Military | Page 23 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 1, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kualoa Airfield

O‘ahu used to be nearly twice as big as it is now. (Thompson) The Island consists of two major shield volcanoes: Waiʻanae and Koʻolau; the eroded remnants of which are the Waiʻanae Range and the Koʻolau Range.

Waiʻanae is the older of the two (breaking the ocean surface ~3.9 to ~2.8 million-years ago) and makes up the western part of O‘ahu. Koʻolau volcano started as a seamount above the Hawaiian hotspot around 4-million years ago. It broke sea level some time prior to 2.9-million years ago.

Mokoliʻi (Chinaman’s Hat) and Mokuoloe (Coconut Island) are erosional remnants of the bedrock Koʻolau basalt; Kapapa and Kekepa (Turtleback) Islands are of limestone; and Ahu O Laka Island is a sand bar that is uncovered at low tide. (Moberly)

Kualoa is an ancient Hawaiian land division (ahupua‘a) at the north end of Kāne‘ohe Bay, windward O‘ahu. The ahupua‘a extends from the coast to the top of the nearly vertical, fluted mountain behind.

Kualoa is important as a symbol of sovereignty and independence for O’ahu, its role as a place of refuge, its role as a place where sacrificial victims for religious rituals were drowned, and its history as a sacred residence of chiefs.

In modern time, Coast Artillery existed as a distinct branch within the Army since 1901 and as a combatant “line” arm after 1920. Its stated mission was to protect fleet bases, defeat naval and air attacks against cities and harbors, undertake beach defense while acting as army or theater reserve artillery, and provide a mine-planter service.

Prior to WWII, Oʻahu defenses were divided between Pearl Harbor and Honolulu Harbor; however, with more military facilities being constructed on the island, the coastal defense program also expanded.

The area of Kualoa Regional Park has been modified in the past as a result of different land uses. Prior to World War II the lands were part of the sugarcane plantation of Kualoa.

The lands were converted to a fighter airfield during the World War II period, and reverted to grazing use after the war. The City and County of Honolulu condemned the land in the 1970s and converted it into a park.

Behind the beach at Kualoa Beach Park and running into the Kualoa Ranch property was a temporary facility used for a World War II airfield.

Kualoa airfield was evidently constructed during the early portion of WWII (maybe around 1942) and probably used as a satellite field for units assigned to Bellows Field, and was used mainly for training.

The earliest depiction of the field which has been located was a May 10, 1942 photo of Kualoa Field, which showed the field as having a single north/south runway.

It was depicted as having a single 6,500′ (north-south) runway. No evidence suggests that Kualoa was ever paved.

The entire runway was formed of pierced steel planking. The steel planking makes a strong case that the military had no plans to keep Kualoa open any longer than it was needed.

The road to Ka‘a‘awa and farther up to the north shore crossed over Kualoa’s runway, so the cars would have to wait whenever an airplane took off.

A row of revetments for protected aircraft parking was along the west side of the runway.

In about 1944, construction project ‘302’ was started for Kaneohe’s 3rd battery. It had two 6-inch guns, built at the northern reaches of Kāneʻohe Bay. Local engineers modified the conventional plans to fit local geographic conditions.

The battery was not named until after the end of the war (it was later named, Battery Cooper (after Avery J Cooper)) and it served for about 5-years as part of the World War II-era coastal defense program.

The 28th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, operating P-38, F-4 and A-24 aircraft was stationed at Kualoa between October 9, 1944 and May 8, 1945. The 18th Fighter Group, operating P-40s, also was stationed there briefly.

Since Kualoa Field had been constructed on land that was not owned by the military, it was returned to its original owners after WW2.

The Kualoa Airfield was closed at some point between 1944-1947 (as it was labeled “Kualoa AAB (Closed)” on the 1947 Hawaiian Islands Sectional Chart.)

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Kualoa Airfield by Chinaman’s Hat with P-38 in camouflage revetment.

28th_Photographic_Reconnaissance_Squadron_-_F-5_Lightning

Kualoa Airfield by Chinaman’s Hat with P-38 in camouflage.

B-17, LB-30 and B-18 aircraft on field.

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B-24 Liberator Bomber at Kualoa airfield

Orlando, Fla. – Barely visible beneath the wings of a Lockhead P-38 Lighting are the deadly bombs with which this multi-purpose plane can blast enemy troops, ships and gun emplacements. As shown in recent demonstartions at the AAF Tactical Center, Orlando, Fla., the Lockhead P-38, now being used as a fighter-bomber, is capable of carrying bomb pay loads up to 2,000 pounds, thus affording the Allies another potent weapon for use against Germany and Japan in coming offensive.

October 16, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānā

Mānā is a coastal plain with an ancient sea cliff at its inner edge, which extends from Waimea in the south to the north on the western shores of Kauaʻi.

Throughout prehistory, large areas of the Mānā Plain were covered by the great Mānā wetlands, allowing native Hawaiians to canoe as far south as Waimea.

The Legend of Barking Sands suggests there was an old Hawaiian fisherman who lived in a hut near the beach with his nine dogs. During his fishing trips he would tie his dogs to stakes in the sand, three to each of three stakes. He would then get into his canoe and go fishing.

One day while he was at sea and the dogs were tied as usual, he was caught in a very bad storm. For hours he battled the heavy seas until he was finally able to return to land. He was so exhausted that he crawled to his hut, forgetting to untie his dogs.

When he awoke the next morning and went outside, the dogs were nowhere in sight. All he saw were three small mounds of sand where the dogs had been tied. As he stepped on one of the mounds, he heard a low bark. Another step brought another bark; he still couldn’t find the dogs.

Believing the dogs had been buried in the sand because of the storm the day before, the fisherman began to dig. As each shovel full was removed, more sand took its place. He finally gave up, and every day after that when he crossed the beach he could hear the low barking.

The dogs were never found, and to this day the sands of Mānā have been known as Barking Sands.

The scientific explanation of these sounds from the sands is that the grains of Mānā sand are tiny, hollow spheres. When rubbed together, the give off a popping sound similar to the barking of dogs. This only occurs when the sand is very dry. Wet sand gives off almost no sound.

Up until the mid-1880s, the great Mānā wetlands, east of the plain, covered large areas of the lowlands. Approximately 1,700-acres of permanent, semi-permanent and seasonal wetlands were present on the Mānā Plain.

After the arrival of Europeans to the island, aquaculture transitioned to agriculture through the eventual draining of the wetlands and the cultivation of sugar cane and rice.

One of the first European settlers, Valdemar Knudsen, drained a portion of the Mānā wetlands be excavating a ditch through to the ocean a Waiele. The first sugarcane was planted in Kekaha in 1878.

The area is now home to farmers and a military facility that is known as the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF.)

PMRF is a test and evaluation facility for Ballistic Missile Defense programs. It is the world’s largest instrumented multi-environment range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air and space operations simultaneously.

There are over 1,100-square miles of instrumented underwater range and over 42,000-square miles of controlled airspace.

In 1921, the land area known as the Barking Sands was acquired by the Kekaha Sugar Company. This area became a runway for private planes. In 1932, Australian pilot Kingsford Smith completed a historic flight from Barking Sands to Australia in his Ford Trimotor.

In 1940, the US Army acquired the land, naming the installation Mana Airport and paving the runway. In 1941, the Army acquired additional acreage, giving Mana Airport a total of 2,058-acres. Private airlines frequently utilized the airport and during World War II there were a great deal of military flight operations there.

In 1954 the base was officially designated Bonham Air Force Base.

The US Navy’s first began operations at Bonham in 1956, testing its Regulus I missile. Soon after, in 1958, the Pacific Missile Range Facility was established in order to support the growing demand of the Navy at Bonham.

In 1964, the Pacific Missile Range Facility and Bonham were transferred to the Navy, becoming Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands.

In 2004, when I was at DLNR, an Agricultural Preservation Initiative (API) was approved by the State of Hawai‘i Board of Land and Natural Resources.

The API provides a buffer to PMRF and ensures that land on the Mānā Plain owned by the State of Hawai‘i and leased to the Agribusiness Development Corporation remains as agricultural lands (the agreement runs to 2030.)

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1950

1959

Mana_USGS_Quadrangle-Mana-1910_(portion)

071106-N-0000X-003 KAUAI, Hawaii (Nov. 6, 2007) – A threat representative target is launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) to be intercepted as part of a Missile Defense Agency test of the sea-based capability under development. This was part of a multiple simultaneous engagement involving two ballistic missile targets that were intercepted about 250 miles from Kauai and approximately 100 miles above the Pacific Ocean. The Standard Missile-3 was one of two interceptors launched from Pearl Harbor-based guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) that collided with two ballistic missile targets launched from the Pacific Missile Range Test Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, within minutes of one another. U.S. Navy photo (RELEASED)

180-degree-panorama-Barking_Sands_beach_in_Kauai

B-24 aircraft at Barking Sands, Kauai, refueling or regrouping prior to Southwest Pacific deployment c1944-45

Barking Sands Air Base, Kauai, with B-24, C-47 and C-45 aircraft. 1942

Barking Sands Field, Kauai, TH 9-4-1941

Barking Sands Field, Kauai, T. H. 9-4-1941

Constructing Barking Sands Air Base, c1944-1945 with B-24 aircraft.

Missile_launch_from_Pacific_Missile_Range

081101-N-0000X-002 PACIFIC OCEAN (Nov. 1, 2008) A ballistic threat target missile is launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii, enroute to an intercept over an open ocean area northwest of Kauai as part of Pacific Blitz 08. The target was successfully intercepted by a Standard Missile – 3 (SM-3) launched from the Pearl Harbor-based guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Hamilton (DDG 60).(U.S. Navy photo/Released)

September 13, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Star Spangled Banner

Often overlooked, twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new United States and Britain flared up, again.

The War of 1812 broke out for a variety of reasons, including Britain’s seizure of American ships, forced taking of American sailors into the British navy and restriction of trade between the United States and France.

In June 1812, James Madison became the first US president to ask Congress to declare war (he sent a war message to the Congress on June 1, 1812 and signed the declaration of war on June 18, 1812.) (The conflict ended with the Treaty of Ghent, in 1815.)

The tensions that caused the War of 1812 arose from the French revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815).

During this nearly constant conflict between France and Britain, American interests were injured by each of the two countries’ endeavors to block the United States from trading with the other.

In Hawaiʻi, the issue of interest was the export of sandalwood – the War of 1812 interfered with trade in the Pacific.

Exports were interrupted by the battling nations as warships were sent to protect their own commerce and destroy that of the enemy. Hawaiʻi was blockaded during the war.

In addition, several Hawaiians served with the US in the war, including Humehume (Prince Kaumualiʻi, son of King Kaumualiʻi,) Thomas Hopu and William Kanui (all three were also on the Thaddeus with the first missionary company to Hawaiʻi, in 1820.)

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem. They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 – 1800.)

Following the Burning of Washington and the Raid on Alexandria, Key set sail from Baltimore aboard the ship HMS Minden, flying a flag of truce on a mission approved by President James Madison. Their objective was to secure the exchange of prisoners.

On September 13, 1814, nineteen British ships aimed their cannons and guns on the fort. Amazingly, an estimated 1,500 to 1,800 British cannonballs failed to cause any significant damage to a fort which was unable to fire back on the ships because they were positioned just out of range of the American guns.

During the rainy night, Key had witnessed the bombardment and observed that the fort’s smaller “storm flag” continued to fly, but once the shell and rocket barrage had stopped, he would not know how the battle had turned out until dawn. By then, the storm flag had been lowered and the larger flag had been raised.

Key was inspired by the American victory and the sight of the large American flag flying triumphantly above the fort. That morning, he penned the poem that eventually became our country’s National Anthem.

The flag, with fifteen stars and fifteen stripes, came to be known as the Star Spangled Banner Flag and is today on display in the National Museum of American History in the Smithsonian Institution.

The song gained popularity throughout the nineteenth century and bands played it during public events, such as July 4th celebrations.

On July 27, 1889, Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy signed General Order #374, making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the official tune to be played at the raising of the flag.

I was fortunate to have attended a Coastal States Organization meeting in Baltimore, Maryland while I served as Director at DLNR. I took the time to visit Fort McHenry to better see and understand what it looked like.

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Star Spangled Banner Flag that inspired the lyrics of the US national anthem when it flew above Fort McHenry in 1814-(WC)

War of 1812 – Star Spangled Banner Anthem

August 25, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pōhakuloa Training Area

Pōhakuloa Training Area (PTA) (lit. long stone) was first used during World War II as a Marine Corps artillery live-fire training area.

During World War II, few permanent structures existed; when the Marines trained at PTA, they slept in tents.

U.S. Marines from the 3rd Marine Division and the 5th Marine Division trained at PTA and on the western side of the Big Island in preparation for the Iwo Jima and Saipan campaigns.

After the war, PTA fell under the control of the Hawai‘i Territorial Guard and in the mid-1950s the Army took over PTA. From 1955-58, Soldiers from the 65th Engineer Company built the distinctive Quonset huts, which are still in use.

The training area is about midway between Hilo on the east coast and the Army landing site at Kawaihae Harbor on the west coast. PTA extends up the lower slopes of Mauna Kea to approximately 6,800-feet in elevation and to about 9,000-feet on Mauna Loa.

The area is the largest Department of Defense (DOD) installation in Hawaiʻi. PTA’s 130,000-acres include an 80-acre cantonment area (headquarters, housing and other facilities) with a fuel yard, fire and police departments and an airfield with a 3,700-foot runway.

The installation can support up to 2,300-military personnel with rations, fuel and transportation.

PTA’s firing ranges allow units to conduct small-arms and crew-served weapons familiarization training and qualifications, as well as artillery and mortar live fire.

Through the years, PTA’s ranges and training areas have helped Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine units maintain their combat readiness and prepare for war.

The 25th Infantry Division units, Kaneohe-based Marines and Hawaii Army National Guard Soldiers prepared at PTA for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Today, PTA stands as the premier military training area in the Pacific region. Units from all U.S. military services, as well as allied militaries, train at PTA, because it offers realistic training opportunities not found elsewhere.

With several new construction projects underway, PTA looks to support military training well into the future.

One of the great untold stories is the attention to native plant restoration at PTA – from the low-tech nursery house and field plantings, to high-tech digital terrain monitoring (using airborne light detecting and ranging (LiDAR)) to define areas for plant restoration.

Dryland forests are among the most threatened of all tropical forest ecosystems, largely because of the impact of grazing animals, invasive species, fire and land conversion. Only about 5 percent of Hawaii dryland forest habitats remain.

PTA’s Natural Resources Team consists of about 40 employees, who protect threatened and endangered species on the military property, grow and monitor plants, construct firebreaks and remove invasive species. More than 2,000-endangered and common native plants are annually replanted into the wild.

Bird counters do visual checks for common and rare birds and also identify many by their songs. The most common native birds encountered are palila, nene, amakihi and apapane.

In addition, the Army is fencing off areas to protect it from the damaging effects of goats, sheep and pigs (ungulates) to allow recovery of mamane-naio forest.

Recovery of that forest may eventually lead to reintroduction of endangered palila to the Pōhakuloa plain. The Army is presently trying to get most of the fence-enclosed area cleared of unexploded ordnance so that public hunters can assist in ungulate removal.

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Quonset Huts Constructed by B Co., 3rd Shore Party Bn., Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii – Dec 1956 ((c)-thecoys2)
Quonset Huts constr. by B Co., 3rd Shore Party Bn, Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii – Dec 1956 ((c)-thecoys2)
Members of B Co., 3rd Shore Party Bn., Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii – Jan 1957 ((c)-thecoys2)
Quonset Huts constr. by B Co., 3rd Shore Party Bn., Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii – Dec 1956 ((c)-thecoys2)
Pohakuloa Training Area Private James Feld A Battery, 1st Battalion, 8th Artillery-1963 ((c)-25th Infantry Division)
PTA-Quonset Huts-HHF
100715-M-7045P-007 POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA, Hawaii (July 15, 2010) A U.S. Marine Corps CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH) 463 based at Marine Corps Air Station, Hawaii, departs after offloading Marines assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment on Range 442 at Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii. The Marines are embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) to participate in various live fire exercises in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2010. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Orlando Perez/Released)
U.S. Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment are conducting immediate actions drills during Lava Viper in Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, Jan. 19, 2012. Lava Viper is a battalion level combined arms training exercise to better prepare Marines for upcoming deployments. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Demetrius Munnerlyn/Released)
U.S. Marines with Gulf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, conduct immediate-action drills after a helicopter insert during Lava Viper in Pohakuloa Training Area, Hawaii, Jan. 20, 2012. Lava Viper is a battalion-level combined-arms training exercise to better prepare Marines for upcoming deployments.
AIR_CH-47D_Lifts_Target_At_Pohakuloa_Training_Area

August 15, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Camp McKinley

The Spanish-American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence.

William McKinley was president of the United States, and the causal event was the explosion of the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor, Cuba on February 15, 1898.

So, what does that have to do with Hawai‘i?

Well, back then, Spain had interests in the Pacific, particularly in the Guam and Philippines. Although the main issue was Cuban independence, the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Likewise, US foreign policy advocated the taking of the Caribbean Islands and the Philippine Islands for bases to protect US commerce.

Meanwhile, Hawai’i, had gained strategic importance because of its geographical position in the Pacific. Honolulu served as a stopover point for the forces heading to the Philippines.

On August 12, 1898, the United States ratified the Hawaiʻi treaty of annexation. At the time, there was no assigned garrison here until August 15, 1898, when the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 2nd US Volunteer Engineers landed in Honolulu for garrison duty.

The two commands were initially camped alongside each other as though they were one regiment in the large infield of the one-mile race track at Kapi‘olani Park. The initial camp in the infield at the race track was unnamed.

As more members of the regiment arrived, the camp was moved about three or four hundred yards from the race track to an area called ‘Irwin Tract.’ The Irwin Tract camp was named “Camp McKinley,” in honor of the president.

The site “was near the only ocean-bathing beach on the Island and the reported site of a proposed Sanitarium selected by the resident physicians in the immediate vicinity of the best residential quarter of the Island. In addition it had shade in the park, a drill and parade ground on the racecourse, city water, and was accessible.”

The troops used the bathing facilities at the Sans Souci Resort which was located on the beach at the southeast corner of the park.

Camp Otis was a short-lived camp of Philippine expeditionary troops who arrived on the troop ship ‘Arizona’ on August 27, 1898 and were left in Honolulu when the ship went on to Manila.

The soldiers camped inside the racetrack at Kapi‘olani Park. The camp was later moved east within the racetrack to a point “nearly opposite Camp McKinley.” The camp was named after Major General Elwell S. Otis, US Volunteers, the commanding officer in the Philippines in 1898-99.

Camp Otis was abandoned about November 7, 1898 when the ‘Arizona’ returned and the troops departed for Manila.

Owing to the prevalence of malarial and typhoid fever, they moved the regiment to a camp to Wai‘alae, on the north side of Diamond Head, about three miles from “Camp McKinley.”

They temporarily occupied the Paul Isenberg estate which stretched from Kapahulu Avenue to Kāhala Beach. A letter from one soldier camped there noted, “The tents are pitched on the sandy beach at Waialie (sic)…”

The 2nd Engineers ultimately built barracks and other buildings for the new Camp McKinley just north of Kapi‘olani Park, between Leahi and Kana‘ina avenues (it is now covered by businesses along Kapahulu Avenue and residences in the area.)

Local hospitals were used for the sick soldiers until Independence Park Hospital was established on August 15, 1898. The Red Cross also established a hospital for soldiers in the Child Garden Building on Beretania Street in June, 1898.

The Independence Park Hospital was located in a dance pavilion at Independence Park, southeast of the corner of Sheridan and King Streets.

In October, 1898, concern over conditions at Independence Park Hospital and the large number of sick soldiers required that additional hospital space be obtained. The Independence Park Hospital was closed in January, 1899.

The Nu‘uanu Valley Military Hospital (also known as “Buena Vista Hospital”) was located at the former John Paty home (known as Buena Vista) on the east side of Nu‘uanu Avenue at Wyllie Street. (That site is now covered by the Nu‘uanu-Pali Highway interchange, just north of the Community Church of Honolulu.)

Camp McKinley remained in existence until Fort Shafter was opened in late June, 1907. The garrison was either artillery or coast artillery troops during this period.

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