Military | Page 8 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 11, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Saddle Road

By the early 1800s, foreign visitors began making regular trips across the ‘āina mauna [mountain lands] and to the summit of Mauna Kea. Based on their accounts, travel in the region through the middle 1800s basically followed the old trails, or cut across new areas.

By the 1850s, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i entered into a program of improving ancient trails and identifying new routes, by which to improve travel between various locations and facilitate commerce. (Maly)

At its May 23, 1849 meeting, the Privy Council of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (a private committee of the King’s closest advisors to give confidential advice on affairs of state) sought to “facilitate communication between Kailua, the seat of the local government, and Hilo, the principal port.”

They resolved “that GP Judd and Kinimaka proceed to Kailua, Hawaiʻi, to explore a route from that place to Hilo direct, and make a road, if practicable, by employing the prisoners on that island and if necessary taking the prisoners from this island (Oʻahu) to assist; the government to bear all expenses”. (Privy Council Minutes, Punawaiola)

In planning the road, the words of the Privy Council’s resolution were taken literally, and the route selected ran to the high saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on a practically straight line between the terminal points.

What became known as the “Judd Road” (or “Judd Trail”) was constructed between 1849 and 1859; construction began at the government road in Kailua (what is now known as Aliʻi Drive) and traversed through a general corridor between Hualālai and Mauna Loa. (Remnants of perimeter walls can still be seen at Aliʻi Drive.)

“This was the road that Dr. Judd … would have built from Kona in a straight line across the island of Hawaii. It was meant, of course, as a road for horsemen and pack animals. In the generation of Dr. Judd it was a great work, and the manner of its building showed that he meant it to be a monument to him for all time.” (Ford, Mid-Pacific, 1912)

In 1859, when the road had been built about 12-miles from Kailua into the saddle between Hualālai and Mauna Loa, the project was abandoned – a pāhoehoe lava flow from the 11,000 foot-level of Mauna Loa crossed its path. Though incomplete (it never reached its final destination in Hilo,) people did use the Judd Road to get into Kona’s mauka countryside.

This road was not the only attempt of linking East and West Hawaiʻi. The western section of the trail from Waimea to Kalai‘eha (Humu‘ula Sheep Station) had become a ‘cart road’ by 1873; it was only a dirt road through the pasture then and in rainy weather it turned to mud.

There were no automobiles in 1910 and very few in the 1920s, all transportation was by foot, horse, or by wagon, carriage and buggy. In 1920, the cart road left the Waimea/Kona road at Pu’u Nohona‘ohae and went through Waiki’i village to The Saddle.

The cart road initially began a little farther north, however, the manager of Parker Ranch, AW Carter, got the entrance of the road moved so that it passed between Pu‘u Nohona’ohae lki to the north, and Pu‘u Nohona‘ohae Nui to the south. (This is the alignment of the old Saddle Road where it meets the Waimea to Kona ‘Mauka Road.’)

In the saddle area, the old cart road ran directly east from Pōhakuloa to Kalai‘eha (Humu’ula Sheep Station). The eastern section, from Kalai‘eha down to Hilo, remained a trail until World War II, except at the Hilo end. ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Countly Club Road intersection in Kaumana by the “FTRA” about 1936.

Because there was no road up from Hilo, to get to Kalai‘eha (near Pu‘u Huluhulu and the present Mauna Kea Access Road) and surrounding uses. From Hilo, you had to drive all the way along the Hāmākua Coast (Mamalahoa Highway) around through Waimea and back east through the Saddle. As described by Roy Blackshear, to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch (owned by his grandfather):

“The first time I went to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was about 1931. But at that time, of course there was no Saddle Road there, and to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch we left Kea‘au before sunrise in the morning, traveled north along the Hāmākua Coast, going through all the valleys and small bridges and so on and finally we reached Waimea and had lunch at Waimea.”

“And then we continued from Waimea along the Mamalahoa Highway. Out to where, I think it was just about where the present Saddle Road takes off. … And of course any car going up at that time would have to carry chains because they did run into mud.”

[They stopped first in Waiki‘i.] “And then we headed on east from there, climbing all the time. So then we continued on and we reach Humu‘ula sheep station. And they put more water in the radiator. And then we started from, there up towards the Keanakolu road …” (Blacksher; Rosendahl)

While ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Country Club Road intersection in Kaumana by about 1936, from there it was an unpaved wagon road until World War II and above that a horse trail. Above Kaumana, the eastern section (from Kalai‘eha) remained a trail until World War II.

The Saddle Road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the US Army Engineer District, Honolulu (USED, now called the US Army Corps of Engineers) during World War II in order to provide an access route in case of Japanese invasion.

Near the top of Kaumana, the army had a camp and barred everyone who didn’t work there from traveling up into the interior of the Island.

Henry Auwae ran the lead bulldozer to clear the road in 1943, coming up from Hilo on the 1881 and 1855 lava flows and choosing a route which kept to no more than a 6% grade. Cinders were then hauled down from Humu‘ula toward Kaumana by the CCC and later the USED, then oiled to make a narrow “gravel” road.

The west section of the road was paved right after the war. The east section of the road was not paved until later, about 1949. At that time the road was moved at several points to cut off some large loops. These old loops still exist, including one north of the road around milepost 9 and another around milepost 22.

Then, starting with an accepted EIS in 1999, what is now known as Daniel K Inouye Highway (renamed on what would have been his 89^th birthday) was realigned and widened. Starting in 2007, successive phases of the improved road have been opened up.

July 23, 2024 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Camp Very

“The Hawaiian Islands are to be created into a military department headquarters as soon as the new plans of the war department are carried into effect for the concentration of troops in the city of Honolulu.”

“(T)he District of Hawaiʻi is to have twelve thousand men stationed on the Island of Oʻahu and with a third of that number of troops here Hawaiʻi would have a right to the designation of a department headquarters.” (Hawaiian Gazette, May 23, 1911)

After Hawaiʻi became a territory of the United States, the first Naval Station in the islands was established in 1899 at Honolulu Harbor, as there were no facilities and no navigable channel at Pearl Harbor.

The property was transferred to the US by the Republic of Hawaiʻi under the joint resolution of annexation and, to protect the mouth of Honolulu Harbor, the US Army filled a submerged coral reef on the ‘Ewa side of Kaʻākaukukui for a gun emplacement.

The first permanent Marines arrived at Honolulu on board the Army transport Sheridan on February 9, 1904. For four years, the Marines lived in an empty coal shed at the Honolulu Naval Station. (PACNAVFACENGCOM)

In January 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) “to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions (including Hawai‘i.)”

In 1906 the Taft Board recommended a system of Coast Artillery batteries to protect Pearl Harbor and Honolulu. Between 1909-1921, the Hawaiian Coast Artillery Command had its headquarters at Fort Ruger and defenses included artillery regiments stationed at Fort Armstrong, Fort Barrette, Fort DeRussy, Diamond Head, Fort Kamehameha, Kuwa‘aohe Military Reservation (Fort Hase – later known as Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi) and Fort Weaver.

Fort Armstrong, built in 1907, was named for Brigadier General Samuel C Armstrong. His father, Reverend Richard Armstrong (1805-1860,) had arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1832 and later replaced Hiram Bingham as pastor at Kawaiahaʻo Church (1840-1843.) In 1848, Armstrong (the father) left the mission and became Hawaiʻi’s minister of public education.

From 1908 until about 1913, the Marines lived in tents at nearby Camp Very (named in honor of Captain Samuel W Very, Commandant of the Naval Station) “a site which was later known as Fort Armstrong”. (PACNAVFACENGCOM)

The complement of Marines in Hawaiʻi comprised some 2,000-men who are distributed between Honolulu and Pearl Harbor.

Training facilities at Camp Very included a small-arms practice range consisting of 6 targets with the ranges from 200 to 500-yards, and at the Army ranges. (Navy Department, 1913)

“The sea-soldiers are well taken care of, they have their own rending and billiard rooms and at the post exchange, formerly called the canteen, they can buy almost anything the heart of man could wish.” (Evening Bulletin, May 6, 1911)

The original garrison at Fort Armstrong was the 1st Coast Artillery Company, followed by the 104th Mine Co. operating the harbor mines. Also stationed there was the 185th Coast Artillery Company.

In 1914, temporary barracks were built – wooden structures that were continually occupied since January, 1914. Buildings are constructed of 1 x 12 rough boards, with tar-paper roofs.

The facility later had a barracks, 4 officers’ quarters, 3 noncommissioned officers’ quarters, administration building and post exchange, guardhouse, fire apparatus house, quartermaster storehouse, gymnasium and related infrastructure; the standard strength was 109 men.

Battery Tiernon at Fort Armstrong was armed with two pedestal mounted 3-inch Guns from 1911 to 1943.

The Army mission in Hawaiʻi was defined in 1920 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.”

Fort Armstrong continued under the Coast Artillery program until September 15, 1922. It was reserved for military purposes by a series of Executive Orders in 1930 and was described as the Fort Armstrong Military Reservation.

The present seawall was constructed 500-feet out from the original shoreline in 1948, and the area was backfilled. The Army Corps of Engineers took over the post in 1949. Kakaʻako Park was created over the landfill area.

On December 13, 1951, because the site was no longer needed by the military and was needed by the Territory of Hawaiʻi for harbor improvements, President Truman transferred the land to the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

Camp_Very-Fort_Armstrong-(Hammatt)-1911-1920

July 11, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Fire Power … to Fired Power

Camp Malakole (originally called Honouliuli Military reservation) was an anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery training facility … later, Kalaeloa’s Chevron fuel refinery took over the site (they later sold); just down the road is HECO’s oil-burning 651-Megawatt Kahe Power Plant.

Let’s look back.

On March 22, 1939, the North Shore’s Kawailoa military firing point was relocated to Honouliuli Military Reservation, on over 1,700-acres situated between Barbers Point and Nanakuli, Oʻahu; it then served as a Hawaiian Separate Coast Artillery Brigade.

Firing positions were prepared for six batteries along the shoreline and plans were prepared to add an additional three positions, allowing three battalions to conduct firing practice at the same time.

The location provided adequate space to exercise the searchlight and sound locator units to work with the guns in tracking targets that were towed off-shore by towing aircraft consisting mostly old bi-planes. (Bennett)

The installation initially consisted of a tent camp on the southern half of the tract; officers were quartered on the east side with their mess, showers, and latrines. The post kitchen and bakery tents were located across the roadway from the officer’s encampment.

Closer to the beach were the ammunition storage tents. The camp’s primary observation station was located to the rear of the firing line atop a steel-frame tower.

The 251st Coast Artillery (AA,) California National Guard, was sent to Hawaiʻi in November 1940 and stationed at Honouliuli Military Reservation. (army-mil) The facility’s peacetime strength was 1,200-men and the wartime strength was 1,800-men.

“(A)fter we’d been there for about a week or so, we had a tremendous rainstorm and the water got to be about two foot high and just washed us all out. And we had to move everything up on the higher ground because our foot lockers and our shoes, and everything else was pouring right down to the sea”. (Anthony Iantorno)

As a result of the flooding, a large sand berm was built between the firing line and the beach that ran parallel to the beach.

With the 251st arrival came the plan to build more permanent facilities. The regiment lived under canvas pending completion of their new quarters, which they were tasked to build under the supervision of engineers from Schofield Barracks.

The regiment spent every morning on the firing line, with the evenings reserved for clearing away the kiawe and building the camp improvements. (Sebby)

Upon completion in early 1941, the camp consisted of temporary theater of operations-type structures. There were 48 barracks structures (90 feet by 24 feet,) 12 mess halls, 9 magazines and storehouses, 5 officers’ quarters, 7 showers (equipped with only cold water) and latrines.

Other improvements included a dispensary, officers’ mess, headquarters building, post office, regimental day room, movie theater, laundry, motor repair shop, gasoline station, fire house, guard house, photo laboratory, quartermaster and engineers’ buildings. The majority of the buildings were built on piers with the footings buried in the coral ground.

With the improvements, on January 9, 1941, the facility’s name was changed to Camp Malakole. (Bennett) It was part of the growing presence in the Islands.

Back in 1941, the Hawaiian Department was the Army’s largest overseas department. For more than three decades the War Department had constructed elaborate coastal defenses on Oahu. The Hawaiian Department’s two main tasks were to protect the Pacific Fleet from sabotage and defeat any invasion.

The previous 18 months had seen the arrival of the Pacific Fleet, war scares, the start of selective service, numerous training exercises, the mobilization of the National Guard, and the doubling of the department’s strength to 43,000 soldiers (including Air Corps.) (army-mil)

Besides carrying out extensive training (firing exercises, field maneuvers and gas attack drills,) several members of Camp Malakole participated in sports activities and entered the Hawaiian Department track meet on May 29, 1941, winning several first places and some second and third places.

Then, like other military installations in the Islands, things changed with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Sgt Henry C Blackwell, Cpl Clyde C Brown and Sgt Warren D Rasmussen were the first American casualties of the Pearl Harbor attack; they were stationed at Camp Malakole, F Battery. (Kelley)

Licensed pilots, that morning, they had gone on pass to Rodgers Airport (now Honolulu International Airport) and rented a couple of piper cubs to practice flying over the water. The Cubs took off to the northeast, then flew parallel to Waikīkī Beach toward Diamond Head before reversing direction and heading west. (Harding)

They were about two miles offshore at an altitude of between 500 and 800 feet, headed toward Camp Malakole. (Harding) They were out over the water just as the Japanese attacked. They were shot down. (Kelley) Guards at Camp Malakole shot down a strafing Japanese plane at about 8:05 am with small arms fire.

Newly arrived coast artillery units on Oahu in 1942 were quartered at the camp during the early months of the war. Later in the war, the Hawaiian Antiaircraft Artillery Command (HAAC) took over operation of the camp, which was used completely as the principal facility for training antiaircraft units on Oʻahu during the war.

Camp Malakole served as a base camp for anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons training, and staging and temporary lodging for troops preparing for deployment to the Pacific during the height of World War II. During its years of service, 43,350 troops were billeted to Camp Malakole for staging and training purposes. (Dye)

Today, the fuel refining facility sites on the former Camp Malakole grounds. A reminder of the prior use is a steel turreted machine gun pillbox; it’s still there (in the lawn area on Malakole Street at the entrance to the refinery facility.)

July 5, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

SPAM

In 1926, Geo. A. Hormel & Co. developed the world’s first canned ham. The transfer of leadership of Hormel from father to son Jay C. Hormel brought new products, including Dinty Moore beef stew, Hormel chili and in 1937 a new canned luncheon meat.

The goal of the new luncheon meat product was to produce an affordable canned meat item that was convenient enough to enjoy every day.

A contest was held in 1937 to give the promising new product a name. New York actor, Ken Daigneau, the brother of then Hormel Food vice president, entered with the name “SPAM.” Speculation indicates the name was a way to shorten “SPiced hAM.”

Daigneau won $100 for the contest and, his name is mostly unknown, he went down in the history books as the Bestower of Appellations of one of the most iconic pork product in the world. (HormelFoods)

First introduced on July 5, 1937, SPAM is made with Pork with Ham, Salt, Water, Potato Starch, Sugar and Sodium Nitrite. First, the pork and ham are pre-ground.

Then, salt, sugar and the rest of the ingredients are added and mixed, to reach the desired temperature. From there, the mixture is moved over to the canning line, where it’s filled into the familiar metal cans, 12 ounces at a time.

Once filled, cans are conveyed to a closing machine where lids are applied through vacuum-sealing. Next, the cans are cooked and cooled for about three hours. At this point they’re ready for labels and then they are off to be cased, where they await distribution. (SPAM)

With the passage of the Lend-Lease Act of 1941 (this was a pre-US entry into WWII act that set up a system that allowed the US to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed ‘vital to the defense of the United States’) the US gave needed supplies to Great Britain, while remaining ‘officially’ neutral. (HormelFoods & National Archives)

Because of its shelf-stable status (and the fact that it wasn’t rationed like beef), Hormel Foods began shipping the stuff abroad during World War II.

By 1941, Minnesota-based Hormel Foods sent more than 100 million pounds of SPAM to allied troops; by 1944, more than 90% of the canned foods were shipped for government use. (HormelFoods)

The easy-to-pack product became a staple food for GI’s during the war. SPAM sales skyrocketed; by 1959 Hormel had produced their one-billionth can of SPAM. (TasteOfHome)

If you live in a part of the world where US troops were stationed during WWII, you’re probably pretty familiar with SPAM. The product is most popular in these areas, with the most extreme example being Hawai‘i.

Folks in the Islands completely adopted the ham-in-a-can product and consume nearly 7-million cans of SPAM products each year. You’ll find fried eggs and rice with spam for breakfast, SPAM fried wontons as a snack, and sushi-inspired SPAM musubi rolls at nearly every home and restaurant. You’ll even see SPAM on McDonald’s breakfast menu! (HormelFoods)

The product has sold more than nine billion tins since it was introduced on July 5, 1937. More SPAM is consumed per person in Hawai‘i than in any other state in the United States – almost seven million cans of SPAM are eaten every year in Hawai‘i.

SPAM is also a popular ingredient in various Asian cuisines, particularly Korean. South Koreans consume more SPAM than the residents of any other country besides the United States.

Despite having only a sixth of the population of the US, South Koreans consume half as much SPAM each year. The popular Korean dish ‘budae jjigae’ — which translates to ‘Army stew’ or ‘Army base stew’ — developed after the Korean War, when an economic downturn meant that meat was scarce and expensive.

A US Army base in the South Korean city of Uijeongbu had a surplus of various processed food, including SPAM — which ‘was totally new to Koreans’.

As of 2023, SPAM is available in 11 varieties: SPAM Classic, SPAM Lite, SPAM 25% Less Sodium, SPAM Maple Flavored, SPAM with Real HORMEL Bacon, SPAM Oven Roasted Turkey, SPAM Hickory Smoke Flavored, SPAM Hot and Spicy, SPAM Jalapeño, SPAM Teriyaki and SPAM with Tocino Flavoring. (Rousselle)

Another preparation is SPAM Musubi. We can thank Barbara Funamura (from Kauai) for that. Barbara graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in food sciences and nutrition and went on to Ames, Iowa for post-graduate study in institutional management.

“Her first job was as an extension agent at the University of Hawaii. She traveled all over, and when she came home, she was an extension agent until the kids came.”

When she started working after raising the kids, she became the first food supervisor for the Meals on Wheels program before joining Big Save as a supervisor for the Kauai Kitchens.

Barbara Funamura was the originator of the SPAM musubi – SPAM and rice are combined in a musubi (rice ball) wrapped in nori (sheets of dried seaweed.)

“The first one was triangular” her husband said – to differentiate it from the musuburrito, a similar rice-and-chorizo musubi.

Eventually the SPAM musubi was made using a box, morphing it into its now familiar shape. “Barbara saw it and recognized that it was the way to go,” her husband said.

“The sushi would come out all uniform, and it just happens that it fits two slices of SPAM side by side.” (The Garden Island and Kauai Hongwanji.

June 26, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ship to Shore

The USS Lexington (CV-2) and sister-ship USS Saratoga (CV-3) were originally designed as battle cruisers. During construction, the cruiser hull was fitted with a flight deck. Instead of the typical 16-inch cruiser guns, they each received four twin turret 8-inch guns and other armament.

The Lexington, the first of the Lexington class carriers, launched December 14, 1925, was the US Navy’s first fleet aircraft carrier. Lexington later served as flagship out of Pearl Harbor on January 11, 1942. (Alex)

The Lexington-class carriers had one major design flaw – the inclusion of their four twin 8-inch/55 caliber gun mounts, which could only be fired in starboard broadsides.

On January 17, 1942, Rear Adm. William S. Pye, acting commander in chief Pacific Fleet, asked if the Hawaiian Department, US Army, was interested in 8-inch naval mounts and guns that might be removed from navy vessels. The Hawaiian Department immediately replied in the affirmative. (Bennett)

Lexington and Saratoga underwent armament refitting. Their original 8-inch guns were replaced with the correct weapon against the carrier’s true foe: enemy carrier aircraft.

In early-1942, these 8-inch guns and turret mountings were removed from Lexington and Saratoga and reused as coastal artillery on the island of Oʻahu.

When selecting locations for the naval turret (NT) batteries, commanders desired to extend fields of fire, chiefly for those areas in which current coverage was light, while placing the turrets far enough inland to function as second lines of defense and to reduce the difficulty of protecting them against small raiding parties.

Four battery sites were picked; on the North Shore were Battery Brodie (later renamed Battery George W Ricker) (775-foot elevation in Waialua;) Battery Opaeula (later renamed Battery Carroll G Riggs) (1,120-foot elevation above the Waialua Agriculture Company’s sugarcane fields near Haleiwa.)

On the South Shore were Battery Salt Lake (later renamed Battery Louis R Burgess) on Damon Estate land at Āliapaʻakai (Salt Lake) (170-190 foot elevation) and Battery Wilridge (later renamed Battery Lewis S Kirkpatrick) on Wiliwilinui Ridge (1,200-foot elevation mauka of Waiʻalae.)

Each 8-inch naval turret (NT) mount included a pair of guns mounted in one slide, both guns elevating and traversing as one unit. The 8-inch gun-mount housings were lightly armored, only providing shelter from the weather and possibly flying splinters.

All 8-inch NT mounts were designed for 360° fire without interfering with each other. The batteries had a high rate of fire (12-16 rounds per battery per minute.) Each gun could send a projectile over 18-miles.

The turrets and battery commanders’ stations were the major above-ground features. All the batteries were constructed of reinforced concrete by cut and cover, with projectile and powder magazines, gas-proof plotting rooms, and bombproof generator rooms 15 to 40-feet below the surface.

Target data was plotted in 24 by 30-foot bombproof and gas-proof plotting rooms. The rooms were equipped with a vertical escape shaft at one end. Metal staple ladders attached to the wall led to small housings on the roofs with steel-plate doors.

Each magazine contained a room for powder and a room for projectiles (holding 250 of each.) An additional 600 projectiles were to be stored in racks in the open. Powder and projectiles were elevated to the turret mounts by the elevating mechanisms.

All four battery sites were extensively camouflaged, including dummy gun positions to make up for the lack of antiaircraft defenses.

Target practices were usually carried out once a week, firing one round from each gun at a hypothetical target off shore. Homes near the batteries occasionally suffered broken window glass during firing practices.

The North Shore batteries, Brodie and Opaeula, covered the waters to the north, east and west, and as far south as the Pearl Harbor entrance. The South Shore batteries, Salt Lake and Wiliwilinui Ridge, covered the waters to the south, southeast and southwest, including the approaches to Honolulu and Pearl Harbors, and could also fire north.

This marked the first time NT mounts had been emplaced on shore as seacoast artillery for the US; it created an engineering and design challenge for the shore-based folks. Upon completion, however, the batteries proved very successful, being rated four of the best seacoast batteries. (Lots of information here from Bennett.)

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