Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 12, 1 December 2011 — Patriots in the Pacific [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Patriots in the Pacific

This month, as the nation marks the 70th anniver- N sary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, 4 Hawaiians recall

their roles in claiming terntory tor the U.b. in the run up to war

By Kathy Muneno Patriotism comes in many forms. For more than 130 young men from Hawai'i, it eame on a deserted island. Make that a trio of deserted islands near the equator - Jarvis, Howland and Baker. It also eame with tragedy, sacrifice and adventure. And now only five of the Hui Panalā'au, group of colonizers, remain to tell their story: Mannie "Woody" Phillips,

his younger brother Paul Phillips, George Kahanu Sr., Emanuel "Manny" Sproat and Edmond Newton. All are now in their 90s, with the exception of Paul, who is the youngest at 89. "I ean remember almost every detail of my time on the islands and yet I can't remember what happened 10 minutes ago," Paul quips. Their time on the islands started more than seven decades ago.

"To be frank, (at the time) I didn't think it was important at all," says 95-year-old Mannie Phillip s . "Now I think it was probably vital." "It was worthwhile," says Sproat, 94. "It cut off the Japanese from moving further south." More than six years before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States embarked on the secret mission to colonize the islands, to elaim them as its own and to provide a landing site for

flights between the West Coast and Australia. The government looked to Kamehameha Schools graduates and students for recruits. In addition to the stereotypical idea that Native Hawaiians would be best suited for remote island living, the government was looking for young, single men who were fit, friendly, disciplined, could fish and swim and who could follow the ehain of command. Kamehameha was an ROTC school so all of the

young men had such training. The first group left Hawai'i in March 1935, with two Native Hawaiians and three military personnel assigned to eaeh island. The islands had to be occupied for one year before the U.S. could elaim them. As their tenure wound down, back in Hawai'i, the recruiting continued. Kahanu, 94, recounts the day when he was a 17-year-old junior boarding at Kamehameha Schools and was called to the principal's office: "He said, 'Would you be interested in going on a cruise?' That was it. I said, 'Of course, sure! Where we going?' He said, well, you're gonna go on this trip to the Line Islands as a spare, just in case. So I said OK, and that was the extent of my knowledge of what was going on." When Kahanu returned to class, his friends asked what happened. "I said, eh, you know what? I'm going on a cruise. Wow!" His "cruise" as a spare lasted from January to March 1936, when \ the first colonizers returned. The \ project ended and President \ Roosevelt claimed U.S. \ jurisdiction over the islands. 1 However, there was a rush '■■■ ■ to recolonize the islands I believing the British would Ē challenge that elaim, and the Ē project continued until 1942, B no longer in secrecy and this time with four colonizers from V Hawai'i per island, no military personnel and eventual recruiting from outside Kamehameha Schools. Colonizers earned $3 per day. But they didn't just occupy the island, they worked hard with a list of duties to accomplish - collecting weather data around the eloek for the government, collecting specimens and data for Bishop Museum, keeping detailed logs, clearing land, cooking, cleaning and burying waste and rubbish. Their time was regimented, with a designated leader who would assign duties and rotation. 'THE FINEST OF ALL THE ISLANDS' The Phillip s brothers, Kahanu and Sproat colonized Jarvis Island,

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Kamehameha Schools alumni and students heading for the Line lslands aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter ltasca in January 1 936. Back row, from left are: Luther Waiwaiole, Henry Ohumukini, William Yomes, Solomon Kalama and James Carroll. Front, from left are: Henry / Mahikoa, Alexander Kahapea, George Kahanu and Joseph Kim. INSET: Colonists supplemented provisions with an abundance of the remote islands' fresh fish and lobster,- Photos: Courtesy ofBishop Museum

though at different times. Newton was a spare and never colonized an island. Jarvis is the largest of the islands, all of 1.6 square miles, about 1,310 miles from Hawai'i, just south of the equator. This barren island was onee mined for guano. Sproat describes his first sighting of Jarvis: "It reminded me of a paneake floating in a tub of water. And I'm thinking, my goodness, are we going to stay on this?" But, there was mueh to like. "Jarvis was, I thought, the finest of all the islands," says Paul Phillips, acknowledging he didn't colonize other islands. "The lobster there was unmatched anywhere. The island is surrounded by a barrier reef and inside, when it's ealm, water gets knee deep and at night we'd go out - one guy would carry a lantern, the other a canvas bag - and piek lobsters with a glove." Kahanu agrees: "It was the best island. It was the biggest. It had everything." As a caveat, to be sure, eaeh colonizer likely thought their island was the best. When Kahanu heard the U.S. was returning to the islands, he asked the principal if he could sign up for another tour. "I had been there," Kahanu reasons. "I knew what it was like. I would enjoy being a colonist now." This time, in June of 1936, he and three other Native Hawaiians stayed on Jarvis for three months. Kahanu compares the experience to an enjoyable outing. "If you went on a pienie," he says in all seriousness, "you have to carry all your supplies with you, the food, you sleep on the ground, whatever. It would be a kind of similar experience, going on a pienie." Not quite. Take the miee, thousands of miee, running right across them as they slept, or tried to sleep. Kahanu says they placed large, empty cans flush with the ground around their Army cots and in the morning would find them half full of the rodents. There was no housing, just tents. No electricity. No communication with the outside world. If they got sick, they hoped they got well. They had canned food, even pancakes for breakfast and fresh

water brought in by the barrel full, used for brushing teeth and drinking only. They also ate loads of fish. The waters were teeming with āholehole, uhu, weke. Using a spear was too slow, Kahanu says, so they used a gunnysack to scoop them up, eat some and dry the rest. "With three scoops you get a full bag," he says. Sundays were special. "We went out and got a eouple of birds for hekka and that's how we got fresh meat, killing a eouple birds, you know. Cook it with shoyu. Oh, yeah, was good," says Kahanu. "The booby bird was good. Taste like ehieken." Sproat and Paul Phillip s were not as impressed with the fowl, perhaps it depended on the kind of bird you ate. Also on Sundays, Kahanu's group would religiously hold church service. "You know, being away from home, you think a lot about who ean take care of us," Kahanu says, "and the good Lord is the only one that ean take care of you right, see that nothing happens. . . . We had a sermon, anyone would lead, talk to us. We'd have the singing, hymnals. And then after that we would talk (about) different things, get it all out." They maintained the peaee among them, and that is a eommon comment from colonizers. "You know, when you think about it, life's too short to argue especially if you're on a foreign island, what's there to argue about? We were four Kamehameha boys, ... and you respect the upper classmen," Kahanu says. Discipline was so ingrained, they raised the American flag even though no one but themselves was looking. Some colonizers did so regularly, while Kahanu's group only did so on special occasions like Kamehameha Day and the Fourth of July. Or, "If you see the ship coming in, you raise it fast," Kahanu says with a laugh. By August 1936, Kahanu was ready to return home. On board the ship that eame to piek him up was Sproat, who disembarked and started his three months on Jarvis. Sproat, also a Kamehameha student, had heard rumors about the colonization project and saw it

as a great summer job. "I was just a young guy, 17. You don't do mueh thinking," he says. Sproat's group of four salvaged lumber from the ship Amaranth that had wrecked on the reef at Jarvis. They built living quarters and a structure for taking weather reports. In addition to fishing, Sproat says he enjoyed observing what little life there was on the island - plants, animals, insects. And for entertainment, they played checkers and his leader Jacob Haili had a guitar, so they would sing in the evenings. "I liked the life," Sproat says. "It was a different experience and it was pleasant. We didn't have to work hard, nothing strenuous." In the first week of November 1936, with no advanced word, he says he "just saw the ship coming, so we packed our things." TURNING POINTS Sproat says the only bad experience he had was when an eel bit him while he was fishing.

Kahanu's group all broke out in boils, and their leader had them eaeh take a shot of castor oil. It worked. But there were mueh more serious medical emergencies as well. Two colonizers were burned when a weather halloon exploded. They were lucky. A ship happened to arrive shortly later. It was a mueh more tragic ending for Carl Kahalewai. He suffered appendicitis while on Jarvis. A ship was sent to piek him up, but on the way home to Hawai'i his appendix ruptured and he died at sea. Kahalewai's death and many other stories about the colonization project began receiving attention in the loeal newspaper and even some mainland papers. People started writing to the editor to volunteer as colonizers or to suggest perks for the boys like sending them a piano. And while previously some parents didn't even know their child was headed to the islands or about the project, now, some parents, like Mannie Phillip s ' father, were encouraging their sons to sign up.

Mannie did, and in June 1939, at 18, the Roosevelt graduate went to Jarvis. He enjoyed the experience so mueh, he signed up for three tours of duty. The second was on Baker Island, the third back on Jarvis. He says he learned to be selfsufficient but more importantly that's "when I really realized what I wanted to do, heeome a military pilot." So he would bring his books to the islands and study hard. It was in the time of the Great Depression so the pay was vital to help him pay for college. He had applied to the University of Chicago, and it's while he was on Jarvis that he received in the mail his letter of acceptance. To his surprise, at the end of his third tour, the ship arriving to piek him up in August 1941 brought his replacement - his younger brother Paul, then an 18-year-old Roosevelt graduate. SEE PATRI0TS ON PAGE 26

PATRIOTS

Continued from page 17 "I didn't recognize him!" Mannie says with a laugh. "We were not the mushy kine," Paul says, "Just, *Hey, brother. Howzit.' That kind of thing." Paul says they were one of about a dozen sets of brothers who were colonizers. The way he saw it, "What big brother ean do, little brother ean do as well." By then, the colonizers had long been enjoying more creature comforts like outhouses and steel beds. They would receive 5-gallon cans of Saloon Pilot Crackers from family back home, fill it up with 200 dried fish and send them back. It was so hot, fish dried in a day and a half, Paul says. In his spare time, Paul learned from his leader Mike McCorriston how to make linen throw nets and feather lei. WAR COMES TO THE OUTPOST While life on the island was enjoyable, life in the outside world was changing. There was a war in Europe. Japan was an increasing threat. Paul was into his second consecutive tour on Jarvis on Dec. 7, 1941. "We weren't aware really that Pearl Harbor had been attacked," he says. "We had radios but the government radio was out, so we were unaware that the attack was on." And they, along with the rest of the world, were unaware that one day later, on Dec. 8, the Japanese bombed Howland and Baker islands. Two colonizers on Howland, Joseph Keli'ihananui and Richard Whaley, were killed. The six remaining - two on Howland, four on Baker - spent the next 54 days hiding from the Japanese in the daylight, getting food and water at night. Meanwhile on Jarvis, Paul says around the ninth of December, they contacted the Coast Guard station in Hawai'i to send in their daily weather reports. "They told us to get off the air, stay off the air, maintain radio silence, that Pearl Harbor had been attacked and not mueh more. So of course this was

quite a eoneem to us, not knowing what condition the island was in, what condition our families were in. So it was two months without any contact with the outside world." He says late in December he awoke before sunrise and noticed a ship off shore. "So not knowing friend or foe, we decided, let's move out of the eamp area, find shelter. ... As soon as it got light enough, it turned out to be a Japanese submarine. They started shelling us with their deck gun." He says, "Fortunately for us their target was not the eamp area but an area toward the center of the island. It was solid, looked like an airfield, so I think that's the reason for the shelling. ... There were no casualties and no damage to the eamp area and that was the last of any hostilities. Of course, we were pretty cautious after that." In February 1942, two ships arrived to take them home. They had to move quickly, so most of their personal possessions, like Paul's feather lei, were left on the island. On Feb. 9, Paul was the last of the colonizers to step off the islands. The colonization project was over. Following a debriefing in Honolulu, Paul says: "We were advised to find jobs within 10 days or two weeks or we could be inducted into the military. Good luek. And with those two words, the Panalā'au program ended right there: Good luek. That was it. Not another word from the United States, from anyone." "UNDERA JARVIS MOON" Fike the Phillip s brothers, Sproat and Kahanu, many colonizers went on to serve in the military and serve their communities in some capacity. And yet through those years, so many said nothing about their time on the islands. "We didn't talk about it," Kahanu says. "Even like today, military people, you don't talk about things." But Kahanu finally did open up to his granddaughter Noelle Kahanu, and only because she asked. She is a Project Manager at Bishop Museum, and a co-worker who saw a Jarvis log book written

by George Kahanu asked Noelle if she was related to him. When Noelle asked her grandfather, he went into his bedroom and brought out an armful of memories. "I kept a pretty good file," he says. "So I gave it to her, and I told her, I even have a song on Jarvis." Kahanu and a fellow colonizer composed it on Jarvis, and he sang it for Noelle. After all these years he remembers every word: "The moon on Jarvis Island, just makes me long for you ..." With that, Noelle launched years of research and gathering of oral histories frommany of the colonists. She then co-produced and directed the documentary ĪJnder a Jarvis Moon and is pushing for national recognition for the colonists. AN 'IMPORTANT CHAPTER IN AMERICAN HISTORY' On July 26, 2011, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka introduced a resolution co-sponsored by Sen. Daniel Inouye acknowledging the "contributions and sacrifices of the young men who served as colonists." Akaka's office says it "has not yet been considered by the full Senate and there is no timeline for if or when that might happen, unfortunately." U.S. Reps. Colleen Hanabusa and Mazie Hirono submitted a eompanion resolution in the House on Aug. 5 and it was referred to the Natural Resources Committee. The hope was that the resolutions would pass this year, the 75th anniversary of President Roosevelt claiming jurisdiction over the islands. "We want the nation to know about, and celebrate, this important chapter in American history," Akaka said at a screening of Under A Jarvis Moon at Hawai'i Theatre in August. "I still do regret the fact that the U.S. government never saw fit to recognize the panalā'au for their contributions, their dedicated service, the ultimate sacrifices that they made in carrying out this mission for the government," Paul Phillip s says, but then "you have to sit back and think there was a war on. Then it was kind of forgotten." But for those who do know, they stand in awe and say thank you.

And for eaeh of the remaining / colonists, / they carry / a proud I legacy and memories \ i. unmatched. \ ■ "It's been V a remarkable ^ lifetime" says George Kahanu,

who still carries the experience with him. "Even today when I sleep, I tum in one spot," he says, just as he did on his Army cot onJarvis. ■ Kathy Muneno is a weekend weather anchor and reporter for KHON2.

26 kēkēmapa2011 www.oha.org/kwo | kwo@OHA.org NATIVE HAWAIIAN » NEWS I FEATURES I EVENTS

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AB0VE: Colonis1"s Elvin Mattson, left, Dickey Whaley and Joe Keli'ihahanui relax on Howland lsland. Whaley and Keli'ihahanui were killed when the Japanese bombed Howland on Dec. 8, 1941. Thanks to the efforts of the Hui Panalā'au, Keli'ihananui and Whaley were brought home to Hawai'i. They are buried at the Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kāne'ohe. BEL0W: William Stewart Markham, Kini Pea, Killarney Opiopio and James Kamakaiwi with two military personnel on Howland lsland in 1936,- Photos: Courtesy of Bishop Museum _ inrT

ABOVE LEFT: Now in their 90s, brothers Mannie "Woody" and Paul Phillips pose with Snoopy on Jarvis lsland in August 1 941 . The Phillips were among more than 1 2 sets of brothers who helped colonize the islands. ABOVE RIGHT: The colonists' many duties included taking weather readings, pictured, keeping daily logs and collecting specimens and data for Bishop Museum. - Photos: Courtesy of Bishop Museum BELOW: The colonists and the film co-producers at a showing of the documentary "Under a Jarvis Moon." Manny "Woody" Phillips, left, Noelle Kahanu, Paul Phillips, Heather Giugni, George Kahanu Sr. and Lisa Altieri. - Courtesy photo byKapulani Landgraf