Military | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 23, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Red Hill Underground

Originally Top Secret, Red Hill’s hidden facility became generally known in the early-1990s, when the facility was declassified.

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor all of the Navy’s fuel was stored in unprotected above ground tanks at Pearl Harbor, next to the submarine base.

When RADM Chester Nimitz was Commander of the Bureau of Yards & Docks (in 1940) he wanted the Navy’s 2 ½-year supply of fuel oil protected from aerial attack – existing aboveground unprotected tanks next to the Submarine Base presented a vulnerable enemy target.

Standard practice was to dig a trench and bury the tanks, but this was impractical to store 255-million gallons of fuel oil; here, the Navy’s initial plan was to dig a series of tunnels and insert the tanks

Instead, consulting engineer James P Growden came up with excavating large vertical tank chambers instead of horizontal tunnels. (Nothing like this had ever been attempted before.)

This would increase the volume of material that could be excavated simultaneously and decrease the number of heavy equipment needed for hauling muck. It also decreased the unit cost for rock removal substantially.

Starting the day after Christmas 1940, 20 underground fuel storage tanks were built more that 100-feet below the surface. (The facility was designed as an impenetrable, bombproof reserve of fuel for the military.)

To determine the depth necessary to protect the fuel from Japanese aerial attack, the engineers gathered data from the Army, multiplied it four-fold and rounded the figure off to 100 feet of rock cover.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 had little effect on the work site – work on the storage facility proceeded virtually without interruption.

Each vertical tank is 100 feet in diameter and 250 feet high, roughly the size of a 20-story building, and lined with quarter-inch steel plates (it has an overall design capacity of 6-million barrels of fuel oil (9.97-billion gallons.))

Dug from the inside, the storage facility is connected with pipes (32-inch-diameter diesel pipe, and 18- and 16-inch jet fuel pipes) and tunnels down to a Pearl Harbor pumping station, more than two-and-a-half miles away.

The tanks were set up in two parallel rows with two main access tunnels, one above the other, bisecting the rows; smaller tunnels branched from these main axis tunnels to the tank cavities.

The upper dome of each fuel chamber was excavated first, starting with a ring tunnel, then working upward, towards the central shaft. They started digging in the upper portion of each tank chamber.

Upon completing the ring tunnel, the miners dug upwards in a hemisphere from all points around the ring, narrowing as they reached the central shaft. As soon as the upper hemisphere was concreted, workers were lowered down the central shaft to begin excavation of the tank chamber.

The miners continued to dig downwards in a cone until they reached the lower hemisphere of the tank chamber; tThe lining for the lower hemisphere was placed similarly to the top.

Then, they steel-lined the walls of the tank chamber. Reinforced concrete was placed against the rock and smooth continuously welded steel plates formed the inner liner. (Rogers)

Think of the scenario: with limited above ground disturbance, hollowing out twenty 20-story building-sized cavities 100-feet underground, lining each with ¼-inch steel (with concrete-backing,) testing and repairing leaks, and tunneling them together and to Pearl Harbor, 2 ½-miles away – in secrecy.

In 1995, the American Society of Civil Engineers placed the facility alongside Hoover Dam, the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal and Statue of Liberty as a historic landmark.

In 2014, evidence of fuel leakage was noted. The Navy and City & County, State and Federal agencies have come together to evaluate the impact to the environment and community, and to look at solutions in dealing with the leak and strategies to mitigate the impacts.

While at DLNR, I had the opportunity to visit the Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility above Pearl Harbor; it’s a secured facility with no public tours or access.

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RedHillStorageTanks-photo_construction_inside-tank

RedHillStorageTanks

RedHillStorageTanks-construction

RedHillStorageTanks-drawing_construction_inside-tank

RedHillStorageTanks-drawing_inside-tank

200 feet down to the bottom of an empty fuel tank-(honoluluadvertiser)

Red Hill Underground Storage Tanks

An intersection, about 450 feet beneath Red Hill-(honoluluadvertiser)

Red Hill Underground Storage Tanks

Honu_in_Tunnel_(honoluluadvertiser)

Red Hill Underground Storage Tanks

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Honu_in_Tunnel-(honoluluadvertiser)

Layout-map-(honoluluadvertiser)

BWS Slide noting Red Hill Storage Tanks

BWS Slide noting Red Hill Storage_Tanks

January 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Martial Law

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 lasted 110-minutes, from 7:55 am until 9:45 am. By 10:30 am, in co-operation with the Navy, the Army began to apply a tight censorship to prevent the transmission from Hawaiʻi of any unauthorized information about the attack or about the condition of Oʻahu’s defense forces after it was over.

Shortly after, Joseph Boyd Poindexter, Governor of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, by proclamation, invoked the powers granted him under the M-Day Act.

Titled ‘Hawaiian Defense Act 1941,’ the M-Day Act (M standing for mobilization) was first introduced in the legislature in April, 1941. It contemplated that in a maximum emergency, the Governor was authorized to declare a state of emergency in attempt to avoid the necessity of martial law. (Green)

At 11:30 am, December 7, 1941, Governor Poindexter exercised his powers and “declare(d) and proclaim(ed) a defense period to exist throughout the Territory of Hawaiʻi.”

However, at 3:30 pm of the same day, Poindexter issued a second proclamation where he placed the Territory of Hawaiʻi under martial law and authorized the “Commanding General, Hawaiian Department, during the present emergency and until the danger of invasion is removed, to exercise all the powers normally exercised by me as Governor”. He followed-up with a telegram to the President of the US.

“I have today declared martial law throughout the Territory of Hawaii and have suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Your attention is called to section 67 of the Hawaiian Organic Act for your decision of my action.” (Governor Poindexter to President Roosevelt, December 7, 1941)

(Writ of habeas corpus (‘that you have the body’) is a process in the US system used to bring a party who has been criminally convicted in state court into federal court. Usually, writs of habeas corpus are used to review the legality of the party’s arrest, imprisonment or detention.) (Cornell Law School)

The President responded, “Your telegram of December 7th received and your action in suspending the writ of Habeas Corpus and placing the Territory of Hawaii under martial law in accordance with USC Title 48, Section 532 has my approval.” (President Roosevelt to Governor Poindexter, December 9, 1941)

The Army’s Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department (Lt General Short) became the Military Governor of Hawai’i, assuming comprehensive executive, legislative and judicial powers.

The martial law regime affected every resident of the Territory of Hawaiʻi, citizen and foreign alike. Never before or after in American history were US citizens kept under martial law in such numbers or for so long a time.

On the first day, December 7th, an advisory board was appointed consisting of informed local citizens. At 6:04 pm, the police radio broadcast: “From now on nobody allowed out of their homes.”

All saloons were closed, and a Provost Court and Military Commission were appointed for the enforcement of the orders of the Military Governor. (Green)

In his first proclamation as Military Governor on December 7, 1941, Lt General Short stated that: “I shall therefore shortly publish ordinances governing the conduct of the people of the Territory with respect to the showing of lights, circulation, meetings, censorship, possession of arms, ammunition, and explosives, the sale of intoxicating liquors and other subjects.”

“In order to assist in repelling the threatened invasion of our island home, good citizens will cheerfully obey this proclamation and the ordinances to be published; others will be required to do so. Offenders will be severely punished by military tribunals or will be held in custody until such time that the civil courts are able to function.”

Martial law suspended constitutional rights, turned the civilian courts over to the military, imposed blackout and curfew, rationing of food and gasoline, censorship of mail and news media, temporary prohibition, realigned business hours, froze wages, and regulated currency.

All civilians over six years of age were required to be fingerprinted. Except for taxes, General Orders, issued by the Military Governor, regulated every facet of civilian life, from traffic control to garbage collection. Violations were punished summarily by provost courts or military tribunals; there was no right of appeal. (Hawaiʻi Army Museum)

Under martial law, military officers assumed all legislative, executive and judicial powers.

The two houses of the Hawaiʻi legislature, as well as judges of all courts, Territorial and federal, were not on the organizational chart as part of the martial law government. Under the martial law regime, there was no room for legislation, other than decrees by the military.

While members of the legislature and many emergency committees met daily in the halls of the legislature in ʻIolani Palace, the military governor did not recognize the legislature as a source of legislative power. Likewise, since law enforcement was concentrated in the military commissions and provost courts, the local courts held no position. (Anthony)

The courts of the Territory were closed as of December 8, 1941 by order of the military. On January 27, 1942, the Military Governor stated that the courts were restored to their full jurisdiction “as agents of the Military Governor.”

On the criminal side, however, the courts could not under the order summons a grand jury; on the criminal or civil side they could not grant a jury trial, or at any time grant a writ of habeas corpus. (US District Court, 1944)

Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. These sites that include Honouliuli Gulch, Sand Island, and the U.S. Immigration Station on Oahu, the Kilauea Military Camp on the Big Island, Haiku Camp and Wailuku County Jail on Maui, and the Kalaheo Stockade and Waialua County Jail on Kauaʻi.

In all, between 1,200 and 1,400 local Japanese were interned, along with about 1,000 family members. The number of Japanese in Hawai‘i who were detained was small relative to the total Japanese population here, less than 1%.

Beginning in July 1942 the powers of government were gradually restored to civilian authority, but some degree of martial law continued.

On February 8, 1943, power was restored to the Governor, the courts and the legislature. The commanding general proclaimed, “Full jurisdiction and authority are hereby relinquished by the Commanding General to the Governor and other officers of the Territory of Hawaiʻi”. (Anthony)

This did not extinguish all of the military control; the title and office of the Military Governor’ were retained. In July, 1944, the office was renamed Office of Internal Security. On October 24, 1944, President Roosevelt terminated martial law and restored the writ of habeas corpus. (Anthony)

Military Generals having control of the Islands and their terms included: Walter C Short (December 7, 1941 – December 17, 1941,) Delos C Emmons (December 17, 1941 – June 1, 1943) and Robert C Richardson, Jr (June 1, 1943 – October 24, 1944.)

This was not the first proclamation of martial law in the Islands. On January 17, 1893, martial law was declared by the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands.

Then, on January 7, 1895, Republic of Hawaiʻi President Sanford B Dole declared martial law following Kaua Kūloko (Civil War 1895) when forces attempted to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne following the overthrow of constitutional monarchy. Martial law, then, lasted until March 18, 1895.

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US Army M3 Stuart light tanks in maneuvers, Beretania Street in the Honolulu business district, Hawaii, 30 August 1942

Waikiki Beach behind barbed wire fence, during martial law

Waikiki barbed wire

U.S. soldiers surround Iolani Palace with barbed wire during the rule of martial law in 1942

aloha tower camouflaged

Iolani Palace barbed wire (bishopmuseum)

Air Raid Shelter_(Star-bulletin)

Air Raid Shelter-(Star-bulletin)

Honouliuli-

Internment-camp

Lt Gen Delos C Emmons, Commanding General, Hawaiian Dept – Brig Gen Thomas H Green, Military Governor-Mar. 30, 1943

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Stainback, Ingram M., Governor of Hawaii, 1883-1961 – restoration of civil authority-March 10, 1943-PP-36-12-004

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General_Walter_C_Short

General_Robert_C_Richardson_Jr

December 8, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Fifth Column

There were several types of columns used by the military infantry: marching columns for transiting long distances and columns used on the battlefield. They were not intended as assault formations, except under special circumstances.

Reference to a ‘Fifth Column’ dates to the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and refers to a group or faction of subversive agents (or spys.)

Nationalist General Emilio Mola Vidal coined the term when he told a local journalist that four columns of his soldiers were fighting their way to Madrid, and that a secret ‘Fifth Column’ was intent on undermining the loyalist government from within the capital. The papers reported:

“Out of hiding came a few of the phantom ‘fifth column’ – the fascist auxiliary force dreaded by the loyalists. Scheduled to appear within the city itself and take the defenders from the rear, these rebel sympathizers sniped from rooftops at the government militia.” (North Adams Transcript, November 14, 1936)

The term ‘Fifth Column’ survived that war and has ever since been used to designate secret armies or groups of armed subversives.

Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, that brought the United States into World War II, outraged Americans and sparked a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment across the country.

Many blamed all Japanese for the Pearl Harbor attack, directing their anger and frustration even at Japanese resident aliens and Japanese-Americans who had done nothing that would bring into question their loyalty to the United States. (Weider)

Fear of the ‘Fifth Column” hit home.

The term’s first use in WWII was by Navy Secretary Frank Knox to describe the Japanese in Hawaiʻi, even though his own report proved his charge an unsupported averment. (Tanner)

“I think the most effective Fifth Column work of the entire war was done in Hawaiʻi with the exception of Norway.” (Frank Knox, Secretary of Navy)

“It was common wisdom that the Nazi invasions of Norway and western Europe had been aided by agents and sympathizers within the country under attack – the so-called fifth column – and that the same approach should be anticipated from Japan.” (Executive Order 9066, archives-gov)

Wartime hysteria inherently relied on the narrative of widespread Japanese saboteurs, or the fifth-column myth. This myth developed as “fears (were) spawned by … headlines (blaring,) ‘Secretary of Navy Blames Fifth Column for Raid’ and ‘Fifth Column Treachery Told.’” (Tanner)

In February 1942, Mississippi Congressman Rankin told the US House of Representatives:
“I know the Hawaiian Islands. I know the Pacific coast where these Japanese reside. Even though they may be the third or fourth generation of Japanese, we cannot trust them.”

“I know that those areas are teeming with Japanese spies and fifth columnists. … Do not forget that once a Japanese always a Japanese …. (They had) been there for generations were making signs, if you please …”

“… guiding the Japanese planes to the objects of their iniquity in order that they might destroy our naval vessels, murder our soldiers and sailors, and blow to pieces the helpless women and children of Hawaii. (Congressional Record; Everest-Phillips)

“(S)enior Government officials ’ignored’ reports by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and members of naval intelligence who concluded that nothing beyond careful watching of suspicious people or individual reviews of loyalty was called for.” (NY Times)

A report commissioned by Congress contended that the vast majority of Japanese Americans were loyal but it did nothing to stop the mounting public hysteria and government and military reactionism.

“(Second generation Nisei are) universally estimated from 90 to 98 percent loyal to the United States … The Nisei are pathetically eager to show this loyalty. They are not Japanese in culture. They are foreigners to Japan. … The loyal Nisei hardly knows where to turn.” (Munson Report; UW)

On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which authorized the military to exclude any person from designated military areas.

“I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders … to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded”.

“(A)nd with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military … may impose in his discretion.”

“The Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for residents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War or the said Military Commander, and until other arrangements are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order.” (Executive Order 9066)

Beginning in 1942, more than 120,000-Japanese-Americans, most of them living on the West Coast, were ordered to leave their homes and were transported to relocation centers (camps) for the duration of the war. The internees were stripped of both their possessions and their civil liberties. (Papers of the Wartime Relocation Commission)

After the war, Japanese Americans returned home.

“(N)ot a single documented act of espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity was committed by an American citizen of Japanese ancestry or by a resident Japanese alien on the West Coast.” (Wartime Relocation Commission; NY Times)

In the decades following World War II, the internment of Japanese-Americans has generally been acknowledged as a national embarrassment, a shameful episode that stands as a blot on America’s record. (Weider)

In 1952 the McCarran-Walter Immigration and Naturalization Act finally allowed Issei (first generation) naturalization. In 1976, on the thirty-fourth anniversary of Executive Order 9066, President Gerald Ford declared the evacuation a “national mistake.”

And in 1988 HR 442 was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan providing for reparations for surviving internees. Beginning in 1990 $20,000 in redress payments were sent to all eligible Japanese Americans. (UW)

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