Military | Page 4 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 9, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missile-Age Minutemen

It was not until World War II that the technology of using rockets and missiles in warfare became firmly established. During the final months of World War II, several major defense contractors studied the likelihood that evolving technologies could produce guided missiles to intercept bombers and surface-to-surface missiles.

The Cold War, a term used to describe the hostile relations between communist and non-communist countries, greatly accelerated missile and rocket technology. (Mason; HAER)

During the Cold War era that followed World War II, the threat of foreign attack on US soil shifted from naval assault to air attack, particularly by aircraft carrying nuclear weapons. Thus, the Army Air Defense Artillery took responsibility from the Coast Artillery branch for defending the US. (NPS)

The perception that the Soviet Union might be capable of constructing a sizable fleet of long-range, nuclear-armed bomber aircraft capable of reaching the continental US provided motivation to rapidly develop and deploy a missile system to defend major US population centers and other vital targets. (TheMilitaryStandard)

The potential threat posed by such aircraft became much more serious when, in 1949, the Russians exploded their first atomic bomb.

The goal of the Army in the 1950s was to establish a nationwide defense system of surface-to-air guided missiles (SAMs) placed in critical positions around major urban centers or strategic military installations within the continental US, Hawaii and Europe.

Prior to the guided missile era, the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard, armed with four batteries of 90-mm Anti-Aircraft Artillery guns, provided antiaircraft defense of Oahu. The battalion’s four firing batteries were deployed to Sand Island (two,) Fort Barrette (one) and Waianae (one,) with battalion headquarters at Fort Ruger. (Bennett)

The development of a missile-based air defense system necessitated the reorganization of the Army command structure. In 1950, all artillery units were joined to a new continental air defense system under the US Army Antiaircraft Command (later renamed the US Army Air Defense Command;) control was placed under the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD.) (Mason; HAER)

Nike, named for the mythical Greek goddess of victory, was the name given to a program which ultimately produced the world’s first successful, widely-deployed, guided surface-to-air missile system. (TheMilitaryStandard)

The missile was first test-fired in 1951, and the first Nike Ajax battalion was emplaced at Fort Meade, Maryland in 1953. As the Nike Ajax system underwent testing during the early-1950s, the Army became concerned that the missile was incapable of stopping a massed Soviet air attack.

To enhance the missile’s capabilities, the Army explored the feasibility of equipping Ajax with a nuclear warhead, but when that proved impractical, in July 1953 the service authorized development of a second generation surface-to-air missile, the Nike Hercules.

Conversion from conventional artillery to missiles in the continental US was complete by July 1958. The Nike Hercules placements in the field expanded over the next 6-years. (Federation of American Scientists)

Coastal defenses during this period largely depended on the Nike antiaircraft missile system. The Nike system was not only the most expensive missile system ever deployed, it was also the most widespread (300 sites in 30 states) and longest-lived (25 years nationwide.) (NPS)

The missile sites were designed and constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers, and standardized plans were generally used. (However, the Hawaiʻi facilities were typically above ground launching sites with berms protecting the launchers.)

Originally, the Army planned to build eight batteries at six missile sites around the island. This plan was eventually reduced in scope, and six batteries were built at four areas (two single and two double batteries.)

The four sites were at Dillingham Air Force Base in Mokuleʻia (Kawaihāpai;) Kahuku Army Training Area near Mt Kawela; Bellows Air Force Station at Waimanalo and Barbers Pt (Palehua,) on the southwestern portion of the Waianae Mountain Range.

Barber’s Point and Bellows Field each hosted two batteries and had 24 missiles, while the single batteries each had 12 missiles.

The sites were coordinated in their defense efforts through direction from the Army Air Defense Command Post located at Fort Ruger in a tunnel in Diamond Head and were manned by Army Guardsmen.

A typical Nike air defense site consisted of two separate parcels of land. One area was known as the Integrated Fire Control Area. This site contained the Nike system’s ground-based radar and computer systems designed to detect and track hostile aircraft, and to guide the missiles to their targets.

The second parcel of land was known as the Launcher Area. At the launcher area, Nike missiles were stored horizontally. While elsewhere, the missiles were stored in underground missile magazines, the Hawaiʻi facilities were typically above-ground magazines and launching sites with berms protecting the launchers.

The Nike missile sites were manned 24-hours a day by the Hawaiʻi National Guard and were armed with the nuclear-capable Nike Hercules surface-to-air-missiles. (Army)

Hawaiʻi and Alaska were the only locations where live Nike missiles were test fired. Targets included computer generated points in space and miniature airplanes. No missile was ever fired in anger.

While the rest of the Nike force conducted its annual live fire practices at the White Sands Missile Range in NM, the Hawaiʻi Guard was unique in that it conducted its annual live-fire certifications from mobile launchers firing off the north shore of the island of Oʻahu. (National Guard)

Hawaiʻi was also the only state to man all of its firing batteries with Guardsmen; in the continental US the Guard manned about a third of all Nike sites. (National Guard)

The Hawaiʻi units were the only National Guard units to operate a command post. Guardsmen had demonstrated their ability to conduct real-world missions while in a part-time, state-controlled, status, in the process proudly adopting for themselves the title “Missile-Age Minutemen.”

The facilities were continuously operated until the closure of all four Nike sites on O`ahu in March 1970, when the entire Nike Program was closed down as part of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) with the Soviet Union (with the exception of batteries in Alaska and Florida that stayed active until the late 1970s; by 1975 all Nike Hercules sites had been deactivated.)

October 9, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Rainbow Plan

The primary war planning agencies of the period 1890-1939 were the war colleges of the US Army and US Navy. The US had a series of military plans in place to deal with an array of potential adversaries.

War plans outlined potential US strategies for a variety of hypothetical war scenarios. They were prepared and referenced by colors, each color corresponding to a specific situation or nation.

For instance, of the initial 12-plans, there was War Plan Black, a plan for war with Germany; War Plan Orange for Japan; and even a War Plan Red for Great Britain (with a sub variant Crimson Plan for Canada.)

After World War I, the Joint Army and Navy Board (the predecessor of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) reviewed all the prewar plans to ensure they were consistent with the current state of affairs in the world.

The possibility of war with Japan had led the Army and Navy in 1924 to draft a new joint Orange plan to govern the conduct of such a war.

War Plan Orange made no provision for a landing on the Japanese home islands. Japan was to be defeated by ‘isolation and harassment,’ by the disruption of its vital sea communications, and by ‘offensive sea and air operations against her naval forces and economic life.’

With events starting in 1938, with German and Italian aggression in Europe and simultaneous Japanese expansion in the Far East, US war planners realized that the US faced the possibility of war on multiple fronts against a coalition of enemies.

To that end, the Joint Planning Board developed a new series of war plans, the ‘Rainbow’ plans – the term being a play on the respective ‘color’ plans that had been previously drawn up.

The single most important strategy, made before US entry into World War II, in the context of a world threatened by Axis aggression in Europe and Asia, was that Germany must be defeated first.

“In the years preceding US entry into World War II, the Army’s war planners tasked students at the Army War College to prepare responses to a set of amazingly realistic wartime scenarios.”

“The students’ sound but imaginative solutions not only influenced the armed services’ post-1939 Rainbow plans for war with Germany and Japan, they also anticipated and provided answers to most of the war’s major strategic questions.” (Gole)

Ultimately, planning (and later implementation) resulted in War Plan Rainbow 5 – this plan included Hawaiʻi.

“Rainbow 5 assumed the United States, Great Britain and France to be acting in concert; hemisphere defense was to be assured … with early projection of US forces to the eastern Atlantic, and to either or both the African and European Continents”.

“Offensive operations were to be conducted, in concert with British and allied forces, to effect the defeat of Germany and Italy. A strategic defensive was to be maintained in the Pacific until success against the European Axis Powers permitted transfer of major forces to the Pacific for an offensive against Japan.”

As to Hawaiʻi, War Department message of November 27, 1941 read as follows: “Negotiations have come to a standstill at this time. No diplomatic breaking of relations and we will let them make the first overt act. You will take such precautions as you deem necessary to carry out the Rainbow plan. Do not excite the civilian population.” (Proceedings of Army Pearl Harbor Board)

Oʻahu held a position of the first importance in the military structure of the US before and during WWII. During the prewar years, Oʻahu and the Panama Canal Zone were the two great outposts of continental defense. (army-mil)

A key goal in the Pacific was to hold Oʻahu Island as a main outlying naval base and to protect shipping in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands.

In the year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, American strategists developed a strategy that focused on “Germany first.” In the end, that was what occurred with the American war effort.

Rainbow 5 imagined the rapid projection of American forces across the Atlantic to Africa or Europe “in order to effect the decisive defeat of Germany, Italy, or both.”

Clearly implied in this statement was the concept that finally emerged as the basic strategy of World War II: that in a war with the European Axis and Japan, Germany was the major enemy and that the main effort therefore should be made in Europe to secure the decisive defeat of Germany at the earliest possible date.

But for much of 1942 and well into 1943, the US deployed substantially greater forces to the Pacific than to Europe. This was in response both to political pressure from the American people and the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Pacific over the first six months of the war.

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000-Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France.

General Dwight D Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000-ships and 13,000-aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe.

The final battles of the European Theater of WWII, as well as the German surrender to the Western Allies and the Soviet Union took place in late-April and early-May 1945.

On August 6 and 9, 1945, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese signed the Instrument of Surrender on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. (Lots of information here from army-mil and GlobalSecurity.)

August 9, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Rescue in Paradise

Douglas developed the B-18 “Bolo” to replace the Martin B-10; the new model was based on the Douglas DC-2 commercial transport. The B-18 prototype competed with the Martin 146 (an improved B-10) and the four-engine Boeing 299, forerunner of the B-17 Flying Fortress, at the Air Corps bombing trials at Wright Field in 1935.

Although many Air Corps officers judged the Boeing design superior, the Army General Staff preferred the less costly Bolo; contracts were awarded for 82-planes, the order was increased to 132 by June of 1936. (Trojan)

The Bolo remained the Air Corps’ primary bomber into 1941. Thirty-three B-18s were based in Hawaiʻi with the 5th Bombardment Group and 11th Bombardment Group.

One of those Hawaiʻi B-18 Bolos, piloted by Boyd Hubbard Jr, took off from Hickam Field at 7 pm February 25, 1941 for a routine inter-island night instrument-navigation training flight. (Trojan)

Other members of the crew were 2nd Lt Francis R. Thompson (co-pilot), S/Sgt Joseph S. Paulhamus (flying engineer), Pvt William Cohn (radio operator), Pvt Fred C. Seeger (passenger), Pvt Robert R. Stevens (passenger) WIA. (Aviation Safety Network)

Their flight path took them over the Island of Hawaiʻi. While flying on instruments at 10,000-feet, Hubbard’s B-18 suffered a main bearing failure in the left engine. Hubbard headed to Suiter Field, the Army’s auxiliary field (it is now known as Upolū Point Airport.)

Hubbard made a last split-second correction prior to the crash. As he later described it, the mountain just loomed up before him in the darkness and he just reacted. He pulled back hard on the wheel and the aircraft stalled and belly flopped into the thick underbrush.

Airmen from Hickam later described the site as the “Worst possible place for a forced landing in the Islands.” (Trojan)

“The quiet of the wooded mountains was shattered by a roaring crash! No human ear heard the sound; but shortly thereafter the phone in my office rang with an urgent persistance.”

They called Frederick Christian Koelling (superintendent of the Kohala Ditch Co and engineer for the Hawi Mill and Plantation Co. (Nellist))

“I picked up the receiver with no inkling of the adventure into which this simple gesture would lead me. The voice which answered was an unfamiliar one, but the message imparted sent me running for help and set in motion the ’rescue in paradise’ which saved the lives of a gallant crew of six army fliers.”

“Prior to the rescue attempt, I asked the Army to locate Bill Sproat, our area supervisor, and fly him over the site of the crash. Bill, being thoroughly ‘at home”’ in this area, could easily give me directions which I felt would minimize the time required to effect a ground rescue.”

“On Wednesday, February 26th, having talked with Bill by telephone and determined the approximate location of the downed plane, I gathered a party of co-workers including Leslie Hannah, Ronald May, Elders Johnson and Lyons, and left Hawi, our home base, at noon for Pololu.”

“Arriving at Pololu, the first station in the Kohala Sugar Company irrigation system, we obtained mules and rode up the winding trail to Kaukini Camp.”

The next day, “we left Kaukini Camp just as dawn was breaking. Our party of eight now pushed on to the end of the trail where we dismounted and the mules were staked out. The area, known as Wailoa, was not as familiar to us as the previous terrain. However, a foot trail had been cleared for another two miles or more through these ravines.”

“We followed this trail until we reached the spot previously agreed upon between Bill Sproat and myself as being the most likely approach to where the plane had gone down.”

“We hacked our way up and down a series of steep ravines, crossing a rushing stream at the bottom of each. … In order to cover more ground, we separated into two parties of four and followed the edges of two gulches above which we had determined was the wrecked plane.”

“After more than an hour of steady climbing, always hampered by the dense foliage, vines and marshy soil underfoot, we met at the top of the second gulch. For another two and one-half hours we struggled and hacked our way with machetes over, through and around trees, staghorn ferns, rotten brush and clinging vines.”

“Two of our men had climbed trees above the underbrush to listen for an acknowledgement from the flyers. The men claimed they heard answering shots sounding like firecrackers in the still air, pak-pak!”

“Immediately the lagging spirits of the party revived. and we continued on with renewed vigor, putting considerable distance behind us over firmer terrain with less undergrowth.”

“After another half hour of steady climbing, we again checked our position, firing more rifle-shots, and again we could hear an answering, pak, pak, pak! As we strained our ears to pin-point the shots, suddenly one of our group saw a flare, a small parachute trailing smoke and fire a considerable distance away.”

“Another ridge, another gulch, until we finally reached a point where we could call to the stranded flyers. … Despite the fact that they had acknowledged our calls, we were very much in doubt as to the physical well-being of the survivors.”

“The scattered debris, the crushed and fallen trees, plus the sight of the badly damaged plane, caused considerable apprehension, as to the condition of the flyers; badly injured or worse.

“Miraculously, and no doubt due to the thick growth of trees and shrubs, the plane had landed with far less impact than it would have, had it crashed in a desert or open area. The survivors were only slightly hurt, a mighty fortunate crew indeed!”

“One of the aviators had a bandage over one eye; another an injured hand, a third had one pants leg ripped off and a lacerated leg, and the fourth bad a bruise on his face!”

“Captain Boyd Hubbard, leader of the crew, had a rather badly bruised arm, but the Lieutenant escaped with only a scratch! The marvelous condition of the flyers was a most welcome sight to their rescuers. If they had been seriously injured we would have had a much more difficult time getting them down out of the mountains.”

“After some consultation, it was decided that our party and two of the least injured aviators would return to the Kaukini Camp for the night. Bill Sproat was at that time, leading another party over our trail.”

Among this group were Major Higgins from Wheeler Field, a Dr. Hall, two mechanics and a number of Army personnel. Our presence at the scene would not be necessary as this group was better equipped to assist in the salvage work on the aircraft. Therefore, we immediately set out on our return trip.”

“It was with profound relief that we relaxed somewhat in our saddles after the exhausting descent. However, our troubles were not all over. We now proceeded entirely in darkness. Suddenly, one of the pack mules broke loose and lunged forward down the trail dragging its tie rope. Ronald May, whose mule was next in line, pursued the pack mule.”

“Fortunately, the tie rope became lodged in a rock cleft before the mule had traveled very far. Ronald leapt from his mount and grabbed for the tie rope – at the same instant, one of the aviators brought his flash into play. The sudden bright light [panicked] the mule causing the animal to plunge into Ronald who fell back off the trail and down the cliff coming to a splashing halt in a pool of water ten feet below.”

“We all came to a quick halt, pulling up our mules on the narrow trail. By great good fortune, Ronald was promptly located and, with the aid of a rope, we hauled him back up to the trail, more doused than hurt. The recalcitrant mule was firmly tied into the pack train and we all proceeded on to the stables above the Kaukini Camp.”

“Upon reaching Pololu, we disbanded and I drove the two aviators to [Upolū] Point Field from whence they were flown to Wheeler Field in Oahu. During the following days, the entire crew was brought out of the mountains along with all salvageable parts of the aircraft (the bombsight and instruments, Aviation Safety Network) by Bill Sproat and the Anny personnel who had accompanied him to the site.”

Decades later (during 1980s?) Gary Larkins visited this site and photographed it with top turret intact. Internal fittings and the top turret were removed, including the retractable top turret and nose cone. These parts went to the USAF Museum for use in their restoration of B-18A Bolo 37-469, but the turret did not fit their aircraft. (Aviation Safety Network) (Special thanks to Cindy McKievick for providing her grandfathers’ (FC Koelling) summary of his heroic rescue.)

July 29, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

John Rudolph Slattery

During the American Revolution, George Washington appointed the first engineer officers of the Army on June 16, 1775; in 1779 Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers.

At the end of the Revolutionary War, the engineers mustered out of service. In 1794, Congress organized a Corps of Artillerists and Engineers, but it was not until March 16, 1802 that it reestablished a separate Corps of Engineers (the Corps’ continuous existence dates from then.)

At the same time, Congress established a new military academy and gave the engineers responsibility for founding and operating the US Military Academy at West Point, New York. During the first half of the 19th-century, West Point was the major and for a while, the only engineering school in the country.

John Rudolph Slattery graduated fifth in his class at West Point Class in 1900. He was appointed to the Academy by Charles P Taft, brother of President William Howard Taft.

Typical for a new engineer officer, after graduation, Slattery was assigned to the Philippines to work on bridges and roads. Within a couple of years he was living and working in Honolulu.

Before Slattery’s arrival in the islands, the Army engineer presence included work from engineer officer Maj. William C Langfitt who led a force of American soldiers, including the Third Battalion of US Volunteer Engineers, which established itself at Camp McKinley in 1898. Before leaving in 1899, Langfitt drew up a defense plan for Pearl Harbor.

In 1901 the chief of engineers, with the War Department’s approval, established a board of engineer and artillery officers to study Oʻahu’s defense requirements. The board also recommended that Pearl Harbor be given first priority for the construction of seacoast fortifications, but included some defenses for Honolulu Harbor.

While the Corps of Engineers was planning the seacoast defenses of Oahu, it also received a request from local authorities in Hawaiʻi to establish harbor lines in Honolulu harbor (Harbor lines regulate where piers and other structures can be built.) Likewise, channels and other harbor space needed dredging.

While planning for fortifications, laying out harbor lines and dredging were important, when US Senate subcommittee members surveying the needs of the new territory could not enter Honolulu harbor at night because the ship’s captain could not distinguish navigation lights from the Honolulu city lights, the federal government launched a large new lighthouse construction program for the islands.

The Pacific lighthouse district engineer sent Slattery to Hawaiʻi in 1904 to supervise the construction. The US government appropriated funds for acquiring land in Hawaii to be used as sites for coastal fortifications.

By August 1904, Slattery was also tasked with preparing a project for the improvement of Honolulu Harbor. His plans to widen and deepen both the harbor and its entrance were submitted by that December and the project was both approved and funded in March 1905.

On April 15, 1905, Slattery opened the first Honolulu Engineer District office in the Alexander Young Building on Bishop Street – this marked the birthdate of the Honolulu Engineering District for the Army Corps.

Slattery’s duties were divided between land acquisition and lighthouse matters. Several lasting legacies of his work remain in the Islands.

Slattery negotiated the purchase of land in Waikiki for the establishment of Fort DeRussy. Battery Randolph within Fort DeRussy was built between 1909 and 1911 and gained international, national, state and local significance at a time when British, French, Russian, German and even the Japanese had ships in the Pacific, and were expressing interest in Hawai‘i.

The Army mission in Hawai‘i was defined as “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets.”

Slattery prepared the design for Makapuʻu Lighthouse. Makapuʻu (meaning bulging eye) Point is the extreme southeastern point of the island of Oʻahu. To the east of it is the Ka‘iwi Channel, which passes between the islands of Oʻahu and Molokaʻi.

For years, there was no light on the entire northern coast of the Hawaiian Islands to guide ships or warn them as they approach those islands. Essentially, all the commerce from the west coast of North America bound to Honolulu passes Makapuʻu Lighthouse.

On October 1, 1909, the light from another bright, bulging eye was seen on the rocky point of Makapuʻu as the giant lens in the Makapuʻu lighthouse was illuminated for the first time.

Just before Slattery’s arrival, the War Department, a board of Army officers, recommended establishment of the principal infantry post at Kahauiki.

Construction started in 1905 at what was first called Kahauiki Military Reservation. It was later named Fort Shafter and was Hawaiʻi’s first permanent US military installation. (Camp McKinley remained in existence until Fort Shafter was opened.)

First, they started construction of officers’ quarters and battalion barracks around Palm Circle, as well as support facilities on and near Funston Road.

Slattery helped Fort Shafter become a major anti-aircraft installation. In addition, a number of military fortifications for Oahu’s defense were built including Pearl Harbor, Forts Ruger, Armstrong, Weaver, Barrette and Kamehameha as well as Batteries Randolph, Williston, Hatch, Dudley and Harlow.

The District also began improvements to Hilo Harbor with construction of the breakwater in September 1908. In 1910, the breakwater at Kahului Harbor was extended.

Slattery eventually retired as a Colonel in 1925 and became the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Board of Transportation, in charge of such projects as the tunnels to Queens and Staten Island and the New York Central Railroad.

Slattery was married to Elizabeth B Slattery on February 22, 1905; they had one child, Nathaniel B Slattery. John R Slattery, born in Athens, Ohio, on January 31, 1877, died on September 23, 1932 at the age of 55.

In April 1962, the Army Corps of Engineers completed the Lt John R Slattery Bridge, the two-lane bascule bridge connecting Sand Island to Oʻahu in Honolulu Harbor. (It originally was a draw bridge, originally designed to be raised and lowered to allow boat traffic to pass underneath.)

In the late-1980s, though, the state permanently sealed the metal bridge and built a new concrete bridge alongside, creating four lanes to accommodate the growing traffic on and off the island.

John R Slattery

John R Slattery Bridge-Access to Sand Island-(ArmyCorps)

PalmCircle_USAMH34_l-1913

Quarters5_USAMH70_l-Completed in 1909, Quarters 5 originally served as the Post Commander’s quarters-1916

CentPlaza_FP_03_l-Flagpole in Palm Circle-(photo_between-1908-1912)

Makapuʻu_Lighthouse

Lighthouse Keeper John Sweeney-1934

Honolulu_Waterfront-1905

Boats_in_Honolulu_Harbor-1900

Kewalo_to_Waikiki-Dredged_Channels_Parallel_to_Shore-(Army_Museum)-1938

Fort DeRussy is nearly complete – area north (right) is still generally undeveloped-Battery Dudley in lower center-CoastDefenseJourna)-1919

Battery_Randolph-Fort_DeRussy-(army-mil)

Honolulu_Harbor-USACE-Slattery-Map-1906

Honolulu_Harbor-early-lighthouse

Honolulu Harbor Light Station-(left)

Honolulu_Harbor_in_1900

Hilo-Breakwater-(WC)

Hilo_Breakwater-stones-(DMY)

Hilo_Breakwater-Map-USACE

Alexander Young Hotel-early 1900s

June 28, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Podmore Fire Control

“There are strong arguments in favor of putting the principal harbors of the country in a state of adequate defense, even at very considerable cost. But the work should be done according to a well digested plan, which will give reasonable security that it will answer its purpose.” (New York Times, July 1, 1884)

Harbor defenses had constituted the primary element of the means employed by the Army for seacoast defense. Harbor defenses consisted of permanently installed guns of various calibers, which could be supplemented in an emergency by mobile coast artillery guns and controlled mine fields.

The Artillery District of Honolulu was established April 24, 1909 and consisted of Forts Ruger, DeRussy, Kamehameha and Armstrong (the District was renamed Headquarters Coast Defenses of Oʻahu.)

Following World War I and until the end of World War II, additional coastal armaments were constructed. Then, the Army mission was “the defense of Pearl Harbor Naval Base against damage from naval or aerial bombardment or by enemy sympathizers and attack by enemy expeditionary force or forces, supported or unsupported by an enemy fleet or fleets”.

Batteries at Fort Kamehameha, Fort Weaver and Fort Barrette (the latter two constructed in 1924 & 1935) completed pre-World War II coastal defense network for Pearl Harbor.

Batteries at Fort DeRussy and Fort Ruger were responsible for the defense of the South coast and Honolulu Harbor. While none of the large caliber guns were ever fired except in practice, the secondary anti-aircraft guns of coastal artillery units at Fort Kamehameha were credited with shooting down a number of attacking aircraft on the morning of December 7, 1941.

Following the Pearl Harbor attack, as part of the growing Coast Defense network, numerous Batteries and their associated Fire Control Stations were set up around the Islands.

A Fire Control Station is an observation and command center used to direct fire from gun Batteries on the coast. Fire Control personnel spot and determine where the guns should aim (typically working with others using triangulation;) Batteries have the guns to fire at the targets.

In 1917, Waimanalo Military Reservation was created (later renamed to Bellows Field in 1933;) with the outbreak of WWII, Bellows was transformed almost overnight into an important facility where aircraft were prepared for their duty in the Pacific Theater.

Part of the defense of the facility was Battery Wailea, located at Wailea Point (at the dividing line between Waimanalo and Lanikai.) Search lights were emplaced at the Battery. The Battery was operational from 1942 to 1945.

It was initially armed with two mobile 155-mm guns (about 6-inches, that could send 96-lb projectiles 17,400-yds,) later replaced with two 5-inch guns (58-lb projectile, 10,000-yd range) (later supplemented with two 3-inch guns (15-lb projectile, 11,100-yd range.))

Battery Wailea was supported by Fire Control Station Podmore. Podmore, completed February 28, 1943 – named for a nearby triangulation station, supported other armaments and was made up of two stations: a single story North structure (29A) and a double-tiered South station (29B & 29C.) (Bennett)

Pedestals in the bunkers were mounts for high-powered optical instruments for determining azimuth and range of ocean vessels.

An observer and recorder staffed each observation station. Data obtained from the observer’s optical instrument was telephoned by the recorder to the assigned gun battery by a local-battery operated telephone. (Bennett)

The troops manning the site slept and lived in tents in shifts on the slopes. Water and power lines were brought up from below to serve the bunkers and tent quarters from the Lanikai side of the Kaʻiwa Ridge.

The Podmore stations were located in the South Sector of Oʻahu’s two defense sectors, and tactically assigned to the Harbor Defenses of Kāneʻohe Bay located in a tunnel system dug into Ulupaʻu Crater on Mōkapu Peninsula.

The harbor defenses were set up to protect the vital Navy seaplane and landplane base at the Kāneʻohe Bay Naval Air Station built on the Mōkapu Peninsula. (Bennett)

After end of WWII, the parcel was declared surplus by the General Services Administration (GSA) and was offered for sale to the highest bidder. Both the State and the City & County did not offer to acquire the parcel and the property was sold to a private individual. (DLNR)

Today, a hiking trail takes you to the Fire Control Station.

The Ka‘iwa ridgeline may be accessed by one of two legal routes: the first is a City and County of Honolulu public access right-of-way that was established as a condition of subdivision approval for the Bluestone condominiums. The other access point is a State-owned trail corridor that was purchased for use by the Nā Ala Hele Trail and Access Program (Governor’s Executive Order 3610, 1994). (DLNR)

Most folks call the Podmore Fire Control bunker the Lanikai Pillboxes; a misnomer. As noted, the bunkers were built as an observation and command center for Battery Wailea and observation for Bellows Field.

A pillbox is a reinforced guard post, normally equipped with openings through which to fire weapons. The Podmore Fire Control Station was for observation, not weaponry.

In 2024, DLNR published as Final Environmental Assessment that calls for actions “to improve the Ka‘iwa Ridge Trail by implementing a trail management plan concurrently with the installation of physical improvements to the trail corridor.”

“Proposed improvements include a combination of surface treatments, erosion control measures, fencing or other barriers, and trail signage throughout the trail corridor.”