Pearl Harbor | Page 8 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

January 26, 2020 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Moanalua Community Church

Built in 1958, it’s still pretty young in terms of “historic property” (50+ years old.) But in 2004, in my role as State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO,) I weighed in on the importance of keeping the structure intact.

You see, back then, the Navy was looking to redevelop the Moanalua Shopping Center – in it is Moanalua Community Church (originally built as Pearl Harbor Memorial Community Church.)

The church had its start as a chapel for sailors in World War II and now serves the surrounding community, including military personnel.

Its feature is a stained-glass window that covers one whole wall of the A-frame building; it’s described as the “largest connected stained-glass window in Hawaiʻi” and one of the largest stained glass panels in the United States.

Once you see it, you immediately recognize and appreciate its importance.

You get no sense of the uniqueness of the window from the outside; but once inside … Wow!

The unique stained glass window was designed in 1957 by John Wallis, formerly of the Wallis-Wiley Studio located in Pasadena, California. John Wallis was a prolific and notable stained glass artist who worked in the medium for over 70 years.

Designer John Wallis of California wove the ideas of the 1950s congregation into his creation. People from a variety of cultures surround a large figure of Christ over the quotation “For You Are All One in Christ Jesus.”

The artist describes it as, “The central feature of this window is a majestic figure of Christ drawing unto Himself people of all nations. They are shown coming to Him from all parts of the world as indicated by the varying landscapes, the streams and oceans of water and the different forms of architecture.”

“At His feet is shown the Anchor, traditional Christian symbol, representing the thought that Christ is the ‘anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.’” (Wallis)

A map of Pearl Harbor, aircraft and ships depicting battles from the Revolutionary War to World War II and military insignia are there, along with Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Confucian symbols.

An article in the Honolulu Advertiser dated October 26, 1959 called the window: “… a tribute to all of the men and women of our military services – both dead and living who have defended American freedom in times of national emergency”.

Stained glass in the window consisted of 140 separate sections, each filled with 12 to 20 individual pieces of hand painted imported and domestic glass. The entire A-frame front consists of the stained glass wall panel including the double entrance doors. The only other stained glass window in Hawaiʻi designed by Wallis is located in Saint Andrews Episcopal Cathedral.

The first service in the church was held on July 20, 1958; although the stained glass window was not it place at that time.

After the stained glass window was in place; a dedication ceremony for the church took place on Sunday August 24, 1958. On September 3, 1958, at a celebratory dinner, an elongated hexagonal-shaped “time capsule” was sealed in the pavement at the front entrance to the church and marked with the date 1958.

From 1941 through 1945, prior to the establishment of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Community Church, the congregation met at a WWII Navy chapel located in the Pearl Harbor Housing Area 1, later known as Hale Moku.

The congregation was officially organized on April 28, 1946 when the twenty-five member church council drew up a commemorative scroll and a Navy chaplain was installed as pastor.

The scroll, which currently hangs in the church, is entitled Navy Housing Congregation and lists the original twenty-five council members and over eighty signatures of the original members of the congregation. Approximately 250 attended the dedication service in a large Quonset hut, in addition to 200 children attending the Sunday school.

In 1948, the name of the church was changed from Navy Housing Congregation to the Pearl Harbor Community Church. The original congregation consisted of military families from the nearby Pearl Harbor Naval Base and the Marine, Army, and Air Force installations as well as civilians who were employed at these installations.

The church was the only Protestant church in the Pearl Harbor area serving the five major Protestant denominations. In the 1950s, approximately 15,000 people resided in the area including over 4,000 military families.

In the 1950s, Congress did not appropriate Navy funds for churches to employ chaplains or build houses of worship. As an alternative, the Navy offered 25-year lease terms for a plot of land in the amount of $1 to several religious groups.

In 1954, Rear Admiral CE Olsen referred to the church as the “Pearl Harbor Memorial Church.” The first formal suggestion to call the church the Pearl Harbor Memorial Community Church, in honor of those who died during the attack on Pearl Harbor, was made by WM Adams, Chairman of the church Building Committee.

On January 2, 1957, a lease was signed between the United States of America and the Hawaiian Evangelical Association of Congregational-Christian Churches for a 3-acre lot in the “Johnson Circle, Interim and Public Housing, Moanalua Area, on behalf of the Pearl Harbor Community,” and adjacent to the newly constructed Moanalua Shopping Center.

On October 27, 1957, an official groundbreaking ceremony was held at the church to celebrate the beginning of the construction.

Prior to 1971 only one congregation, the United Church of Christ, occupied and used the church.

Then, Lutheran Church of Pearl Harbor, Seventh Day Adventist, New Cup of Freedom Church (known today as the Samoan United Church of Christ,) New Life United Pentecostal Church, Young Rak Korean Presbyterian Church, and Kanana Fou-United Church of Christ (Samoan Congregation) began to share the facilities.

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December 8, 2019 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

After December 7, 1941 – Submarines Continue Attack on Hawaiʻi

Most are very aware of the December 7, 1941 attacks by the Japanese on military installations on Oʻahu.

Their targets were Pearl Harbor; Hickam, Wheeler and Bellows airfields; Ewa Marine Corps Air Station; Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station and Schofield Barracks.

However, the attacks by the Japanese on Hawaiʻi did not end on December 7th.

A group of about nine Japanese submarines were kept in the vicinity of Hawaiʻi until mid-January – they were stationed there to find out just how much damage had been done to the American military.

In addition, they tried to do what damage they could, as well as stir up concern in the civilian population about the war.

Before December was over, the Japanese submarines brought war home to the neighbor islands. Not by air attacks, but with periodic shelling from their submarines.

Over the next few weeks, on several occasions, they shelled more targets in Hawaiʻi – and, those attacks were not isolated to military targets; later in the month, civilian facilities were the intended targets.

Just before dusk on December 15th, a submarine lobbed about ten shells into the harbor area of Kahului on Maui, and three that hit a pineapple cannery caused limited damage.

Over a 2½-hour period during the night of December 30 – 31, submarines engaged in similar and nearly simultaneous shellings of Nawiliwili on Kauaʻi, again on Kahului, Maui and Hilo on the Big Island.

Damage at all three points was slight, and no one was hurt. The principal result of these shellings was to stir up the war consciousness of all the Hawaiian Islands.

A report of the Kauaʻi shelling states, “At around 1:30 a.m. on the moonlit night of December 30, 1941, an enemy Japanese submarine estimated to be about 4 miles offshore shelled Nawiliwili Harbor with least 15 three-inch shells in what was the only attack on Kauai during WWII.” (kalapakibeach-org)

“The shrapnel from one shell riddled every room in the home of CL Shannon, which was located over the Kauaʻi Marine & Machine Works, Shannon’s business, then situated along the stretch of harbor between what are today the Matson and Young Brothers terminals.”

On the bluff above the harbor, where the bulk sugar storage warehouse stands today, a shell started a small cane fire. Most of the shells were duds. One punctured a gasoline storage tank, others created water plumes in the bay.

Merchant Marine William S. Chambers, on a cargo ship docked in Kahului, noted. “We were shelled by a Japanese submarine in Kahului Harbor on December 30th, 1941, shortly before we left for San Francisco.” No damage was reported at Kahului.

Ten rounds were fired at ships docked at Kahului piers. Two shells fell harmlessly into the harbor. Four rounds hit the Maui Pineapple Company cannery, doing some damage to the roof and smokestack. One fell on the driveway of the Maui Vocational School, another in a waste lumber pile on Pier I, and one broke a few windows at the Pacific Guano and Fertilizer building. Army guns unsuccessfully returned fire.

The second attack on Kahului, on December 31, took place after General Order No. 14 established wartime censorship in Hawai’i and therefore received limited coverage.

The News did, however, mention in its first edition of 1942 that Maui police, navy and marine forces, as well as “HC & S Co. cowboys,” were patrolling on horseback to prevent looting. The death toll from the attacks: one unfortunate chicken.

None of the damage was considered major. Some frightened Kahului residents started to flee, but police and Boy Scouts persuaded them to return home.

In Hilo, residents were roused when a submarine surfaced about three miles offshore and open fired on Hilo Bay. Ten rounds, with high explosive shells hit a seaplane tender, the pier and started a small fire in the vicinity of Hilo Airport.

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December 7, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

NAS Kāneʻohe Bay

Dec. 7, 1941 will always be remembered as a “Day of Infamy,” after the devastation of Pearl Harbor. However, some may not be aware of the events that occurred that fateful morning on the other side of the Koʻolau Mountains.

Ten months after being commissioned, US Naval Air Station – Kāneʻohe Bay was one of the first locations on Oʻahu to be attacked by Japanese forces.

Minutes prior to its attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese Navy bombed NAS Kāneʻohe Bay.

The attack on Kāneʻohe was designed to disable the military’s long-range reconnaissance capabilities by knocking out the PBY Catalina seaplanes stationed there.

Navy Lieutenant Fusata Iida was the flight leader of carrier Soryu’s squadron of 12 Japanese dive-bombers who came off the seaward side of the peninsula during a 10-minute strike on the base.

Of the 36 PBY Catalina “flying boat” seaplanes, including those moored in Kāneʻohe Bay, 27 were destroyed and six others were damaged.

Only the three Catalinas that were out on patrol escaped attack. However, departing Japanese Zero aircraft attacked those three; one returned with 81 bullet holes in it.

The first Japanese aircraft destroyed in action during the December 7 attack were shot down at Kāneʻohe.

During the attack, Lt. Iida’s plane had been hit and was leaking fuel, when he apparently used it to make a suicide attack. (Before taking off, he had told his men that if his plane was badly damaged he would crash it into a “worthy enemy target.”)

He signaled that the rest of the planes should return to the ship and pointed to the ground, indicating that he would attempt to crash his plane into a suitable target.

Missing valuable targets, Iida’s plane crashed into the side of a hill on the base.

Navy Lt. John W. Finn, aviation chief ordnanceman, is credited for shooting down the Japanese Zero. During the attack, Finn left his quarters to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted in a parking ramp. While doing so, he sustained multiple wounds. His actions earned him the Medal of Honor.

A second wave of bomber planes came approximately 20 minutes later and dropped more bombs. One of the hangars (now Hangar 102) received a direct hit during this attack and exploded.

The second attack is credited for most of the casualties (due to bomb fragments.) The Kāneʻohe raid killed 18 U.S. sailors and one civilian; 65 were injured.

Iida was buried at the Heleloa burial area, near the mass burial site of the 18 Sailors. (The remains of each were later disinterred and returned to their respective homes in the US and Japan.)

A stone and cement marker with bronze plaque, located along Reed Road, marks the approximate crash site. The Iida marker may be the only marker on a US military installation dedicated to an enemy soldier.

Representatives of several Japanese organizations regularly gather to remember Iida with a solemn ceremony and to honor the 19 who died there.

Of the artifacts surviving from pilot’s crash site, a helmet believed to be Iida’s was returned to his relatives at a ceremony at MCB Hawaiʻi in 1999.

There were a total of nine Zero pilots and aircraft lost during the attacks on December 7, 1941.

Three pilots were lost during the first wave attack, Takashi Hirano, from the carrier Akagi along with Kaga-based pilots Seinoshin Sano and Toru Haneda, did not return.

Six Zero fighter pilots were lost in the second wave attack, including Lt. Fusata Iida, Shun-Ichi Atsumi and Saburo Ishii, all members of the same element from the carrier Soryu.

In addition, Shigenori Nishikaichi, from the carrier Hiryu, crash-landed and was killed on the island of Niʻihau. Ippei Goto, along with his companion from the carrier Kaga, Tomio Inenaga, went missing in action. Information and photos summarized here are primarily from Marine and other military sources.

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John Finn defending Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay on Dec. 7, 1941, entitled 'The Warriors of Kaneohe'

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Cars that were strafed by Japanese aircraft pictured at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kaneohe, Hawaii

Lt Iida enroute from the factory to deliver his A6M2 model 11 to China in early 1941 flying past Mount Fuji

Sailors at Naval Air Station (NAS) Kaneohe, Hawaii, attempt to salvage a burning PBY Catalina

The Japanese officer, Lt. Iida, shot down in the attack, is buried with military honors near Kanehohe bay

Burial Ceremony for 18 Sailors Killed in Attack

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May 2, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Commanding Officer’s Quarters

Over the years, the face of Pearl Harbor has changed dramatically. When the first Westerner, British seafarer Captain James Cook, came to the islands in 1778, a coral reef barred the entrance of the place known as Wai Momi, making it unsuitable as a port for deep-draft shipping. At that time, nearby Honolulu Harbor was an infinitely more hospitable destination.

It wasn’t until 1826 that the US Navy had its first contact with the Hawaiian Islands, when the schooner USS Dolphin sailed into port. After that, it took more than 13 years for the Navy to begin to recognize the potential of Pearl Harbor.

During a routine survey of the area in 1840, an enterprising naval officer determined that the deep inner harbor could be accessed by completely removing the obstructing reef.

In 1885, Dr. Seth Porter Ford (namesake for the present reference to the island) took ownership and possession of the island. He sold it in 1891.

Ford Island is roughly translated as “Poka Ailana” in Hawaiian and some native Hawaiians did refer to the island by that name.

Despite gaining exclusive rights to Pearl Harbor in 1887, the US did not make any attempt to take advantage of their claim on this strategic estuary until well after the turn of the century.

In 1899, the O‘ahu Sugar Company leased Ford Island and planted about 300-acres of sugarcane on the island. Docks were built on the island and on Waipi‘o Peninsula to facilitate transfer of cane harvests by barge on the way to the mill at Waipahu.

It wasn’t until the capture of Manila during the Spanish-American War, when the US needed to establish a permanent way station in the Pacific to maintain control of the Philippines.

Then, for the first time, the American government began to understand the strategic importance of O‘ahu. Annexation soon followed, but even then, little was done to fortify the area or capitalize on the vast potential of Pearl Harbor.

The US government began acquisition of Ford Island in 1902, and completed this in 1916. The island was used as a joint aviation facility by the Army and Navy until the late-1930s

In preparation for World War I, the Navy selected Ford Island as a site for land-based guns to defend the harbor.

In 1916, the War Department acquired two small parcels of land on Ford Island to be used as casements for two batteries of six-inch rifled guns.

The sites were completed in mid-1917 and were the first presence of military on Ford Island. The batteries were used by the U.S. Army until 1925 by which time they were deactivated and the guns removed.

One of the sites, on the northeast corner of the island, was named Battery Adair (for First Lt. Henry Adair, 10th US Cavalry, who died in Mexico in 1916.)

In the 1920s, the US Navy was building up its Naval Air Station on Ford Island. As part of this growth, in 1922, the Navy began the construction of officers’ homes on the North End of the Island, later known as “Nob Hill.” The officer’s housing is also referred to as Luke Field Housing.

In 1923, six one-story houses are built on Belleau Woods Loop for married Chief Petty Officers (CPOs). These houses were physically separate from the Nob Hill homes, but were also north east of the aviation facilities.

In 1932, three additional CPO houses were added to the original six. However, sometime in the 1930s, one of the homes was demolished.

The 19 houses in Ford Island’s Nob Hill neighborhood—simple, single-story wood bungalows used by US Navy officers and their families—were built between 1923 and 1936.

Quarters K (Hale Loa – Long House,) the Commanding Officer’s quarters, was built on Battery Adair in 1936. The Battery serves as the basement of the home.

In 1937, CDR Robert Hickey became the first resident of Quarters K and he returned in 1958 to live in the same house as Rear Admiral. He planted the tree on the front left hand corner of the house during his first tenure.

During the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, families from the Chief Petty Officers Quarters and Nob Hill gathered in the basement in Quarters K for shelter.

The swimming pool nearby was in the opening scene of the 1965 epic “In Harm’s Way.” Close by, too, is the 1920s bungalow that was John Wayne’s quarters in the movie.

The Nob Hill neighborhood is being restored by Hawaii Military Communities, LLC, as part of the Hawai‘i Public-Private venture to develop, restore and manage Navy housing in Hawai‘i. In June 2009, the first of the homes had been restored.

Partners include Hawaii Military Communities LLC, the US Navy, DLNR’s State Historic Preservation Division, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the City and County of Honolulu and Historic Hawai‘i Foundation.

I had the opportunity to visit Quarters K on a couple of occasions. Once at a reception hosted by the Admiral of the Submarine Base and another on a tour of Pearl Harbor hosted by the commander at Pearl Harbor.

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The restored Quarters K on Ford Island-HistoricHawaiiFoundation-June 2009

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North_End_Quarters-Married Officers’ Quarters with BOQ in background,HistoricHawaiiFoundation 1923

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Aerial view of the U.S. Naval Air Station Ford Island, Oahu, Hawaii (USA), in 1962, shortly before its closure.

March 29, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Moku‘ume‘ume

Moku‘ume‘ume (meaning “island of strife”) is a small island located in Pearl Harbor on the Island of O’ahu. It is entirely surrounded by water deep enough to accommodate deep draft ocean-going vessels.

The island measures about 1.4 miles long and 0.70 miles wide in a roughly elliptical shape. It has a land area of approximately 500 acres.

Don Francisco de Paula Marin, took possession of the island around 1810. He raised sheep, hogs, goats and rabbits on the island to supply his profitable ship provisioning business.

In 1885, Dr. Seth Porter Ford (namesake for the present reference to the island) took ownership and possession of the island. He sold it in 1891.

Ford Island is roughly translated as “Poka Ailana” in Hawaiian and some native Hawaiians did refer to the island by that name.

With the coming of World War I, the US War Department was concerned about the defenses of the large and growing U.S. Navy establishment at Pearl Harbor. Ford Island was selected as a site for land-based guns to defend the harbor.

In 1916, the War Department acquired two small parcels of land on Ford Island to be used as casements for two batteries of six-inch rifled guns. One of the sites, on the northeast corner of the island, was named Battery Adair (or First Lt. Henry Adair, 10th US Cavalry, who died in Mexico in 1916.)

In 1917, the War Department negotiated the purchase of the island. The O’ahu Sugar Company surrendered its leasehold and the War Department finalized the sale in late-1917 and established the first independent Army air station in Hawai‘i.

In 1919, the new station was officially designated “Luke Field.” The station was named for World War I ace Frank Luke, a U.S. Army fighter pilot who was killed in action over the Western Front.

Luke Field developed into a sizeable base. However, with growing Navy use, in 1935, it was apparent that the island was becoming too crowded for joint Army and Navy operations so a deal was made.

The Army would take possession of the Navy’s field near Sunnyvale, California and in return it would give North Island in San Diego and Ford Island to the Navy.

In 1937, the Army purchased land to construct a new air base that would become Hickam Field.

By 1940 the move of Luke Field’s personnel and buildings to Hickam Field was complete and the Army’s presence on Ford Island had ended. Ford Island was now the exclusive property of the U.S. Navy.

Ford Island played an important role in the attack on Pearl Harbor because the bulk of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was anchored near the island.

The swift, surprise attack by hundreds of Japanese airplanes came in two waves. The first began at 7:55 a.m. and the second ended two hours later.

Two thousand, four hundred and three soldiers, sailors, marines and civilians were killed during the Pearl Harbor attack. Eighteen ships were sunk or seriously damaged. Aircraft were scattered in pieces next to burning hangars on Ford Island’s airfield.

World War II was the busiest time for Ford Island. At least one squadron of flying boats was stationed there, as were numerous other types of Navy aircraft. The runway grew until it covered the entire center of the island. Hangars and auxiliary buildings filled almost all available space.

With the advent of earth satellites and improvements in range and speed of modern aircraft after the war, it wasn’t necessary to have a large Navy air base near Pearl Harbor and Ford Island Naval Air Station became obsolete.

In 1962, the Navy officially deactivated Ford Island as an air base; it is also a National Historic Landmark.

The island is home for a growing number of military residents, with expanded military housing on the island. Likewise, the Pacific Aviation Museum, Battleship Missouri Memorial, monuments for other battle ships and other Pearl Harbor Historic Sites are nearby.

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