PMRF | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 24, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kiawe Corps

Following the annexation of the Republic of Hawai‘i by the United States in 1898, the US Army viewed the Islands in a strategic context. They were seen to be the advance outpost in the western defenses of the mainland United States. (Bennett)

Martial law was declared within hours of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and it lasted, with some modifications, for nearly three years, until October 24, 1944. (Densho)

After the Japanese attack on O‘ahu, the top army and navy commanders in Hawai‘i were seriously concerned about a possible invasion of the Hawaiian Islands. The two northernmost populated islands of O‘ahu and Kauai were the probable targets for such an enemy landing. (Bennett)

In general, all Hawai‘i residents were subjected to blackouts and gasoline and food rationing. Moreover, residents of Japanese ancestry, whose loyalty were questioned, were subjected to suspicion and scrutiny and were under the threat of internment.

Japanese culture was dismantled; language schools, religious institutions, and business and social associations were closed. (Kauai Historical Society)

The military shut down all 22 language schools and 14 other cultural associations on Kauai. Eight of 19 Buddhist temples were dissolved and five more were closed, leaving four licensed to operate and two in question. (Tom LaVenture; Discover Nikkei)

The Kauai Morale Committee of WWII served as the army’s liaison with the Japanese community on Kauai.

The goal of the committee was to alleviate fear and misunderstanding among the Japanese citizenry and to direct efforts toward the war effort and victory. (Kauai Historical Society)

During WWII, from June 1942 through 1944, the Kauai Kiawe Corps, a volunteer civilian labor battalion overwhelmingly composed of able-bodied persons of Japanese ancestry, assisted the Army in defense of Kauai.

They cleared kiawe thickets that could provide cover for possible invaders, strung barbed wire, built trails, opened areas for military camps, and helped build evacuation centers. (Soboleski)

“The Kiawe Commando corps was organized … by the Kauai morale committee to give Americans of Japanese ancestry and alien Japanese an opportunity to do actual work to assist in winning the war.” (SB, Jan 1, 1943)

“Work crews of more than 1,000 of us Japanese, including women and the elderly, turned out every Sunday to clear away the brush and undergrowth, primarily kiawe, between Kekaha and Mana on the west side of the island.”

“It was an area that the military suspected of being scouted as secret Japanese naval landing sites, due to the thick vegetation,” Ikito “Ike” Muraoka says. Clearing the brush made secret landings impossible.” (Kauai Stories)

“On Kauai, where the Kiawe Corps was a project of the Emergency Service Committee, the volunteers, most of whom were alien Japanese, continued the work for two years, giving an average of three Sundays a month for a total of 58,000 man-days.”

“In addition to hacking at brush with cane knives and burning the rubbish, they strung barbed wire, built trails, cleared areas for military camps, and helped build evacuation centers.” (Allen, Hawaii’s War Years)

“Volunteers also did much guard duty, they were primarily ‘last ditch soldiers,’ organized to repel an invasion.”

“Although volunteers who had trained for a war emergency never had to repel an invader, various groups were called to duty during air raid alarms and other alerts.”

“They also assisted following several wartime accidents.” (Allen, Hawaii’s War Years) (Other Islands also had their own Kiawe Corps.)

“The Army airfield which became Barking Sands Air Base (AB) in World War II was originally known as “Mana Airfield,” built on land acquired from the Knudsen family by Kekaha Sugar Company located nearby at Kekaha. The grassy airstrip first came into being around 1921.” (Bennett)

During the 1930s, Inter-Island Airways, later Hawaiian Airlines, served the airport. (Shettle) “The US Army acquired 549 acres, including the grass airstrip in 1941 which became “Mana Airport Military Reservation”.

“Additional land was acquired for a total of 2,058 acres. The airport experienced a great deal of military flight operations upon the onset of World War II.” (Bennett)

“The Army added 14 barracks and four mess halls. For the next two years, the Army continued to improve the airport by adding 23 revetments for heavy bombers and permanent accommodations for 1500 men.”

“When the Navy needed additional aircraft facilities in late 1943, the Army turned a portion of the base over to the Navy on January I, 1944. “

“Hawaiian Airlines continued to use the airport until 1949, when the Lihue Airport opened on the other side of the island. In 1954, the airfield was officially renamed Bonham [Air Force Base].” (Shettle)

ln 1962, the Navy officially commissioned the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Barking Sands and two year later, the Air Force transferred the ownership of the property to the Navy.” (Bennett)

There were many name changes for the facility: Mana Airport, Mana Airfield Military Reservation, Barking Sands Military Reservation, Kekaha Military Reservation, Barking Sands Airfield, Bonham Airfield, Bonham Air Force Base, Bonham Air Base, and Auxiliary Landing Field (ALF) Bonham.

By 2008, Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) was the world’s largest instrumented multi-environment range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air, and space operations simultaneously. (Hawaii Aviation)

August 30, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānā, Kauai

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

This region has been identified as a leina-a-ka-uhane (paths-for-leaping-by-the-spirit). These were almost always on bluffs looking westward over the ocean, from which the spirits of the dead were believed to plunge in order to enter the spiritual realm.

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

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

It is believed that these wet conditions encouraged the independent invention of aquaculture on Kauai and the construction of stone and earthen ponds for growing staples such as taro, yam and sweet potatoes.

Historically, native Hawaiians constructed four different types of fishponds – freshwater taro ponds, other freshwater ponds, brackish water ponds and seawater ponds.

Aquaculture was employed to supplement their other fishing activities, and permanent fishponds guaranteed a stable food supply for populations in lean times. Tended ponds provided fish without requiring fishing expertise, and harvesting the pond, unlike fishing at sea, was not weather dependent.

Evidence suggests that Hawaiian fishponds were constructed as early as AD 1000, if not earlier, and continued to be built until the 1820s.

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

One of the first successful sugar plantations to export from the islands was established at Kōloa in 1835, and by the 1930s, nearly all of the Mānā swamp had been filled to produce this crop.

Up until the mid-1880s, the great Mānā swamp covered large areas of the lowlands. One of the first European settlers, Valdemar Knudsen, drained a portion of the Mānā swamp by excavating a ditch through to the ocean at Waiele. The first sugarcane was planted in Kekaha in 1878.

Hans Peter (HP) Faye was a Norwegian immigrant (arriving in 1880) who started a small plantation at Mānā and eventually helped form Kekaha Sugar, incorporated 1898, and became its first manager.

It was his vision that created the Kekaha and Kokeʻe Ditch Systems and the intricate drainage canals that drain the large swamps of Mānā.

To keep the groundwater table below the root zone of the sugar cane, thousands of feet of canals were excavated to drain excess water from the soil. The water is then pumped into canals such as the Nohili Ditch for release into the ocean.

The drainage system, with two pumps at the Kawaiele and Nohili pumping stations, was constantly running to lower the groundwater table, which made possible for sugarcane cultivation.

Rice was planted in the drained swamplands from the mid-1860s to 1922. By the 1930s, nearly all of the Mānā swamp had been filled in and planted in sugarcane.

The need to keep the area drained continues today. These pumping stations must continue running to keep the groundwater table from rising too high, which could result in root rots and hence low crop yields. During storm season, with five inches of rain in one day would result in flooding.

Nearby wetlands form the Kawaiele Sand Mine Sanctuary (a State Waterbird Refuge for Hawaii’s four endangered waterbird species – Hawaiian duck, coot, stilt and moorhen;) this was created during a sand removal program.

When I was at DLNR, we authorized the sale of sand licenses to allow contractors to remove sand for construction projects (golf courses, concrete mix and beach replenishment) within the waterbird sanctuary that, in turn, created a beneficial mixed terrain and expanded the waterbird habitat.

October 16, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānā

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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1950

1959

Mana_USGS_Quadrangle-Mana-1910_(portion)

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

180-degree-panorama-Barking_Sands_beach_in_Kauai

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

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

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

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

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

Missile_launch_from_Pacific_Missile_Range

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