Sunday, July 7, 2013

Major Dishonor: Honolulu City Council Bill 65 Will Forever Live In INFAMY

Honolulu City Council Bill 65 Will DESTROY

Historic Dec 7 Ewa Battlefield, Hawaiian Railway Yard

and 1942 Aircraft Revetments

Does the Honolulu City Council REALLY want these roadways which will
FOREVER LIVE IN INFAMY?

Dear Councilmembers,

I oppose Bill 65 putting into law road plans that will allow Hunt Development Corp to run roads through the historic Ewa Field December 7, 1941 battlefield. There are well documented and previously advised alternative road routes that will meet all traffic needs for this area well into the future. This bill isn't for "guidance"- this is a legal transfer of road right-of-ways to land developers anxious to destroy these historic sites using Bill 65.

This roadway plan is purely for land developer speculation purposes and the intent is to destroy the historic integrity of this December 7, 1941 battlefield, the adjacent 1890's Hawaiian narrow gauge railway yard and museum, and the 1942 fighter aircraft revetments. These NEW roads are not needed at all and existing historic roads can be expanded to meet all future traffic needs in the decades ahead.

This is a travesty to the US Marines who died in battle at this location and I object to this US government property, leased to Hunt Corporation, being used for these land speculation schemes. This area needs to be preserved as an open space historic site and memorial to the Marines killed there on December 7, 1941. Three neighborhood boards and the Hawaii State legislature passed resolutions supporting full preservation of MCAS Ewa.

National Park Service Pearl Harbor Historian Daniel Martinez calls the December 7, 1941 Ewa Field "Sacred Ground." The National Park Service has publically stated that Ewa Battlefield has historic battlefield integrity in a 2011 battlefield survey.


The Ewa Neighborhood Board in 2008 passed unanimously a resolution advocating for the preservation of MCAS Ewa Air Field and making it an Historic Landmark and National American Battlefield. This was followed by a very similar preservation resolution also being passed by the Waipahu Neighborhood Board and the Kailua Neighborhood Board.
In 2009 the Hawaii State Legislature (House and Senate) passed HCR-49, calling for the full preservation of MCAS Ewa as a National Monument, Museum and Restored Park and nomination to the State and Federal Historic Registers.
There have been annual Ewa Field battlefield commemoration ceremonies every year at this very same site that Bill 65 intends to destroy, including in October 2012 honoring the 12 MCAS Ewa Field combat pilots awarded the Medal of Honor. This Ewa Field event was attended by 8 living US Marine Medal of Honor recipients. Honorary Certificate presentations from the Honolulu City Council were made and there was an official proclamation dedicating the week to the Medal of Honor recipients on behalf of the City Council.
It seems now the Honolulu City Council is highly influenced by developer money and wants to go down in American history for their dishonor and defilement of this sacred battlefield.


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These roads are NOT NEEDED! Existing historic roads- Roosevelt Avenue can be expanded to four lanes and Coral Sea Road can also be expanded to four lanes, providing all of the East-West and North-South access needed in future decades for the Ewa Community. These NEW roads are purely for land speculation and these are federally owned, US tax-payer lands, not private property.
There is almost NO HISTORIC PROTECTION in Hawaii as the State has the absolute WORST (and very well documented) historic preservation "SHPO" office which has been threatened with closure for years because extremely bad mismanagement and lack of preservation integrity. The SHPD administrator recently resigned after widespread calls for her to leave. But the State of Hawaii is run by politicians that are only interested developer kickbacks, not public interest and land preservation- even for an American battlefield.

Former MCAS Ewa is located by historic Ewa Village Plantation, on the State Historic Register, with the nearby Oahu Railway and Museum, on the National Historic Register, and with a likely future National WW-II Battlefield designation.


1925 Ewa Mooring Mast Field (later MCAS Ewa Field) is one of the very oldest historic aviation sites and airfields in the State of Hawaii.

 
National Park Historian Daniel Martinez calls the December 7, 1941
Ewa Field Battlefield "Sacred Ground."

 
Significant oral history testimony has been collected from Ewa Village residents, many of whom are still alive, detailing the extensive air and ground battle over and around Ewa Field and Ewa Village on December 7, 1941.

 














In 1944 FDR toured MCAS Ewa Field in a convertible sedan, also carrying General Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz.


MCAS Ewa is famous as the home of many famous WW-II Corsair Squadrons


12 Medal of Honor winning combat pilots came out of MCAS Ewa Field


"Pappy" Boyington is one of MCAS Ewa's famous pilot alumni, which also includes aviation legend Charles Lindbergh who trained at MCAS Ewa in 1944. Others include baseball legend Ted Williams, a US Marine Corsair pilot.

 
National Register EWA FIELD (1925-1942)

        o        (Includes Approximately 2/3 of the FAA Site)
        o        Perimeter Property Line / Former Fence Line (1925 -1942)
        o        Southwest Extension to Main Ewa Field Runway (1941)
        o        Former Main Hangar 123 Bldg. Platform (1941)
        o        Hawaiian Habitation Complex (State No. 3721) (Just inside Perimeter Line)
        o        Sisal Walls Remnant (State No. 3722) (Just outside the Perimeter Line)

National Register MCAS EWA (1942-1952)

        o        (Includes Approx. 1/3 of the FAA Site)
        o        Perimeter Property Line / Former Fence Line
        o        Bldg. 137, Former Communications Splinter-proof Structure (ca. 1943)
        o        Bldg. 1146 Hangar (1944)
        o        Bldg. 1546 Operational Storage & Electrical Shop, Quonset hut) (ca 1943)
        o        Anti-Aircraft Battery WWII (State No. 5096)
        o        Anti-Aircraft Complex Remnants (State No. 5097)
        o        WWII Housing Complex Remnants (State No. 5099)
        o        Potential Former 5" Anti-Aircraft Gun Site, (Location South of Runway)
        o        Sinkhole Complex, near and along Coral Rd. (State No. 5094)
        o        Sinkhole Complex (State No. 5198)

--    MCAS Ewa Cold War Era Structures (1962-1999)
--    Pride baseball Field – MCAS Ewa and later NASBP  (1941-1999)


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Saturday, July 6, 2013

Battlefield Survey Proposes Two new Historic Districts for MCAS Ewa Field

Battlefield Survey Proposes Two new Historic Districts for MCAS Ewa Field

by John Bond

 


This includes two new proposed Ewa Field Historic Districts.
Also documented is the WW-II Oahu railway line into Ewa Field.
Ewa Field is now eligible to become a National American Battlefield and National Historic Landmark.

The NAVY Ewa Field Section 106 Battlefield Survey proposes two Ewa Field Historic Districts:

  • the Ewa Field Aircraft Revetment Historic District and
     
  • the Ewa Field Ware House Historic District
***************************************

The Ewa Field Aircraft Revetment Historic District

This is a recast of the original 1997 Navy survey of a proposed "MCAS Ewa Historic District", except that it is now renamed Ewa Field Aircraft Revetment Historic District.
This district includes the current Barbers Point Horse Stables as well as the DHHL aircraft revetments.

This is very important because it again confirms that revetments on the DHHL side should have the same National Register protection.

*****************************************
The Ewa Field Ware House Historic District.

This new proposed district includes all of the remaining MCAS Ewa structures in the north-west corner of MCAS Ewa.

This includes all of the Quonset huts, warehouse buildings, the 1944 aircraft hanger and Building 1147, the largest still standing concrete building at MCAS Ewa.

The Quonset huts are now considered rare artifacts of the WW-II era since so few remain today.

*****************************************
The Navy survey report also identified an important building of the Cold War era, which is directly across Roosevelt Avenue from the Ewa Train Museum, and adjacent to the known once top secret SOSUS buildings.

The building identified is Facility 972, headquarters for the nationwide Distant Early Warning - DEW line, and headquarters for US Navy anti-submarine Patrols during the Cold War.

The building, built in 1958, was loaded with high security features and still has a great flagpole out front (but largely unseen.)

The associated Cold War Era buildings- the Navy HQ, SOSUS (Sound Surveillance) buildings and remaining large satellite dish could become an Ewa Field Historic District as well.

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Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field December Ceremonies

Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field December Ceremonies


Aloha,

Ray Emory, on board the USS Honolulu on Dec. 7, 1941 will be the Key Note Speaker at the Ewa West Oahu Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field December Ceremonies, starting at 9 AM. Sunday, December 5 at the actual combat battle site.

The MCAS Ewa Field ceremony this year will honor the little known and unrecognized airmen killed along the Ewa Coast by Imperial Japanese Zero fighters. Two private planes carrying three Army soldiers, and four US Navy SBD's from the USS Enterprise, were shot down along the Ewa shore and inland area that today is largely covered by golf courses and home tract developments.

By 10 AM, on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the battle was over, but for the United States, World War II was just beginning. The attack came during peacetime, meaning servicemen weren't required to wear dog-tag IDs. This led to a high rate of unidentified dead, and they might have remained so, if not for the tireless work of 88-year-old retiree Ray Emory.


Emory has continued to research KIA's and MIA's, including one of the still yet to be identified airmen of the USS Enterprise shot down over the Ewa shoreline. His remains may be buried at Punchbowl National Cemetery, home to some 600 unidentified Pearl Harbor casualties.

"These guys got killed in battle for their country and they should be so identified and recognized, period," says Emory. Emory calls his effort a labor of love to help honor the memories of those who died and to bring closure to their families.

"I'll be doing this to my dying day," said the 88-year-old Hawaii resident. Emory turns to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), when he thinks he's ID'd someone. Emory said he gets a huge lift by helping to piece together an unsolved case.

"You don't know how good it feels to get a call from JPAC saying,'You've done it again," he said. But the biggest reward, he said, is being able to call family members and tell them that their loved one has been identified.

In early December, 1941 the USS Enterprise was out of Pearl Harbor on a secret mission carrying Ewa Field Marines and aircraft to Wake Island. It was scheduled to arrive back in port by December 7, but was delayed one day by a Pacific storm front.



Had it been in port and destroyed, it may have made a critical difference during the Battle of Midway when the Enterprise played a crucial role in winning that air and sea battle that many still call "a miracle."

But before the Midway battle, by late December 1941, after the Ewa Field Marines held out for nearly 30 days against a superior Japanese naval and Imperial Marine invasion force, Wake Island fell. The effect of this event and a subsequent 1942 "Wake Island" movie, caused tens of thousands of Americans to enlist in the US Military.

On the morning of December 7, an Enterprise air group was sent out ahead, and was making their way to a Ford Island landing when they were suddenly attacked by Imperial Naval Zero fighters near Ewa Field.

Four SBD's were shot down, killing seven air crewmen and pilots. Three private planes were also shot down by Zero fighters, two along the Ewa coast.

This action was also witnessed by then Ewa Village resident Ramsay Hishinuma, who was a teenager camping out with friends at Hau Bush beach park that morning.

The names of the Navy and Army SBD KIA and MIA will be honored this Sunday, December 5 at 10 AM at Fort Barrette and the MCAS Ewa Battle site ceremony, beginning at 9 AM. The public is invited to attend.

John Bond







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75th Pearl Harbor Anniversary: MCAS Ewa Field - home base for eleven Medal of Honor recipient pilots

75th Pearl Harbor Anniversary: MCAS Ewa Field

By John Bond  

Pearl Harbor battlefield and home base for eleven Medal of Honor recipient pilots


The very FIRST US Medal of Honor recipient of WW-II by combat date was pilot Hank Elrod from Ewa Field who was killed in action defending Wake Island in December, 1941 (awarded 1945).

MCAS Ewa Field's historic fighter plane aircraft revetments still exist and have been used for scenes in major motion pictures as well as for Ewa community horse riding stables.

Marine Corps Air Station Ewa was the major US Marine Corps WW-II aviation training and support base where eleven Medal of Honor recipient pilots received their advanced air combat training in planes like the Wildcat, Corsair and Hellcat.  Among them was Charles Lindbergh Medal Of Honor recipient, who was awarded his as a civilian pilot in 1927 and went on to fly air combat missions as a civilian pilot advisor to the US Marine Corps and US Army Air Force in the Pacific. Lindbergh received his advanced air combat training at MCAS Ewa Field in the USMC F4-U Corsair in 1944.
 
Many famous US Marine Corps squadrons and air combat aces came from MCAS Ewa,Including the legendary Medal of Honor recipient "Pappy" Boyington of the "Black Sheep."






 







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Ewa Field Photos Reveal Damaging Evidence

Ewa Field Photos Reveal Damaging Evidence

Hawaii development shows no integrity when it comes to preserving culture
By John Bond
HAWAII - Photos of Ewa Mooring Mast Field from 1925, prior to construction, indicate archeological evidence of significant numbers of coral karst sinkholes, which possibly could contain Hawaiian burial remains.

Currently existing coral karst sinkholes have been seen very nearby with very old Ti plants growing out of them, indicating some Hawaiian cultural activity in the past.

This is in an area directly adjacent to areas Hunt Corp, which leases land from the Navy, which is now having the area bulldozed and uprooted for new commercial lots in an area that has been defined as National Register eligible in the Ewa Field warehouse district, according to a survey just done this year.

Glenn Oamilda, of the 50-year-old Ewa Beach Community Association and Section 106 Consultant to the current Navy-Hunt KREP-Ewa Field development plan under 106 review, believes that this area likely contains an underground karst water system, as well as possible Hawaiian burial remains.

It is of especially great concern, because this current work has been going on at odd hours of the night. The large machinery doing this work has been piling up large amounts or coral rocks and beach sand, as well as very large tree trunks pulled out of the ground.

This does not seem to fit the allowed "grubbing" activity that is supposedly permitted without a Section 106.

Mike Lee, a living descendent of Hawaiian royalty, has been asked to become a community consultant on this on-going damage of heavy-equipment digging and leveling in the Ewa Field area, and after reviewing the 1925 Ewa Mooring Mast pre-construction photos, he has great concern about damage that may be done to possible cultural and Hawaiian burial sites that likely exist just below the surface.

The 1941 Ewa Field Command History speaks of caverns as large as railway boxcars that had to be filled up with beach sand, in many cases from nearby beach dunes, which have been known to also contain Hawaiian bones and artifacts.

Mike Lee and Glenn Oamilda believe that the Ewa Field area is part of a contiguous Hawaiian burial area linked to the significant Onelua beach burial and heiau area directly to the south of this Ewa Field area.

Where Hunt Corp is currently bulldozing and clearing, it is exposing sand and coral rock. Part of the area they are clearing isn't even on their leased parcel. The Navy is apparently allowing them to do this.


Before the Quonset hut, they knocked down the landmark 1943 Ewa Field Squadron Wall along Roosevelt Avenue without any public input or notice. Hunt apparently believes that no one can stop them from continuously damaging everything that is of historic value at Ewa Field.

The Navy is doing nothing to prevent this from happening. Those concerned can only record their on-going damage after they have done it. The State Historic Preservation Office doesn't seem to care either. (The administrator was forced to resign in 2013).






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Ewa's 'lost battlefield' of World War II may disappear

Ewa's 'lost battlefield' of World War II may disappear under developments

 Historian fighting to preserve base hit on Dec. 7, 1941


 By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

KALAELOA — Bushwhacking through knee-high weeds and thorny kiawe, John Bond points out the stretches of asphalt and concrete where World War II fighters once roared into the sky at the former 'Ewa Marine Corps Air Station.

There's not much left to see of the airfield, with only foundation outlines, a quonset hut and concrete building or two standing, but the original runways are still there.

Tucked away in a jungle on the old base are also dozens of arched concrete aircraft revetments, some of which are used as horse stables.

It's what happened here on Dec. 7, 1941, and how that long-neglected history could be paved over by future development, that's now of concern to Bond, who wants to see key parts of the base preserved.

The graphic artist and amateur historian imagines how up to 24 Japanese Zeroes attacked low and fast, striking some of the first blows in the minutes before Pearl Harbor was touched.

The defense was "heroic stuff," with Marines manning the machine gun of a damaged U.S. aircraft, Bond said.

"It's like a John Wayne movie at that point," Bond said. "People are firing .45s and Tommy guns. Man, what a movie that could have been. Nobody ever made it."



 Nobody ever made it because few seem to even know that one of the first battles of World War II happened over 'Ewa Field, or, for that matter, that the base even existed.

Bond, who lives in 'Ewa Beach and has done a lot of research into the Marine Corps air station, has started a one-man campaign to preserve the original part of the airfield, which began as an airship mooring station in the mid 1920s, and grew considerably in size during the course of World War II.

Famous dogfights involving Japanese fighters and two Hale'iwa Field pilots — George Welch and Ken Taylor — occurred over 'Ewa Field on Dec. 7, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester Nimitz drove through in 1944.

Many confuse the Marine Corps air station with the separate airfield at Barbers Point. 'Ewa Field lies just off Geiger Road where it skirts around the old runway to become Roosevelt Road.

Bond calls it the "Lost World War II Battlefield."

"There are guys who fly all the way out to the Pacific to hack through jungles to look for B-29 wheels or bullet hole fragments," Bond said. "But here's a base in urban Honolulu that was a battle where Marines were killed. The war started here, and there's not even hardly anything about it. It's amazing."



Bond's cause for concern is a planned land swap that could lead to development of the land.

The Navy, which owns the 'Ewa Field land, plans to lease to Ford Island Properties 499 acres for 40 years with an option to take title to the property.

The Navy said the lease still is being negotiated, with an agreement expected by the end of August. Ford Island Properties is part of the Hunt Development Group, and the deal grew out of a change to a previous agreement in which Ford Island Properties was granted leasehold interest to 40 acres on Ford Island.

Officials said Ford Island Properties planned to build 433 civilian residential units on Ford Island, but Navy concerns were raised about civilian home ownership on what is an active military base.

Hunt agreed to give up the Ford Island land in exchange for the 499 acres in Kalaeloa.

The Navy in January said the market value of Ford Island Properties' leasehold interest at Ford Island was appraised at $61 million, and the 499 acres at Kalaeloa — which includes much of the old 'Ewa Field land — was appraised at $75 million.



 As part of the deal, Ford Island Properties will contribute $16.6 million toward improvements on Ford Island.

Steve Colon, president of the Hawai'i division of the Hunt Development Group, said in a statement that the Kalaeloa land "offers an opportunity to create needed jobs near the urban center of Kapolei," but added that specific plans have not been made for its use.

Bond believes Hunt will build shopping centers and expensive homes on the land, which abuts Barbers Point Golf Course.

The Navy said it conducted a "cultural resource inventory survey" in 1997 for Naval Air Station Barbers Point. According to the State Historic Preservation Office, 'Ewa Field was declared "excess" and was absorbed into the adjacent Barbers Point base in 1952.

Barbers Point was shuttered in 1999 by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Navy Region Hawai'i said in a statement that "it's honorable that Mr. Bond wants to preserve history, and we certainly understand his concerns about the airfield."

The Navy command said the long-term lease will recognize the center of the former 'Ewa Field airfield as being eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

That area encompasses about 4 to 5 acres where the runways crisscross, and where the original 1920s airship mooring mast and later control tower were located.

There also is further complication to Bond's hope that key parts of the old air base can be preserved. The Navy points out that as part of the base realignment and closure process, portions of 'Ewa Field are to be conveyed to other entities besides Hunt. They include:

The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands is to receive land to the south of the airfield with some of the concrete aircraft revetments.

The city is to get a portion of the main runway and land where a hangar once stood.

Bond wants a much larger area preserved than the 4 to 5 acres proposed by the Navy. He thinks sections of both runways that were in existence on Dec. 7, 1941, should be set aside, along with the old mooring mast and control tower locations, and some of the base entry roads in the vicinity of the intersection of Vinson and Philippine Sea.

"That's the original main gate," Bond said. "That's where FDR came through. That's a historic road."

The base grew in size during World War II, and Bond said he's not interested in all of the existing land, including the aircraft revetments that were built later in the war. It's the Dec. 7 sites that he's most focused on.

Bond is pursuing nomination of the base land to the National Register of Historic Places, and the preservation he'd like to see would require Hunt and the city to set aside land.

"This area's going to be nothing but shopping malls and housing tracts," he said. "Why the hell can't we have some green space parks here?"

'Ewa Field is deserving of the recognition for the actions that set it apart as one of the first areas to be attacked on Dec. 7 and for the response mustered by outgunned Marines, Bond said.

Kane'ohe Naval Air Station, and Wheeler, Hickam and Bellows fields also were struck in addition to Pearl Harbor.

At the time of the attack, there were nearly 50 aircraft on the ground at 'Ewa Field. Most were damaged or destroyed in three passes by the Japanese. Four Marines were killed.

According to one account, Marine Air Group 21 based at 'Ewa had 11 Grumman F4F Wildcats, 32 Scout dive bombers and six utility planes.

 An originally classified Defense Department report on the raid said that "so precise and well-executed were the individual attacks that it appeared as though each plane previously had selected its particular target."

The Japanese aircraft aimed at the wings of the aircraft on the ground "with the purpose of riddling them, and setting fire to the gas tanks in order to render them useless for pursuit and interception."

Marines fought back initially with only small arms and rifles, and a Marine Corps account of the attack noted that Lt. Yoshio Shiga, commander of nine Zero fighters, recalled one Leatherneck, who, oblivious to the machine gun fire striking the ground around him, stood transfixed, emptying his sidearm at Shiga's Zero as it roared past.

 "Years later, Shiga would describe that lone, defiant, and unknown Marine as the bravest American he had ever met," the report states.

A wild card of sorts exists for possible preservation of 'Ewa Field in the form of President Bush's directive last month for the Defense Department and Interior Department to consider Pearl Harbor and other locations in the Pacific for possible nomination as national monuments.

 






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Friday, July 5, 2013

Fort Barrette and 'Ewa Field hold memorial observances Sunday


Fort Barrette and 'Ewa Field hold memorial observances Sunday


Kapolei - A little-known and almost forgotten part of Pearl Harbor Day history will be honored tomorrow at 8:00 and 10:00 am with with observances planned at Fort Barrette and at the nearby Marine Corps 'Ewa Field.

Service members were killed at both Kapolei locations in the surprise Japanese attack on December 7, 1941.

Cpl. Joseph A. Medlen was killed in a straffing run at Fort Barrette. He was a railway engineer at the coast defense gun emplacement, and was hit as soldiers at the fort tried to cover the big guns so they wouldn't be bombed.

Due to the number of aircraft on the ground that morning, `Ewa Field may have actually been the first site attacked by the Japanese on Dec. 7.

There were nearly 50 aircraft lined up when the attack came. Most were damaged or destroyed in strafing passes by the Japanese.

The site also has an unfinished swimming pool, from which the Marines defended the field with 1906 Springfield rifles.

The dogfight made famous by so many Pearl Harbor movies actually took place over `Ewa Field.

At 8:00 am an observance will be held at Fort Barrette, off Fort Barrette Road.

A Wai'anae High School ROTC color guard will honor the single Dec. 7 loss there.

Between ceremonies, privately-owned military vehicles will lead a convoy from Fort Barrette to 'Ewa Field. The route will follow Fort Barrette Road to Roosevelt Avenue to Corregidor Road.

At 10:00 am the `Ewa Field ceremonies will begin. Four Marines died at 'Ewa Field, as well as civilians.

Pearl Harbor Day survivors expected to attend the observance are John Hughes, a Marine who defended 'Ewa Field on Dec. 7, 1941, and Ray Emory, a Pearl Harbor survivor.

Daniel Martinez, chief historian for the USS Arizona Memorial and larger World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, will be the speaker.

'Ewa Beach historian John Bond organized both observances. Bond told the Honolulu Advertiser that he decided to hold the observances the day before the big Pearl Harbor commemoration so there wouldn't be a conflict. Both events tomorrow are open to the public.

World War II and military law in Hawai`i made significant chances to the social structure of the Islands, and brought Hawai`i to the attention of the world.







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Ewa Field photos reveal damaging evidence

Ewa Field photos reveal damaging evidence

by John Bond    Save Ewa Field

1925 photos of Ewa Mooring Mast Field prior to construction indicate archeological evidence of significant numbers of coral karst sinkholes which possibly could contain Hawaiian burial remains.
   
 I have also seen currently existing coral karst sinkholes very nearby with very old Ti plants growing out of them, indicating some Hawaiian cultural activity in the past.
This is in an area directly adjacent to areas Hunt Corp, which leases land from the Navy, is now having bulldozed and uprooted (“grubbing?”) for new commercial lots in an area that has been defined as a National Register eligible Ewa Field warehouse district according to a survey just done this year.
Glenn Oamilda of the 50-year-old Ewa Beach Community Association and Section 106 Consultant to the current Navy-Hunt KREP-Ewa Field development plan under 106 review, believes that this area likely contains an underground karst water system as well as possible Hawaiian burial remains.

It is of especially great concern because this current work has been going on at odd hours and at night. The large machinery doing this work has been piling up large amounts or coral rocks and beach sand, as well as very large tree trunks pulled out of the ground.

This does not seem to fit the allowed “grubbing” activity that is supposedly permitted without a Section 106.

Mike Lee, a living descendent of Hawaiian royalty, has been asked to become a community consultant on this on going damage of heavy equipment digging and leveling in the Ewa Field area, and after reviewing the 1925 Ewa Mooring Mast pre-construction photos has great concern about damage that may be done to possible cultural and Hawaiian burial sites that likely exist just below the surface.

The 1941 Ewa Field Command History speaks of caverns as large as railway boxcars that had to be filled up with beach sand in many cases from nearby beach dunes, which have been known to also contain Hawaiian bones and artifacts.

Lee and Glenn believe that the Ewa Field area is part of a contiguous Hawaiian burial area linked to the significant Onelua beach burial and heiau area directly to the south of this Ewa Field area.

Where Hunt Corp is currently bulldozing and clearing it is exposing sand and coral rock, which can also be clearly seen in the overhead GIS attachment.

Part of the area they are clearing isn’t even on their leased parcel. The Navy is apparently allowing them to do this.

Hunt Corp has just recently allowed a TV film crew to use 1943 Quonset Hunt 1545 (which really wasn’t on their leased property) and now inspection reveals missing windows, door, a large World War II building 1545 sign designation and two large holes cut into the side of the building for film cameras.

This seems to be a very typical of the pattern—a constant chipping away of historic structures to satisfy a goal of “no integrity” which Hunt and the Navy share as a development objective.

Before the Quonset hut they knocked down the landmark 1943 Ewa Field Squadron Wall along Roosevelt Avenue without any public input or notice. Hunt apparently believes that no one can stop them from continuously damaging everything that is of historic value at Ewa Field.

The Navy is doing nothing to prevent this from happening. We can only record their on going damage after they have done it. The State Historic Preservation Division doesn’t seem to care either anymore.

John Bond
Save Ewa Field





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Ewa Field Battlefield Survey Report released by Navy

Ewa Field Battlefield Survey Report released by Navy

by John Bond

The Ewa Field December 7 Battlefield could become a recognized National Battlefield, National Landmark and major new West Oahu visitor attraction 

 


A public meeting will now finally help bring the Save Ewa Field mission to an official Federal Section 106 Public hearing. The Pearl Harbor attack of 1941 remains today as the single GREATEST visitor attraction for Oahu.  All of the other major Pearl Harbor attack sites have become National Landmarks, but they are all on Military Bases.  This is the FIRST NEW recognized Pearl Harbor battle site and it is in West Oahu.


A recognized Ewa Field Historic Park could bring thousands of visitors to Ewa-West Oahu as part of a Pearl Harbor tour program and part of the National Park Service WW-II Valor In The Pacific monument. The Hawaii State Legislature as well as three neighborhood boards voted in 2009 for the preservation of Ewa Field as a park, museum site, memorial landmark and national battlefield. Pearl Harbor historian Daniel Martinez has called Ewa Field "Hallowed Ground" because of the US Marines killed in action there. Hundreds of veterans, citizens and remaining Pearl Harbor attack survivors have attend our annual Save Ewa Field events.


Ewa Field Battlefield Survey Report:

Lots of specific Ewa Field information for Dec. 7 historians in this PDF- many aspects covered- including runways, buildings, railway line, horse stables and much more. The "integrity" is skewed towards the Hunt Corp agenda of LEAST PRESERVATION- but reading the actual survey report tells a lot more and says the survey is just "preliminary." A LOT MORE research and survey documentation is needed, say the report authors for this very significant December 7 Battlefield.


A few selected random bits...

1.1.4: EWA FIELD BATTLEFIELD BOUNDARY Based on the battlefield defining features identified through military terrain analysis above, the core area of the Ewa Field battlefield encompasses approximately 180 acres, including the extent of the installation’s aviation and camp areas in 1941. This boundary is shown in Figure 1 (p. 25), and includes all the areas known to have been directly involved in combat. This is the area addressed in the integrity evaluation that follows. Several areas of strafing mark groups have craters in the concrete much larger than that made from the 7.7mm bullets of the Japanese machine guns. These craters are of variable width, from about 4" to about 12" across and about 2½" deep, and may have been made by the projectile of a 20mm cannon from a Japanese Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" fighter. This aircraft had 2- 20mm cannons (Oerlikon Type FF cannons firing 20x72rb cartridge) mounted in the wings along with 2- 7.7mm machine guns in the fuselage. A record of this damage (possible bullet marks and spalling) to the concrete aircraft warm-up platform was made during the fieldwork for this report and is included in Appendix A of this report.

A Japanese Val pilot after the war related:
"After bombing the battleship we looked down on Ford Island and strafed the airfield (at Ewa) as instructed. After that we evacuated toward the sea off Honolulu (Ewa). There we circled and waited for the others to show up. Just then we were followed and attacked by a P-40 enemy fighter plane."

"Pilot Gotoh of the No.1 plane of (an) Akagi carrier bomber (shotai), which had participated in the attack with us, engaged one of these P-40s in an air duel. Both ended up shooting each other down off Honolulu (Ewa). The enemy plane went down and so did ours. Because we had observed the air duel both were credited with a plane shot down."
The fighter aircraft were Mitsubishi A6M, named "Zero" or "Zeke" by the US. These aircraft were armed with two, forward firing 7.7mm machine guns in the fuselage and two, 20mm cannon in the wings firing a 20 x 72rb round. This was an early type of 20mm cartridge, of relatively lower power than later 20mm rounds, firing its projectile at about 1900 feet/ second velocity. Zeros were capable of carrying 60kg bombs, but were not armed with bombs that day. These fast and nimble aircraft would have been able to strafe ground targets at Ewa Field.

On the morning of December 7, 1941 several mobile batteries (with 3" guns) were set up and ready to fire between 10 and 11 am. One mobile battery was ready at Fort Weaver at 11:45 am. .30 cal. machine gun units and fixed 3" guns at Fort Weaver were quickly readied and began engaging the attacking aircraft at 8:14 and 8:30 am (Gaines 2001, 46). Another cadre of men at a fixed battery at Fort Barrette opened fire with small arms before the battery was ready to fire (Gaines 2001, 46). A regiment of Coast Artillery at Camp Malakole, near Barber's Point, had moved into their positions at West Loch and near Ewa and were ready to fire at 11:45 am.

Guards at Camp Malakole had shot down a strafing Japanese plane at about 8:05 am with small arms fire (Gaines 2001, 47). The Navy's Fleet Machine Gun Training School at Fort Weaver began firing machine guns and 20mm cannon at 8:10 and are credited with downing four Japanese aircraft.

After the attack, maps that were found on the bodies of downed Japanese aviators showed that the attackers had a very accurate picture of the location of US gun batteries on Oahu (Williford 2003, 40).

The surviving Quonsets huts at Ewa Field are evaluated here in light of this recent change in how Quonsets are viewed and are considered potentially eligible for the National Register. Other structures at Ewa Field can be considered potentially eligible. A cluster of former warehouses at the corner of Coral Sea Road and Roosevelt Avenue could be eligible as a district or thematic grouping, and an aircraft hangar and compass rose have direct ties to the core aviation function of Ewa Field and are also potentially NR eligible.


2.4.3: EWA FIELD AIRCRAFT REVETMENT HISTORIC DISTRICT The approximately 75 extant vaulted concrete aircraft revetments south of the airfield that were constructed ca. 1942-43 have been evaluated in previous studies and are considered eligible for the National Register as a district for their association with the development of Ewa Field during World War II. Although some of the revetments are currently used as horse stables, all aspects of their integrity are retained (setting is partially retained due to infill horse corrals and vegetation growth).
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'Forgotten' Sacrifice Honored In West Oahu
 

 










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Location: Honolulu, HI, USA
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