Statewide County HI Archives News.....Military History - Part 3.; Fort Shafter, and Ford Island., Schofield Barracks, Bellows Field and Hickam Field. June 24, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 July 10, 2008, 8:38 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands June 24, 2008 Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Darlene E. Kelley http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 June 24, 2008. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture A Study in Time, of the Hawaiian Islands by Darlene E. Kelley Military History - Part 3. Fort Shafter, and Ford Island. Schofield Barracks, Bellows Field and Hickam Field. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Fort Shafter Fort Shafter is the oldest Senior Army Military Base on O'ahu. It is located in the lush Moanalua Valley. Construction began in 1905 on the ahupua'a of Kahauiki, former Hawai'ian crown lands that were ceeded to the United States Government after annexation. When the post opened in 1907, it was named for M.G. Shafter ( 1835-1906 ) who led the United States Expedition to Cuba in 1898. Palm Circle was layed out as a canonment for an all black infantry battalion. The barracks and officers quarters were arranged around a parade field ringed by Royal Palms. The 2nd Battalion, 20th Infantry Regement ( America's first all black Regiment ) was the first unit stationed at the new post. Fort Shafter gradually spread out from Palm Circle. Trepler General Hospital once stood where the highway intersection is today.( the hospital was moved in 1948.) In 1914 a regimantal sized canonment area was constructed. The Hawai'ian Ordinance Depot was built in 1917 as a separate post. In 1921 the Hawai'ian Dept moved to Fort Shafter from downtown Honolulu. A new area was constructed in 1940 for the Signal Corp. War came suddenly to Fort Shafter on December 7, 1941, where the Hawai'ian Dept Commander LTG Walter C. Short, occupied Quarters 5. One soldier, Cpl. Arthur A. Favreau, 64th Coast Artillery ( anti-aircraft ), was killed on post by an errant Navy shell. Fort Shafter became a busy headquarters and the barracks on Palm Circle were converted to offices. The Major headquarters was named successively U.S. Army Forces, Central Pacific ( 1943-44 ), U.S.Army Forces, Pacicic Ocean Areas ( 1944-45 ) and U.S.Army Forces, Middle Pacific ( 1945-47 ). In 1944 the Army Corp of Engineers erected the " Pineapple Pentagon " ( T-100, T-101, and T-102 ) in just 49 days. Two large fishponds (sacred ) were filled in to form Shafter Flats for field artillery practices. Fort Shafter still exists as a historic base. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Ford Island Ford Island is located in the middle of Pearl Harbor, O'ahu, Hawai'i. It is connected today to the main island by the Ford Bridge. Before this bridge was built it could be only reached by a ferry boat for cars and foot passengers, which ran at hour intervals. The Island houses several naval facilities. It also has two main groups of Military housing, Nob Hill, and Leeke Feild. The history of Ford Island as told by the Native Hawai'ians is that the ancient Hawai'ians called the island Mokee-Umeume -- meaning the isle of attraction. It was currently named after Dr Seth Ford, a Boston Physician whp practiced medicine in the Hawai'ian Insane Asylum and the U.S. Marine Hospital from 1861-1886. When Ford died the island was sold to the Honolulu Plantation where Poi was raised. The U.S. Army purchased it during World War I for $236,000. It was transferred to the Navy in 1923. At one time during the height of World War II, more than 40.000 people lived and worked on the 450 acre island. The island was in the center of the Pearl Harbor attack, because of the battleship moorings surrounding the island. Luke Field ( est 1919 ) is located on the island. Damage to structures on Ford Island during the attack was surprisingly minimal A bomb landed in the courtyard of the medical building and windows in the buildings where blown out or shattered by the force of explosions on the ships. The Control tower at Luke Field was left inttac and it was amazingly in operation, even tho it is the tallest Control tower in the world made entirely of Iron. As for casualties there were more civilian injuries on Ford Island then Mlitary. The Naval Station was decommissioned in 1962. Ford Island is listed in the National Historic Places. ++++++++++++++++++++ Schofield Barracks In 1872, Major John Schofield, commanding General of the U.S. Army's Pacific Division, visited the Hawai'ian Island to determine the defense capabilities of its ports. He concluded that a harbor could be formed at the mouth of the Pearl River and that it could be easily defended. After the 1898 annexation of Hawai'i by the United States, Miltary forces started moving to the Islands. The Leilehua Plain saw a temporary camp in 1905 for the organized militia, which later became known as the National Guard. Since the Army's role in Hawai'i was to guard the Navy while in Port. Leilihua's central location was ideal for rapid deployment of Cavalry troops, provided the push needed to start a permanent Army Post. The first two squadrons of the 5th Cavalry Regiment arrived in November 1908 and were followed in December by Captain Joseph C. Castner, who made the plans and started the development of today's Schofield Barracks. In April 1909, the war department named the Post, Schofield Barracks, after Lieutenant General John M. Schofield. The name most often used in the area was " Castner Village." The Secretary of War approved the plans for construction and troop build up at Schofield Barracks in 1911. The plan called for five infantry regiments and one of each Cavalry and Field Artillery. These plans were later altered but permanent quarters were needed for the four regiments already on Post.The first permanent structures were the quadrangle barracks. When all of Schofield's troops were called to war in 1917, the Hawai'ian National Guard moved in and after the armistice was signed in November 1918, they began to beautify the Post. Many of the large trees seen are Norfolk Pines and were planted by Hawi'i's National Guard Construction Co. An extention of the O'ahu Railway and Land Co railroad was built to pass in front of the quads. On December 7,1941, Japanese planes flew over Schofield Barracks on their way to bomb Wheeler Field and Pearl Harbor. Two divisions were deployed to the south and north shores to defend against further attacks. +++++++++++++++++ Bellows Air Force Station Bellows Field was created in1917 as the Waimanalo Military Reservation, and later renamed to Bellows Field in 1933. The Field was named after Lieutenant Franklin Barney Bellows, a World War I war hero. In July 1941 it was declared a permenent Military Post. It was one of the airfields attacked during the attack of Pearl harbor. The airfield was a disaster with planes scattered all about. There were casulaties. +++++++++++++++++ Hickam Field. In 1934, the Army Air Corps saw the need for another Airfield in Hawai'i and signed the Quartermaster Corps the job of constructing a modern airdome from tangled brush and sugar cane fields adjacint to Pearl Harbor. The site consisted of 2,200 acres of ancient emerged Coral reef covered by a then layer of soil, with the Pearl Harbor entrance channel and Naval reservation marking its western and northern boundaries, John Rodgers Airport ( Hawai'i International Airport, today ) to the east, and Fort Kamehameha on the south. The new airfield was dedicated on May 31, 1935 and named in honor of Lieutenant Col. Horace Meek Hickham, a distinquished Aviator, who was killed in an aircraft incident the previous November 5 at Fort Crockett in Galviston, Texas. Construction was still underway, when the first contingent of 12 men and four aircraft under the command of 1st Lieutenent Robert Warren arrived from Luke Field on Ford Island on September 1, 1937. Hickam Field, was completed and officially activated on September 18, 1938. It was the Principal Army Airfield in Hawai'i and the only one large enough to accomodate the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. In connection with defense plans for the Pacific, Aircraft were brought to Hawai'i throughout 1941 to prepare for protential hostilities. The first mass flight of bombers ( 21 - B17 OS ) from Hamilton Field, Calfornia, arrived on Hickam Field on May 14, 1941. by December, the Hawai'ian Air Force had been an integrated command for slightly more than one year and consisted of 754 Officers and 6,706 enlisted men, with 233 aircraft assigned at its primary bases of Hickam, Wheeler Army Airfield, and Bellows Air Force Station. When the Japanese attacked O'ahu's military installations on December 7, 1941, their planes bombed and strafed Hickam Field to eliminate air opposition and prevent U.S. Planes following them back to their aircraft carriers. Hickam Field suffered extensive damage, aircraft losses, 189 people killed and 303 wounded. During the World War II, the base became a major center for training Pilots and assmbling aircraft. It also served as the hub of the Pacific aerial network, supporting transient aircraft ferrying troops and supplies to and evacuating wounded from the forward areas. Its official nickname became " America's Bridge Across the Pacific." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To be continued in Part 4. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/military16nw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/hifiles/ File size: 10.0 Kb