this time, Harold attended the American High School in Manila; he graduated April 1, 1910.

Harold followed in his family’s footsteps and returned to the US for military training. After being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the cavalry in 1913, his first assignment was with 1st Cavalry Division.

A couple years later he transferred into the Signal Corps’ aviation section and went to the North Island Flying School in San Diego, Calif. On May 3, 1917, Clark received his rating as a junior military aviator.

While Clark was getting his Army wings, the Signal Corps’ aviation section and military aviation in general was getting a troublesome start in the Hawaiian Islands. The first Army airplanes, pilots and crews arrived in Oahu in July 1913. The planes were based at Fort Kamehameha, near present-day Hickam Air Force Base.

Lieutenant Harold Geiger, who commanded the aviation assets, noted his limited aircraft were in poor shape. His flights were limited to short flights in Pearl Harbor and a longer flight to Diamond Head and back to Fort Kamehameha.

Geiger was ordered to cease all flying operations in late 1913. The planes were sold locally, and the engines were sent back to the North Island Flying School. The Hawaiian Islands wouldn’t see any more Army aviation activity until 1917. (Romano; Arlington)

Major Harold Clark became Army Department Aviation Officer and arrived in the Territory of Hawaii in 1917 to take command of the Army’s 6th Aero Squadron.

A major construction effort was initiated at the new Army air base at Pearl Harbor. Before long, Ford Island had two double seaplane hangars with concrete ramps, two wooden land plane hangars, one small motor repair and machine shop, and a supply warehouse.

In the center to the south end a narrow strip of land was cleared for land plane operation. By this time, the 6th’s strength increased to 10 officers. (hawaii-gov)

Clark quickly began to learn the Hawaiian winds and how to fly in them. On March 15, 1918, he flew to Molokai and back to Oahu – the first round trip inter-island flight ever made in the Hawaiian Islands.

His next feat was to try a three-island flight. Agreeing to take the mail, on May 9, 1918, Clark and mechanic Sergeant Robert Gray took off from Fort Kamehameha Oahu and flew to Maui. (Griffith)

After landing in Maui, they continued onto the island of Hawai‘i; nearing Hawai‘i’s coastline, Clark encountered thick cloud formations and promptly lost his bearings. Darkness added to his worries, so the Army flyer decided to land quickly. His airplane crashed on the slope of Mauna Kea.

Unhurt, pilot and mechanic found themselves in a jungle-like brush with no civilization in sight. Hoping to draw attention to their location, the pair set a fire some distance away from the wreckage … no rescuers came, so they started to walk out. (Hawaii-gov)

Two days after the crash, Clark and Gray emerged from the jungle unhurt. Clark delivered the letters, received an enormous welcome from the island’s residents and was the first airman to fly the mail in the Hawaiian Islands. (Griffith)

Clark continued to make regular flights among the islands. However, he was ordered back to the US mainland August 28, 1918, for pursuit training at the North Island Flying School.

Following this, Clark assumed command of Pursuit Group, First Provisional Wing, at Minneola, Long Island, N.Y. Clark commanded this group for only a short time before being ordered to Panama at the end of 1918.

On the morning of May 2, 1919, Clark and two other aviators, Lieutenant JRL Hitt and Lieutenant Thomas Cecil Tonkin, left France Field for Balboa in an Army seaplane. While enroute, the plane developed engine problems, but the trio made it to Balboa safely.

That same afternoon, the three aviators began the return flight to France Field with Hitt at the controls. Due to the plane’s earlier troubles, the flight followed the Panama Canal at an altitude of 250 feet. Shortly into the flight, the plane’s engine stopped.

The plane crashed into the front of Miraflores Locks at about 5 pm. “The machine crumpled up like a house of cards, and the three men were thrown into the water of the lock. Lieutenant Tonkin was undoubtedly killed instantly by the twisting timbers of the machine.”

“… Major Clark sank to the bottom of the lock, and it’s not known whether he was killed in the crash or whether he drowned.” (Panama Star & Herald; Romano; Arlington)

Hitt was severely injured in the crash, but bystanders rescued him. The Army ruled his death as an accident due to internal injuries caused by “aeroplane traumatism,” according to a Defense Department report on Clark’s death dated May 8, 1919. Clark was buried May 29, 1919, with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

The base in the Philippines that would eventually bear Clark’s name was established in 1902 as Fort Stotensberg. The Army used this installation as a cavalry post following the Spanish American War. During World War II, this base would be pivotal in the Army Air Force’s effort to win the air war against Japan.

Following the end of World War II and creation of the U.S. Air Force in 1947, Fort Stotensberg was renamed Clark Air Base. The US turned over possession of Clark Air Base to the Republic of the Philippines November 26, 1991. Clark Air Base is now an international airport serving the Philippines. (Romano; Arlington)

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