5754 Richardson Hall, the famed Pineapple Pentagon of WWII. Built in one month, it’s still in use today as the Pacific Command’s HQ.
5796 The Operations Control Center Wheeler Field. Also still in use today.
5803 WWII hangers on Wheeler Field, modified but still in use today.
5812 This relief map of Oahu shows the path through the valley from the north end taken by the attacking Japanese aircraft. It took them directly over Schofield Barracks, the main Army Garrison on the island. Since Wheeler Field is right there too it was hit at the same time and then on to Pearl Harbor almost in a straight line. Small wonder that all the non-political military men of the time were dead set against Pearl as the base for the Pacific Fleet. But good old FDR, that pinhead, overrode their recommendations and in fact fired a few of them to get a ‘yes’ man in position to agree with what he wanted. You’d think Lyndon Johnson would have learned from this but “NO” he had to do the same thing in Viet Nam. Idiots!! Actually in FDR’s case I believe it’s worse than idiocy. I believe he hung the fleet out a bait for Japan to get us into the war, something he wanted but the Congress and public did not. In Johnson’s case I think it was just a matter of ego larger than brain.
Nov 27 – Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, Cont’d.
Our next destination was Fort Shafter. First stop the Fort Shafter Military Club for lunch. It was a small but very tasty buffet in the café attached to the club. The two long tables on the patio were filled with soldiers in their camo uniforms with a few spouses mixed in. One man had a medal pinned on his fatigues; this is not the uniform on which to wear medals, so something was up. He also had a large flower lei around his neck. From the conversation I heard around the table, he was retiring from active duty and this was his farewell lunch with his co-workers.
After lunch we visited Quarters 5, residence of General Walter C. Short, Commander of the U.S. Army Pacific in 1941, my dad’s ultimate commander while he was in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1945. His house is in the center of Palm Circle, a small rectangular park lined with palm trees. At the end of Palm Circle is a large open grass field. Large enough to hold military parades, lined with large officer’s homes. We were not allowed to photograph the officer’s homes for security reasons.
Across the street from Quarters 5 is building T-100. During WWII this was, and still is, the headquarters of the US Army Pacific Command, known by all as the ‘Pineapple Pentagon’. The official name now is Richardson Hall, in honor of the general who served in it during WWII. Under his direction it was built in one month, mid-May to mid-June, 1944. In the foyer of the building they have hung the battle streamers of the Pacific Command. My dad’s battle streamer for the Northern Solomons was there. I found one just like it in his closet when we cleaned out his home. The battle streamers are done in the colors of the service medal for that war. There are a lot of streamers in the yellow, red and green of the Vietnam Service Medal. None of them mine; I was in the Air Force.
From there we followed the route taken by the Japanese planes to Wheeler Field, Headquarters of the Army Air Corps Fighter Command. 14 pilots from Wheeler were in the air or managed to get in the air during the attack. Many died trying to get to their aircraft.
Our next stop was at the historic Schofield Army Barracks, the largest Army Base outside the Continental U.S. and home to the 25th Infantry Tropic Lightning Division. Established in 1909 it celebrated its 100th anniversary just 3 years ago. The Tropic Lightning’s insignia is a Hawaiian taro leaf with a lightning bolt down the center.
Some of the original barracks from the 1940s are still in use. The insides have been upgraded but the façades remain. The barracks have always had large windows and balconies to allow the men to take advantage of the breezes. The Tropic Lightning Museum is in the old post library building. It was constructed in 1915 using rock from a nearby farm that was being prepared for the construction of an expansion of the base. The rocks they found were transported to the stockade where the prisoners reduced them to useable size and up went the building. It was initially stocked with 10,000 books donated by personal friends and professional associates of General Carter, who ordered it built. In 1922 the posts Educational and Recreational Fund was established and took over the financing of both library staff and books a function is still performs today. In 1939 it was dedicated to the general as Carter Hall and when a larger building was needed to house the library it was vacated until it was converted to the Division’s museum.
Today the museum has displays from the major conflicts in which the Division has participated. The most interesting ones to me were WWII and Vietnam. Each of them displayed the uniforms of a typical jungle fighter of the era as well as the common weapons they carried. For WWII it was the M1 Garand. Variants of the Springfield bolt actions continued to be the weapon of choice for snipers. The Viet Nam display had the M14, the standard long arm at the beginning of the war and the M16 the standard weapon from then to now. The model they had on display was close to the first version issued but was not in the early green plastic. It did have the triangular forestock and the centerline charging handle. All three of these features would later be altered for one reason or another. They also had some displays about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Since both Wheeler and Schofield were also heavily hit the name is somewhat misleading.
In a separate room they had displays of a more current style. One particular display explained and showed various types of FOBs (Forward Operating Base). The boards showed FOBs in Iraq and Afghanistan. FOBs are located in remote areas to give the troops assigned to that area a secure place to live and get relief from the stresses of everyday patrols and missions. This type was called a Country Home. They could also be located in the center of a city, usually in a fortified former palace or government building so the troops could be ready to react to any problems in town. These were called City Homes.
The museum is one of the oldest buildings on the post and is unique in that it’s the only one built from basically unaltered local materials. For example, it’s the only building with lava rock as its sole exterior wall surface. They have various pieces of military equipment on the grounds of the museum, including an M2A3E8 Medium Tank from the Korean War - a US Howitzer, Light, Towed, 105mm, M102 (Don’t you just love military designations?. No? How’s this? Tack, Thumb, Round, Cushioned Head, Steel, all that to say thumb tack) used first in Viet Nam in 1966 - and the piece de resistance a 155mm M114A2 Howitzer. This gun, first built in 1942 was introduced into Viet Nam (No I’m not schizophrenic. When I wrote about the Vietnam Service Medal’s colors I used ‘Vietnam’ because that’s the way the US military spells it so it’s a proper name. When I write about Viet Nam, the country, I use the preferred spelling in that country) A really close friend of mine lost a good deal of his hearing to this particular gun. Sometimes there’s just no time for the niceties like hearing protection when your goal is to save your or some other GI’s butt.
From Schofield we drove to the Punchbowl National Memorial. Like all military cemeteries it’s a solemn place but somehow they are always pretty. 35,000 Americans are buried here who proudly served their country. As the Pearl Harbor Survivors patch says, “All gave some, some gave all.” It would be nice if the majority of our citizens really understood and appreciated the sacrifices made on their behalf. We stopped for photos at the main monument and the grave of Ernie Pyle, the famous WWII combat reporter. If you’ve never read his biography, you should.
It was a great tour. So much history to get in touch with. I enjoyed it a lot.
Back on the ship we are having a Hawaiian Luau on the Lido deck for dinner. They even had a roasted pig, a first for me on a HAL deck BBQ.
At 9:30 we had a Polynesian Cultural group come aboard and give us a show. They performed traditional dances from Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji and New Zealand. They included one dance from the ‘golden’ age of Hawaiian hula, the 20s-30s. This was a, to borrow a phrase, ‘glammed up’ or Hollywood version of the traditional dance done in equally ‘glammed up’ or Hollywood costumes, lots of glittery streamers for the grass skirt, etc. It was nice to get a reprise of the dances we’ve seen over the last month or so. They were very skilled dancers but the hit of the show was a boy about 8 or 9 who participated in many of the dances. He was obviously having a good time and the audience of mostly grandmother and father types loved him.
A nice day back in the USA.
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