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Historical Events

An Era of Change: Oral Histories of Civilians in World War II Hawai‘i

Five men in uniforms behind a stretcher piled with blankets and other supplies

Interviewee Hisao Kimura, second from left, and other first aid squad members, stand in front of the Waimea First Aid Station, ca. 1942. (Photo courtesy Kimura family.)

Perhaps nowhere else on American soil were the war years more acutely felt and the federal government’s influence more pervasive than in Hawai‘i. The changes due to wartime policies and conditions were particularly pronounced given the Islands’ geographic isolation, multiethnic population, plantation-based economy, and highly stratified social order.

“Before the war came . . . we’d be working at Hickam Field. That was with all local boys, but when I went to (Fort) Shafter, then I was in sort of a Haole (Caucasian) environment, so to speak. . . . Because civil service is you take the test and they grade you and all that. They don’t discriminate (against) you for color line, see. That was the big difference. . . . Not like before the war when we were on separate strata, so to speak.” —Etsuo Sayama

Martial law with its seemingly endless string of rules and regulations dictated minute details of daily life. Rationing, curfews, blackouts, and censorship set limits on what were once routine activities.

“In business, a law was passed that you couldn’t keep raising your prices. In implementing this law, they (government) couldn’t decide how to carry it out since it was something new. . . . I went to the government office for price control many times. He (local administrator) finally set it for me. He praised me saying it was very good, but we couldn’t make much money under those conditions. That was no good.” (Laughs.) —Toso Haseyama

“Oh, the liquor. Liquor and rice. Rice is not rationed, but you had to go and get it fast because the shipment doesn’t come in so often. And then the people (who have) money, they buy bags and bags of rice. And that’s how get shortage, eh.” —Helen Lau

The forced relocation and/or internment of certain aliens of Japanese ancestry, the movement of workers from neighbor islands to O‘ahu, the arrival of thousands of soldiers and civilian war workers, and the departure of thousands of locally recruited servicemen affected demographics.

“Our staff dropped by a third. Some were drafted, some volunteered. . . . And all during the war we had problems retaining enough to keep surviving under the changing conditions.” —Frederick Lowrey

This oral history project, sponsored in part by the National Park Service, focused on individual responses to the war. The interviews with thirty-three longtime residents provide us with primary source documentation on the war as a catalyst for social change.

Agnes Chun recalls what she saw from her Palama home on the morning of December 7, 1941 (.au sound file, 72K) and Frederick Lowrey describes what he saw that morning through his telescope from Maunalani Heights (.au sound file, 528K).

Interviewees

Agliam, Catalino Pedro, 73, sugar plantation worker, pineapple picker, fisherman, stevedore, truck driver
Aiton, Mary, 81, typist/secretary, USO assistant director of war workers, Office of War Information worker, columnist, real estate salesperson
Arakaki, Henriette, 65, homemaker, dietician’s aide, governor’s domestic and social activities overseer
Asada, Masao, 83, fruit and vegetable peddler, grocery store owner, liquor store manager
Chun, Agnes, 67, pineapple cannery worker; government messenger, timekeeper, supervisor, comptroller, and financial manager
Chun, Richard, 66, sheet metal worker, soldier, naval shipyard shop foreman, instructor
Dacoscos, Roland, 71, musician
Golden, Ernest, 69, civil service laborer, display maker, porter, porter services owner, supper club proprietor
Haseyama, Toso, 90, mill company worker, tailor shop owner
Hendrickson, Mary, 64, Women’s Air Raid Defense worker, newspaper employee, teacher
Hew, Kui Seu, 86, accountant, personnel manager
Kaaua, Nora, 76, Honolulu Rapid Transit employee, flight attendant, USO hula dancer, Army Ordnance Depot clerk stenographer, secretary
Kamaka, Samuel, Jr., 70, freight clerk, president and factory manager of ‘ukulele company
Kaneshiro, Fred, 72, plantation field worker, assistant bartender, trolley and bus driver, barber, sheet metal worker, draftsman, vacuum cleaner salesperson
Kimura, Elizabeth, 72, telephone operator, ranch store employee, ranch dispensary secretary, observatory office worker, flower farm employee
Kimura, Hisao, 81, ranch dairy worker, carpenter’s helper, fence worker, mechanic’s helper, and truck driver; water pump worker; produce grower; ranch nursery head agronomist
Kuwamoto, Harriet, 82, public health nurse
Lau, Helen, 77, office clerk, homemaker, navy exchange employee
Lindley, Samuel, 77, teacher, conscientious objector advisor, librarian
Lowrey, Frederick, 81, inventory clerk, vice president, president of lumber and construction supplies company
Meatoga, John, 66, defense worker, soldier, civil service worker
Nobriga, Manuel, 94, sugar plantation machinist, mill shift engineer
Okamura, Sadao, 66, welder apprentice, army journeyman, civil service worker, maintenance mechanic
Pacific, Joe, 89, shoe repair business owner
Sayama, Etsuo, 76, assistant agriculturalist, army engineers aide and draftsman
Suga, Harry, 67, layout artist, theater poster artist, sign maker
Tognetti, Paul, 72, police officer, soldier, pineapple company employee, feed and grain business worker
Ventura, Rosaline, 75, service station employee, homemaker, mail carrier, postal clerk, home care attendant
Watanabe, Kimiko, 70, laundry presser, maid, waitress, pineapple cannery worker
Yamada, Loraine, 66, lunch stand worker, waitress, furniture store employee, band manager, bookstore employee, hotel and country club employee
Yamada, Mitsuru, 85, fisherman, army laborer
Yamaguchi, Ruth, 65, exchange sales clerk, government clerk
Yuen, Ray, 79, newspaper salesperson, reporter, editor, legislative aide, Office of Manpower Resources planner

Interviewers

Kodama-Nishimoto, Michiko, research coordinator
Nishimoto, Warren, COH director
Rossi, Joe, research associate
Sato, Jonylle, research associate
Yamada, Holly, research associate