Commanding Officer’s Quarters – Ford Island, 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.

The image shows the restored Quarters K (Commanding Officer’s Quarters) as an unassuming home on the island – build atop and its basement holds what is left of Battery Adair (image from HistoricHawaiiFoundation.)  In addition, I have included other images/maps on Quarters K and sites around it in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

Moku‘ume‘ume (Ford Island)

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.

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.

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.)

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.

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.

The image shows Moku‘ume‘ume (Ford Island) noting the U.S. Army's Luke Field on left side and the growing Navy facilities on right side, March 25, 1925.  I have included other maps and photos of Ford Island in a folder of like name in my Photos folder in my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii