Coaling Station

Prior to the early-1900s, most vessels were powered by sail; the absence of a fuel to move was a major factor in the flexibility of fleets.  And, the carrying capacity of the sailing ship made it an indispensable element in its own logistic support.

For centuries, the most critical item of supply was water, which sailing ships found difficult to carry in sufficient quantities and to keep drinkable for long voyages. Food was somewhat less of a problem, except for its poor quality in the days before refrigeration, the sealed container and sterilization.  (britannica)

The advent of steam propulsion resulted in faster and more direct travel for ships (in the early years, ships with steam engines still sailed, and used the engines only as auxiliary power – coal was burned to produce the steam to power the engines.)

The gain in control of where you were going (without reliance/variation in the wind) was a significant improvement for the long haul.  But, for a time, the inordinate amount of space that had to be allocated to carry coal seriously inhibited the usefulness of early warships.

Steam warships were slow to catch on, but by the late-1850s, all new warships built by the Navy featured steam engines.  The engines did not make the ships dramatically faster, and many steam ships continued to use sails preserve fuel on long trips.  These ships looked and functioned much like ships from the age of sail except for the tell-tale smokestack rising above their decks.  (Bailey)

The replacement of sailing ships with steam led to a requirement for fuel to be widely available.  Ultimately, this produced the need for numerous coaling stations – places where the ships replenished/refueled their supply of coal.

Noting the need for a refueling site in the Pacific, Captain AT Mahan noted, “To any one viewing a map that shows the full extent of the Pacific Ocean, with its shores on either side, two circumstances will be strikingly and immediately apparent. He will see at a glance that the Sandwich Islands stand by themselves in a state of comparative isolation, amid a vast expanse of sea”.

“From San Francisco to Honolulu, 2,100 miles easy steaming distance, is substantially the same as from Honolulu to the Gilbert, Marshall, Samoan, Society, and Marquesas groups (the nearest inhabited islands,) all under European control”.

“Too much stress cannot be laid upon the immense disadvantages to us of any maritime enemy having a coaling station well within 2,500 miles of every point of our coast line from Puget Sound to Mexico. Were there many others available we might find it difficult to exclude from all. There is, however, but the one.”

“Shut out from the Sandwich Islands as a coal base, an enemy is thrown back for supplies of fuel to distances of 3,500 or 4,000 miles - or between 7,000 and 8,000, going and coming - an impediment to sustained maritime operations well nigh prohibitive.”

“It is rarely that so important a factor in the attack or defence of a coast line - of a sea frontier - is concentrated in a single position, and the circumstance renders it doubly imperative upon us to secure it, if we righteously can."

In the 1860s, a coaling station was established in Honolulu to refuel coal burning American ships. US warships followed a policy of cruising the Hawaiian Islands starting in 1866, and rented a coaling station for them.  (globalsecurity)

The lease of land for the coaling station was the first regular US Navy shore-side presence in the Hawaiian Islands. This station practically fell into disuse shortly after it was built due to the policy that required warships to use sail power wherever possible.  (navy-mil)

Then, in 1873, Secretary of War, William W Belknap, issued confidential instructions to investigate the defensive capabilities of Honolulu to Major-General John McAlister Schofield (the Barracks up the hill from Pearl Harbor were later named for him (1908)) and Lieutenant-Colonel Barton S Alexander.  (Young)

General Schofield reported: “The Hawaiian Islands constitute the only natural outpost to the defenses of the Pacific Coast. In possession of a foreign naval power, in time of war, as a depot from which to fit out hostile expeditions against this coast and our commerce on the Pacific Ocean, they would afford the means of incalculable injury to the United States.”

“With one exception there is no harbor on the islands that can be made to satisfy all the conditions necessary for a harbor of refuge in time of war. This is the harbor of ʻEwa, or Pearl River. … If the coral barrier were removed, Pearl River Harbor would seem to have all, or nearly all, the necessary properties to enable it to be converted into a good harbor of refuge.”

“It is to be observed that if the United States are ever to have a harbor of refuge and naval station in the Hawaiian islands in the event of war, the harbor must be prepared in advance by the removal of the Pearl river bar.  When war has begun it will be too late to make this harbor available, there is no other suitable harbor on these islands.”

As a means of solidifying a site in the central Pacific, the US negotiated an amendment to the Treaty of Reciprocity in 1887.  King Kalākaua, in his speech before the opening session of the 1887 Hawaiian Legislature, stated (November 3, 1887:)

“His Majesty the King of the Hawaiian Islands, grants to the Government of the US the exclusive right to enter the harbor of Pearl River, in the Island of Oʻahu, and to establish and maintain there a coaling and repair station for the use of vessels of the US and to that end the US may improve the entrance to said harbor and do all things useful to the purpose aforesaid.”

Ten years later, “Secretary Long has sent to Congress a report of the project for the establishment of a naval coaling and repairing station at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi, submitted by Rear Admiral Miller, commander-in-chief of the Pacific naval station.”

“As a result of the surveys and examination Admiral Kirkland reported that … the Government should acquire possession of the whole of the Waipiʻo Peninsula, comprising 800-acres of land, if a station is to be located at Pearl Harbor.”

“Secretary Long recommend(ed) that Beckoning Point be selected as a site for the contemplated station, on account of its proximity to East Loch, which has the largest anchorage, as drydocks may be easily built, and as there is ample room for space to dock and undock vessels of any size.”  (Sacramento Daily Union, April 2, 1898)

In May, 1899, a coaling station with a capacity of 1,000-tons was established and plans involved increasing that capacity 20-fold.  Six months later the Naval Station, Honolulu, was established.  

As an example of the coal demand for ships, the battleship USS Massachusetts burned 8-12 tons of coal per hour at full power. In order to fully stock for a deployment at sea, a warship would load thousands of tons of coal on board ship, all of it moved by hand.  (Colamaria)

The US Navy dredged the first deep-draft channel into its coaling station at Pearl Harbor in 1903, and suddenly the US had a strategically important naval station in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. (Sanburn)  On May 28, 1903, the first battleship, USS Wisconsin, entered the harbor for coal and water. (navy-mil)

The next decade saw steady and continuous growth.  On September 23, 1912 Pearl Harbor was closed to all foreign commercial shipping, and foreign warships might enter only by special permission. (Young)

The post-World War I period was characterized by irregular growth of the Naval Operating Base. Appropriations tended to diminish with the economies of the twenties. In 1921, the Naval Station in Honolulu was forced to close because of insufficient funds. Although the Secretary of the Navy referred to Hawaiʻi as the “Crossroads of the Pacific,” nothing was being done to take advantage of its position. (navy-mil)

Networks of coaling stations were established, effectively extending the range of warships; however, the era of the steam warship powered exclusively by coal was relatively brief-lasting from 1871 until 1914.

Fuel oil was the emerging fuel technology. In the early-1900s oil refining procedures had been standardized to the point that fuel oil (bunker oil) was now a better option to feed the fires that powered the ships (plus, the bunker oil took up less storage room on the ships.)  (Scott)

The USS Texas, commissioned in 1914, was the last American battleship built with coal-fired boilers. It converted to burn fuel oil in 1925 – resulting in a dramatic improvement in efficiency. By 1916, the Navy had commissioned its first two capital ships with oil-fired boilers, the USS Nevada and the USS Oklahoma.

To resupply them, “oilers” were designed to transfer fuel while at anchor, although underway replenishment was possible in fair seas.  During World War I, a single oiler refueled 34 destroyers in the mid-Atlantic – introducing a new era in maritime logistics.  (American Oil & Gas Historical Society)

Wartime needs called for more expansion to the Pearl Harbor base facilities. Construction began on a fourth large drydock at the location of the old Coaling Station; these went into service in 1944.

The image shows the Pearl Harbor coaling station in 1919.   In addition, I have included more related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Wheeler Field

On February 6, 1922, under the direction of 1st Lt William T Agee of the 4th Squadron (Observation,) construction began on the old 17th Cavalry drill grounds at Schofield Barracks in central Oʻahu.  With 20 men, he started clearing away trees and undergrowth.

Within a month, they completed a landing strip.  On November 11, 1922, it was named Wheeler Field in honor of Major Sheldon H Wheeler, former commander of Luke Field on Ford Island, who died in a plane crash on July 13, 1921.

Over the years, this Army air field would be a point of several significant historical aviation events: it was the landing/take-off area for the:

• first nonstop Continent-to-Hawaiʻi flight by Army Air Corps Lieutenants Lester J Maitland and Albert F Hegenberger in the “Bird of Paradise” in 1927
• Arthur Goebel landed his plane as winner of the $25,000 James D. Dole Prize, for Dole Derby air race from California to Hawaiʻi in 1927
• first trans-Pacific flight from the United States to Australia, by Australian Squadron Leader Charles E Kingsford-Smith who landed the "Lady Southern Cross" at Wheeler on the first leg of his pioneer trans-Pacific flight from Oakland, California, to Brisbane, Australia, by way of Hawaii and Fiji in 1928
• first Hawaiʻi-to-Continent solo flight by Amelia Earhart, who flew from Wheeler Field to Oakland, California (in 18 hours and 16 minutes) in 1935

Permanent structures, including officers' quarters and club, noncommissioned officers' quarters and club, chapel, dispensary, and administrative buildings were erected in the early-1930s.

During the 1920s and early ‘30s, Wheeler was the principal Army Air Corps field in Hawaiʻi.  On August 5, 1939, the War Department issued General Orders No. 4 reassigning about 1,400-acres of Schofield Barracks land to Wheeler Field; less than four weeks later, on August 31 1939, it became a separate permanent military post.

Three paved runways arranged in a triangle allowed for three aircraft to take off simultaneously. A separate, fourth runway was constructed later.

A row of metal hangars and a flight line bordered the north side of the northernmost runway. A large reinforced-concrete enlisted men's barracks and administrative buildings stood behind the hangars.

By 1940, Wheeler Field had evolved into a primary base for Army Air Corps pursuit ("fighter") aircraft such as the P-40 Warhawk, responsible for air defense of the Hawaiian Islands Territory.

In the early morning of December 7, 1941, Japanese pilots flew toward the island of Oʻahu from six aircraft carriers (the Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu, Shokaku and Zuikaku;) two waves of planes attacked various military installations on Oʻahu.

The first wave of 183 planes (43-fighters, 49-high-level bombers, 51-dive bombers and 40-torpedo planes) struck its targets at 7:55 am.  The second wave of 167 Japanese planes (35-fighters, 54-horizontal bombers and 78-dive bombers) struck Oʻahu beginning at 8:40 am.  By 9:45 am, the Japanese attack on Oʻahu was over.

Air bases were important objectives in the attack, because the success of the Japanese was dependent on eliminating air opposition and precluding US planes from following their aircraft back to their carriers.  The first air base to be hit was Wheeler.

There, twenty-five dive bombers aimed at the hangars, dropping approximately thirty-five bombs. They hit and set fire to hangars and storehouses. One bomb struck the barracks. The same planes returned to strafe the flight line.

Casualties amounted to thirty-eight enlisted men killed and fifty-nine wounded.  Eighty-three aircraft had been destroyed, fifty-four of which burned in the fire storm on the flight line.

During World War II and until 1949, Wheeler was assigned to the Seventh Air Force (former Hawaiian Air Force) and successor commands.

Following the war, with the establishment of the US Air Force as a separate service in 1947, Wheeler Army Air Base was re-designated Wheeler Air Force Base under the operational control of Pacific Air Forces (PACAF.)

The following year, the installation was placed on minimum caretaker status; however, with expansion of the Air Force during the Korean conflict, Wheeler AFB was restored to fully operational status in 1952.

In August 1987, the Secretary of the Interior designated Wheeler AFB as a National Historic Landmark, recognizing it as a site of national significance in the history of the United States and, in particular, World War II in the Pacific.

On November 1, 1991, the Army took over the facility and Wheeler was renamed “Wheeler Army Airfield.”  A couple years later (March 15, 1993,) to settle ownership concerns, the Army and Air Force exchanged Wheeler for Fort Kamehameha Military Reservation.  (Lots of information here is from NPS and ‘Brief History of Wheeler’)

The image shows Wheeler Field, before completion of permanent hangars (circa 1922-1923.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kolekole

From Kūkaniloko (royal birth stones near Wahiawa,) the winter solstice (December 21) occurs when the sun is aligned with Kolekole.

The Waiʻanae ahupuaʻa has an un-typical shape – it has two parts: Waiʻanae Kai, on its western side, runs from the ocean to the Waiʻanae Mountains (like a typical ahupuaʻa;) however, Waiʻanae Uka continues across Oʻahu’s central plain and extends up into the Koʻolau Mountains.

Kolekole Pass forms a low crossing point through the Waiʻanae Mountains.  A prehistoric trail crossed Kolekole pass linking Waiʻanae Uka with Waiʻanae Kai.

As a result, the trail was of strategic importance. Kolekole Pass is not far from the base of Mount Kaʻala, the highest summit on O‘ahu, an important place in Hawaiian religion, ceremony, legend and perhaps celestial observations.

When Kahekili was reigning as king of Maui, and Kahahana was king of Oʻahu, it was during this period that Kahahawai, with a number of warriors, came to make war on Oʻahu (Kahahawai was a strategist for Kahekili.)

A decisive battle in the war between Kahekili and Kahahana, fought in the Waiʻanae mountain range, took place near Kolekole Pass.

“Kahahawai told them to prepare torches. When these were ready they went one evening to the top of a hill which was near to the rendezvous of the enemies where they lighted their torches.”  (Fornander)

“After the torches were lit they moved away to a cliff called Kolekole and hid themselves there, leaving their torches burning at the former place until they died out. The enemies thought that Kahahawai and his men had gone off to sleep. They therefore made a raid … But Kahahawai and his men arose and destroyed all the people who were asleep on the hills and the mountains of Kaʻala. Thus the enemies were annihilated, none escaping.”  (Fornander)

Therefore, the conquest of Oʻahu by Kahekili was complete through the bravery and great ingenuity of Kahahawai in devising means for the destruction of the enemy.  Oʻahu remained until the reign of Kalanikūpule, Kahekili’s son - until Oʻahu was conquered by Kamehameha in 1795.

Near Kolekole Pass is the Kolekole Stone, which is described as a “sacrificial stone,” but the story that victims were decapitated over this stone may be a fairly recent rendition. Older stories suggest the stone represents the Guardian of the Pass, a woman named Kolekole.

Reportedly, Kolekole was a place where students practiced lua fighting. Students practiced their techniques on “passing victims” on the “plains of Leilehua.”  Lua was an “art” that involved dangerous hand-to-hand fighting in which the fighters broke bones, dislocated bones at the joints, and inflicted severe pain by pressing on nerve centers.

This form of fighting involved a number of skills: “first, how to grasp with the hands, second, how to prod with a kauila cane; third, how to whirl the club called the pikoi or ikoi that had one end … tied with a rope of olona fibers.”  (Na Oihana Lua Kaula 1865 – Army)

In the late-1800s, James I Dowsett had ranching interests on lands now occupied by Fort Shafter, Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield; portions of the latter two were part of his extensive Leilehua Ranch. Cattle from George Galbraith’s Mikilua Ranch in Lualualei Valley on the Waiʻanae coast may have been herded across Kolekole Pass to pasture on Leilehua Ranch plateau lands.

With later US military use in Waiʻanae and Central Oʻahu, passage through Kolekole Pass provided a convenient short cut across the Waiʻanae Mountains between Schofield Barracks and Lualualei Naval Magazine.  The Army's 3rd Engineers corps constructed vehicular passage in 1937.

Kolekole Pass, is located at the northern corner of the Lualualei Valley and connects the Waianae coast with Waianae Uka (the present Schofield Barracks.)

On the morning of December 7, 1941, six Japanese carriers transported torpedo planes, dive bombers and fighters to a point about 220 miles north of Oʻahu.  Launching the aircraft in two waves, the attackers achieved total surprise and wreaked havoc.

Contrary to general belief, the attacking aircraft did not come through Kolekole Pass west of Wheeler but flew straight down the island.  Most of the attacking planes approached Pearl Harbor from the south.  Some came from the north over the Koʻolau Range, where they had been hidden en route by large cumulus clouds.  (hawaii-gov)

In 1997, a 35-year-old, 35-ton white steel cross at Kolekole Pass was ordered dismantled by the Army – threatened with lawsuit, they chose removal, rather than fighting a separation of church and state claim.

The first cross at the pass was put up in the 1920s; this later metal one was erected in 1962.  It was later replaced with an 80-foot flagpole that flew an American flag.

The image shows Kolekole Pass after blasting completed in 1935 (SagaOfTheSandwichIslands.)  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Wahiawā

During ancient times, various land divisions were used to divide and identify areas of control.  Islands were divided into moku (districts;) moku were divided into ahupuaʻa.  A common feature in each ahupuaʻa was water, typically in the form of a stream or spring.

The Island of Oʻahu has six Moku: Kona, Koʻolaupoko, Koʻolauloa, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ʻEwa.  The Waiʻanae ahupuaʻa, within the moku has an un-typical shape – it is sometimes referred to in two parts: Waiʻanae Kai, on its western side, runs from the ocean to the Waiʻanae Mountains (like a typical ahupuaʻa – this portion of Waiʻanae runs from the mountain to the sea.)

From there, however, the section referred to as Waiʻanae Uka continues across Oʻahu’s central plain and extends up into the Koʻolau Mountains – extending approximately 15-miles from the Waianae Mountains to the Koʻolau Mountains and ends up overlooking the windward coastline.  (Each section is within the same ahupuaʻa.)

Wahiawā, situated in Waiʻanae Uka, was from very ancient times, identified with the ruling aliʻi of Oʻahu. The name breaks down to Wahi (place), a (belonging to), wa (noise.)  (Handy)

Perhaps the name goes back to the time when Hiʻiaka was in this general area and could see waves dashing against the coast afar off and hear the ocean’s ceaseless roar... (Handy)

The chiefs of Līhuʻe, Wahiawā, and Halemano on Oʻahu were called Lo chiefs, poʻe Lo Aliʻi (”people from whom to obtain a chief”,) because they preserved their chiefly kapus...They lived in the mountains (i kuahiwi); and if the kingdom was without a chief, there in the mountains could be found a high chief (aliʻi nui) for the kingdom. Or if a chief was without a wife, there one could be found - one from chiefly ancestors. (Kamakau)

A “sizable population” filled the Wahiawā area in traditional Hawaiian times, based on the “various areas of loʻi northwest of the present town of Wahiawā. … There were extensive terraces that drew water from Wahiawā Stream, both above and below the present town. There were many small terrace areas along the sides of the valleys of all the streams of this general area. …  The peculiarity of this area, apart from distance from the sea, is that it is the only extensive level area on (Oʻahu.)” (Handy)

In more modern times, at the height of the sandalwood boom, Kamehameha was buying foreign ships, including six vessels between 1816 and 1818, to transport his own wood to the Orient. (Kuykendall)  According to Kamakau, Wahiawā was a prime source for the valuable wood; the largest trees were from Wahiawā.

Over the remainder of the decade, the population fluctuated.  Things changed at the end of the decade.  Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, western military and agricultural interests would transform the Wahiawā landscape.

Land that had previously been leased to Oʻahu businessman James Robinson for cattle grazing was designated Wahiawā homestead land by The Land Act of 1895 (as homestead land, including water rights from the Kaukonahua Stream (not DHHL homestead, this was for general homesteading.)

Then, in 1897, Californian, Byron Clark, became the Hawaiian Republic’s commissioner of agriculture. In looking for land for him to settle on, he learned of the availability of land at Wahiawā.

Clark organized a group of other Californians (as well as others) to join him in settling the whole tract of thirteen hundred acres — which became known as the Wahiawā Colony Tract. Having formed an agricultural cooperative called the Hawaiian Fruit and Plant Company, the homesteaders began formalizing and refining the physical organization of their Wahiawā settlement.

Initially each settler lived in a house on his five-acre parcel in the town site and farmed his other land in the surrounding area. It was soon discovered, however, that each settler preferred to reside on his own farmstead, holding his town lot in reserve. The homesteaders abandoned the village plan and agreed that one man, Thomas Holloway, would live on their 145-acre central lot site.

On August 27, 1902 a trust deed, referred to as the Holloway Trust, formally set aside the central town lots for the use and benefit of the Settlement Association of Wahiawā resident landowners. Within a few years, Wahiawā Town was underway.

Some of the town’s streets would be named for the early homesteaders - including Clark, Kellogg, Thomas and Eames streets (initial mapping shows California Avenue as the first, and main, road.)

Another notable change at this time was the result of a presidential order of July 20, 1899 setting aside Waianae Uka lands as the military reservation. Ten years later, in 1909, these lands would become the site of Schofield Barracks, named after Lt. General John M. Schofield.

Another homesteader to the area was James D Dole, who moved to Wahiawā in 1900 to attempt farming on 61-acres. Dole described Wahiawā at the beginning of the 20th century as “a park-like stretch of some 1,400-acres of third-class pasture land, dotted with shacks of 13 hopeful homesteaders for whom (the) general sentiment was merely pity.”

Dole founded Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1901. Within a few years pineapple production at Wahiawā had increased that Dole planned a cannery at Iwilei, near the shipping facilities of Honolulu Harbor. In order to transport the pineapple from Wahiawā to Honolulu, Dole persuaded the Oʻahu Railway & Land Company to extend its rail line to Wahiawā. The line to Wahiawā was constructed in 1906.

Another change occurred on January 23, 1906 when the Wailua Agricultural Company, later known as Waialua Sugar Company, constructed the Wahiawā Dam and Reservoir, a 2.5-billion-gallon capacity reservoir (the largest in Hawaiʻi;) it is generally known as Lake Wilson, today.

The start of World War II further helped to accelerate developments within Wahiawā to accommodate the needs of the growing military population. Wahiawā Elementary School, which started in 1899 to educate children of farmers who were brought in from California, closed their doors in the 1940s to become the new Wahiawā General Hospital.

At the end of World War II, the facility continued to remain in operation under the leaders of the Wahiawā Hospital Association. The 72-bed acute care facility was dedicated in 1958, under the official name, Wahiawā General Hospital.

Post World War II, the old Wahiawā Hotel had been used as living quarters for area school teachers. By the 1960s, Wahiawā teachers, who had been quartered at the teachers’ cottages (as they referred to them), were forced to relocate as plans for the new Wahiawā Branch Library were underway; the library opened on July 19, 1965.  (Lots of information here from Cultural Surveys.)

The image shows welcome sign to Wahiawā.  In addition, I have included other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Schofield Barracks

In 1872, Major General John M Schofield visited the Hawaiian Islands to determine the defense capabilities of the various ports. In his report to the Secretary of War, Schofield advocated securing the exclusive use of Pearl Harbor through a reciprocity treaty with the then Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

In 1893, after the overthrow of the monarchy, it was Schofield who encouraged annexation of Hawaiʻi. He said, “if we do not hold these islands ourselves we cannot expect the neutrals in war to prevent other belligerents from occupying them; nor can the inhabitants themselves prevent such occupation.”

The site that would become Schofield Barracks was ceded to the US Government on July 26, 1899, less than a year after Hawaiʻi was annexed to the United States. The Waianae-Uka military reservation was part of the former Hawaiian Crown Lands and consisted of 14,400 acres.  (Army)

In 1905, in an address to Congress, President Theodore Roosevelt declared Hawaiʻi to be, “the most important point in the Pacific to fortify in order to conserve the interests of this country.”  (LOC)

Situated between the two major mountain ranges on Oʻahu, with central access to both the North Shore, Pearl Harbor and the City of Honolulu made it an excellent strategic location.

Schofield Barracks was established on December 4, 1908, with the arrival of Captain Joseph C Castner and his construction of a temporary cantonment (headquarters and quarters) on the Waianae-Uka military reservation – first, tents for officers and soldiers; then, temporary wooden barracks.

The temporary facility was informally referred to as Castner Village; some called it the Leilehua Barracks (after the Leilehua Plain on which it is located.)  In April, 1909, the War Department chose to name the post after the late General John M Schofield, former Commanding General of the US Army, who had originally called attention to Hawaiʻi’s strategic value.

In 1910, the United States Army District of Hawaiʻi was formed under the command of Colonel Walter Schuyler at Schofield Barracks. It originally fell under the jurisdiction of the Department of California and then became a department in the newly organized Western Division.

In late-1911, the Secretary of War approved recommendations for a seven-regiment post. This would rival the Army’s largest existing post at the time (Fort Russell in Cheyenne, Wyoming.)  The number of troops continued to increase, and in 1913 the Hawaiian Department was formed as an independent command under the War Department.

Permanent facilities were urgently needed.

The configuration of three barracks and one administration building surrounding a central courtyard became known as a “quad” (quadrangle.)  The quads at first took their names from the troops residing in them, i.e. the 35th Infantry Barracks or the 4th Cavalry Barracks. The alphabetical designations currently used were assigned at a later date.  Quarters for the officers and their families were constructed at the same time as the barracks.

In 1921, Schofield housed the only complete division in the US Army (the Hawaiian Division) and the Army’s largest single garrison. Population rose to 14,000 in 1938, making it the second largest “city” in Hawaiʻi. The Hawaiian Department accounted for more than 10% of the Army’s forces during the ‘30s and ‘40s.  (By 1948, the base had eight sets of quad barracks.)

On October 1, 1941, the transition by the War Department in operations restructured the Hawaiian Division to form two divisions at Schofield: 24th Infantry Division and the 25th Infantry Division.  (Over the following decades, the 24th ID was inactivated, reactivated and subsequently deactivated in October 2006.  Schofield remains the home of the 25th ID.)

The need for soldiers trained to fight under tropical conditions arose and the Jungle Training Center, later called the Ranger Combat Training School was formed in late-1942. The Hawaiʻi Infantry Training Center (HITC) was opened on March 14, 1951. Almost one-million soldiers went through the training center at Schofield before being sent overseas.

With the construction of housing on the old training fields and in light of the greater range and fire power of the new weaponry, larger training areas were needed. Pōhakuloa on the island of Hawaii, Makua Valley, Helemano, Kahuku and Kawailoa were used.  Most of these training areas are still actively used by the 25th Infantry Division today.

Today, the Schofield Barracks Area includes Wheeler Army Airfield and Helemano Military Reservation and consists of 16,600-acres. Two brigades of the 25th Infantry Division and other units that support them are housed there.

There are approximately 14,000 military personnel as well as 2,000-civilian employees who work and train at Schofield. 21,100-soldiers and their dependents live on the premises.

The image shows housing at Schofield Barracks in 1925.  (Lots of information here is from NPS and Army-mil.)   In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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World War II - Italian POWs

On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific; while the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war.

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that was underway by 1939 and ended in 1945.

 Italy entered World War II on the Axis side on June 10, 1940, as the defeat of France became apparent.  On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the US entered the conflict.

World War II was fought between two sets of partners: the Allies and the Axis. The three principal partners in the Allies alliance were the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union and the United States; the three principal partners in the Axis alliance were Germany, Italy and Japan.

During World War II, American forces captured 50,000 Italian soldiers and sailors.  5,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Hawaiʻi and held at Schofield, Kāneʻohe, Kalihi Valley and Sand Island.

Japanese Americans were also incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi.  On December 8, 1941, the first detention camp was set up on Sand Island.

The Sand Island Detention Center held war captives as well as civilians of Japanese, German or Italian ancestry who were under investigation.

This Italian prisoner contingent was highly skilled in construction and engineering, and as a voluntary effort they were used extensively on many construction projects around the island where skilled labor was, at that time, in short supply, particularly around Honolulu Harbor, Sand Island, etc. (Ponza - Army-mil)

"For the most part, the US Army welcomed their labor and skills in construction of needed military facilities."  (Moreo)

"At the end of each day, the Italians would salvage whatever waste materials were about as well as scouring and scooping up cement from spillage."  (Moreo)

With this salvaged material the Italian POWs built buildings and works of art (fountains and statues) at various locations on Oʻahu (these pieces are at Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter, Sand Island and the Immigration Building.)

The Mother Cabrini Chapel, designed by POW Astori Rebate, “was huge, with an alter, and two large paintings of Mother Cabrini all done by the POWs.  The chapel had a full basement for vestments and religious articles.  Out in front of the chapel, the area was paved and filled by ‘well constructed benches acting as pews for a thousand or more worshippers.’”  (Moreo)

The Italian POWs "decided to dedicate to the memory of Mother Cabrini, who was at that time being considered for sainthood for her earlier good works in the United States, and who was subsequently canonized as the first American saint by the Vatican around the year 1946."  (Ponza -army-mil)

Upon the chapel's completion, Sunday mass was celebrated every week with the prisoners exiting the prison compound in order to attend the services, seating themselves in the open air pews. As word spread to the adjoining areas, Pearl City, Honolulu, Nanakuli, and even as far as Waikiki, a small group of Catholic worshipers started to drive up to the chapel on Sunday mornings to attend the services."  (Ponza - army-mil)    In the way of Kamehameha Highway construction, it was torn down in 1948.

At Sand Island, "(a)t sunset, hundreds of Italians formed a male chorale and sang for an hour. It became widely known and so popular that visitors came in the evening to listen and applaud."  (Moreo)

At Fort Shafter, a fountain crowned with pineapples was designed and crafted by POW Alfredo Giusti, with winged lions and topped with pineapples.  (Reportedly, Giusti inscribed his name and address on the north side of the fountain.)

Dedicated to give hope to those without hope, Giusti also crafted two statues, “The Hula Dancer” and “The Bathing Beauty,”) which now sit outside the Coast Guard administration building on Sand Island.

A hard-to-see fountain crafted by the Italians is within the secured Immigration Center on Ala Moana Boulevard (you can see it through a chain link fence on the makai/Fort Armstrong side of the facility.)

The war ended in December 1945 and the Italian POWs were repatriated in 1946, having left some lasting legacies of the war and their time in Hawaiʻi.  (Unfortunately, due to increased security concerns, access is restricted at the facilities where their work is located.)

The image shows the Giusti fountain at Fort Shafter.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Pineapple Pentagon

At the time of annexation, there was no assigned garrison in the Islands until August 15, 1898, when the 1st New York Volunteer Infantry regiment and the 3rd Battalion, 2nd US Volunteer Engineers landed in Honolulu for garrison duty – the Spanish American War was waging in the Pacific (Honolulu served as a stopover point for the forces heading to the Philippines.)

The two commands were initially camped alongside each other as though they were one regiment in the large infield of the one-mile race track at Kapiʻolani Park.  The initial camp at the race track was unnamed; it was later called Camp McKinley.  It was a temporary encampment.

The US government looked for land for permanent facilities.

Of the two major tracts of land assigned to the War Department (Kahauiki and Waiʻanae-uka,) a board of Army officers in 1903 recommended establishment of the principal infantry post at Kahauiki.

Construction started in 1905 at what was first called Kahauiki Military Reservation.  It was later named Fort Shafter and was Hawaiʻi’s first permanent US military installation.  (Camp McKinley remained in existence until Fort Shafter was opened.)

It was named in honor of Major General William R. Shafter (1835-1906,) a Civil War and Spanish-American War veteran and commanding general of the headquarters for Hawaiʻi, then in California, until 1901.  (Until 1913, the Army establishments in Hawaiʻi were under the Department of California.)

First, they started construction of officers’ quarters and battalion barracks around Palm Circle, as well as support facilities on and near Funston Road.

Palm Circle (earlier called the 100 Area and later named for the 200-royal palms along its edge) has a large, grassed oval parade ground. Fifteen two-story, officers’ quarters line the north and east sides of Palm Circle Drive which encircles the parade area.

Along the southern side of the drive are former enlisted men’s barracks, now converted to administrative offices, and other administrative buildings, including a swimming pool.  The initial structures were completed June 22, 1907, with more by 1909.

A post hospital was built across King Street, in the area now occupied by the Fort Shafter interchange of the Moanalua freeway.

Streetcars ran from downtown along King Street; the route originally ended at Fort Shafter, and was eventually extended to Pearl Harbor. The streetcars ran until 1933, when the current post bus route was established.  A railroad line ran from the Middle Street gate, across Shafter Flats and down Puʻuloa Road.

During World War I, all regular Army Field artillery and infantry regiments were transferred to the continent, leaving between December 1917 and August 1918. To replace the troops, one battalion of the 1st Hawaiian Regiment of the Hawaiʻi National Guard was stationed at Fort Shafter in June 1918.

A regimental officer’s school was established July 1918 at Fort Shafter and Schofield Barracks. Food gardens were planted on the post. The National Guard regiments were demobilized in 1919, leaving the Post vacant except for the 9th Signal Service Company.

In June 1921, the Headquarters of the Hawaiian Department moved to Fort Shafter from the Alexander Young Hotel in Honolulu. Since then, Fort Shafter has been the base of the senior Army headquarters in Hawaiʻi. Gradually converting the original troop facilities into administrative space, the headquarters organizations occupied the Palm Circle area.

From 1921 through World War II Fort Shafter was also the antiaircraft artillery post. The Hawaiian Coast Artillery District was located at Fort Shafter from June 1921 through October 1929.

Only a few casualties occurred at the post in the December 7, 1941 attack, from US Navy antiaircraft shells rather than Japanese planes. Palm Circle was strafed during the attack.

World War II saw significant increase in building activity at Fort Shafter, in every area where there was space. Buildings were also expanded and remodeled during this period.

As duties increased for Lt. General Robert C. Richardson, the commanding general (becoming US Army Forces in Central Pacific Area,) his headquarters became known as the Pineapple Pentagon (after the War it was renamed Richardson Hall in his honor.)

From 1943 to 1945, Richardson's command carried out logistical planning for the invasion of the Gilberts, Marshalls, Marianas, Guam, Palau and Okinawa.

After World War II, Fort Shafter remained the senior Army headquarters post for the region, while the 25th Infantry Division occupied the more spacious Schofield Barracks.  In 1947, the headquarters was renamed US Army, Pacific (USARPAC.)

After Tripler Hospital moved to its new hillside farther west in 1948, and after the Moanalua Freeway was cut through a portion of the old site in 1958-60, the remaining hospital area was redeveloped with enlisted housing.

Today, more than 5,000 Soldiers, civilians, contractors and military families live and work on the 589-acre post. In fact, if USARPAC were a business, it would rank as one of the state's largest employers with more than 25,000 full-time Soldiers and civilians employed throughout the Pacific and 9,000 more in the National Guard and Army Reserve. (army-mil)

Palm Circle and the Pineapple Pentagon continue to serve as command headquarters for the US Army in the Pacific. (Lots of information here is from the National Register (NPS.))

The image shows the Pineapple Pentagon (Richardson Hall) at Fort Shafter (1940s.)  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Lualualei

Hiʻiaka (Pele’s sister) passed along the kula (plain) of Māʻili, and then turned to look at the uplands. She saw the dazzling light of the sun on the uplands of Lualualei and chanted:

Wela ka la e! Wela ka la e!
Ua wela i ka la ke kula o Lualualei.
Ua nau ia e ka la a ‘oka‘oka.

The sun is hot! The sun is hot!
The heat of the sun is on the plain of Lualualei.
The sun chews it up entirely." (Maly)

Two meanings are suggested for the place name Lualualei; one meaning “the valley of the flexible wreaths,” a kaona, and the other meaning “beloved one spared.”  (Sinoto)

A reference to Lualualei ahupuaʻa is found in Kamakau where he recounts Kākuhihewa’s birth and upbringing. Taken to ʻEwa and raised on “the sweetness of the poi of Kamaile; the soft mullet of Lualualei…,” it is evident that the Waiʻanae coast was beloved, especially for its coastal resources and quality of kalo.  (Sinoto)

Further evidence that Lualualei must have been a favored locality for settlement is indicated by the remnant agricultural terraces in the inland areas and the fact that Kamehameha III kept the ahupuaʻa for himself. For that reason, the number of Land Commission Awards is limited to only six mauka lands.  (Sinoto)

In 1921, Congress designated 2,000-acres at Lualualei for Hawaiian Homelands.  Then, in the early-1930s, Territorial Governor Judd, through Executive Orders, granted all but 475-acres to the US Navy.  (This removed a chunk of land from Hawaiian Homelands.)

The transfers under the EOs were later disputed and in 1998 an agreement was reached between the State and Feds where DHHL gained control of lands at Barber’s Point Naval Air Station (at Kalaeloa) and the Navy had continued use of the Lualualei property.

The agreement was signed in a ceremony at Washington Place with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Governor Ben Cayetano signing the memorandum of agreement, with Deputy Assistant Navy Secretary William Cassidy in attendance.

The Navy has used Lualualei as an ammunition depot (initially Naval Ammunition Depot Oʻahu, now Naval Magazine Pearl Harbor) and a communications facility (Lualualei Naval Radio Transmitting Facility) since 1934.

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Lualualei Annex’s primary tenant is Naval Magazines whose mission is to receive, renovate, maintain, store and issue ammunition, weapons and technical materials for the Navy, Air Force, Army and other activities and units as designated by the Chief of Naval Operations.

Kolekole Pass forms a low crossing point through the Waiʻanae Mountains.  A prehistoric trail crossed Kolekole pass linking Waiʻanae Uka with Waiʻanae Kai.

Kolekole Pass Road is located on the federal lands connecting these military facilities on Waiʻanae coast of Oʻahu to Schofield Barracks Army Installation in Central Oahu.  The Army's 3rd Engineers corps constructed vehicular passage in 1937.

The Magazine facility, a terminus for the Kolekole Pass road, contains 255 aboveground storage structures capable of housing 78,000 tons of ammunition and explosives.  (hawaii.gov)  The shipping and receiving center is located at West Loch, Pearl Harbor.

The Lualualei Naval Radio Transmitting Facility is used to transmit state-of-the-art radio signals for the navigation of Navy vessels throughout the Pacific. It is the primary Department of Defense long-range transmitter installation in Hawai‘i. The Navy and Coast Guard jointly use the facility.  (hawaii-gov)

The very low frequency (VLF) transmitters communicate with submerged submarines in the Pacific and Arctic regions.  VLF signal can travel to extreme depths enabling submarines to receive messages without surfacing and are used 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.

The most notable features related to this are two 1,500-foot cable-stayed steel truss mast antennas of the Navy's communication systems at Lualualei (built in 1972) which are the state's highest structure.

The image shows a US Navy ammunition train, headed out of the Lualualei ammunition storage facility in 1966 (december7-com.)  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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