Warbird Information Exchange

"Lest We Forget" - Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field Annual Pearl Harbor Day Commemoration Events, Sunday December 5, 2010

Attached Photos by Jerry Stanfield

Video by Tom Berg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1dLXSFahM0

Approximately 250 people attended the third annual Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field Commemoration events, featuring veteran speakers, military vehicle convoy, US Air Force, US Marine ceremonial teams, and US Coast Guard HH-65A Dolphin helicopter fly-by.

It was a beautiful sunny morning as veterans and local residents gathered first at Fort Barrette, Kapolei ( known today as the Kapolei Archery Range ) where four US Army coast Artillery soldiers stationed nearby, and were killed by attacking Japanese Zero fighters and Val dive bombers. Hawaii Veteran Services director and Master or Ceremonies Mark Moses read the names of the KIA, after which the seven member Hickam US Air Force ceremonial rifle team fired M-14 rifles in salute, followed by taps from the US PACAF band bugler.

The entire attending group then convoyed from Fort Barrette lead by WW-II military vehicles, including jeeps, trucks and M20 Armored Car. Following them were cars and vans loaded with veterans, military cadets and Pearl Harbor vets and their families. The MCAS Ewa commemoration site is located where the actual battle took place and the event parking area is where the original 1941 hanger once stood. The Ewa marine air base aircraft ramp, hanger and fortified aircraft revetments were also a featured location in the 1970 movie "Tora, Tora, Tora."

Beginning around 10:30 AM, the MCAS Ewa Field Commemoration event began with a "Pearl Harbor has been bombed" radio news flash and the playing of President Roosevelt's famous "Day of Infamy"
Speech. Then the presentation of colors by US Marines from the 3rd Radio Battalion, Marine Corps Base Hawaii-Kaneohe.

Master of Ceremonies and Ewa Beach resident Tito Montes introduced the attending veterans and guests which included the Fleet Reserve Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Park Service.
The large pavilion tent and chairs were provided by the Ewa Beach Lions Club and the National Guard Hawaii Youth Challenge Academy cadets provided parking direction.

Speakers included Ray Emory, well known Pearl Harbor historian and survivor of the USS Honolulu, who has dedicated his life to identifying those killed which still are listed as unknowns. Also speaking was Ewa Field combat veteran John Hughes, Major, USMC, Ret. who told the assembled audience what it was like out there at the Marine Air Group 21 fighter base on December 7, 1941. LCDR David Stroud, US Navy Chaplain Corps provided the morning benediction service.

Other speakers included John Willoughby, a retired Navy P-3 Orion pilot and American Legion member, and LCDR Edward Ahlstrand US Coast Guard Barbers Point historian who recounted Ewa Field history and the US Coast Guard December 7th actions. Joedy Adams of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors stated their groups intention to keep alive the "Lest We Forget"
mission and also made a plea for the historic preservation of the MCAS Ewa attack site.

The names of four US Marines and two Ewa Village civilians killed on December 7, 1941 were read, as well as the names of eight US Navy air crewmen from the USS Enterprise who were shot down by Japanese Zeros near by Ewa Field. These Navy planes and subsequent shot down Japanese planes, all crashed in in nearby areas or offshore in and around the local Ewa Beach community.

There are no memorials or commemorations for any of these December 7 Navy deaths in Ewa West Oahu, which remain part of the largely untold Ewa air combat "Pearl Harbor' story where the most significant air combat action took place that Sunday morning. December 7th veteran John Hughes after the ceremony described seeing an Army P-40 pilot shoot down two Japanese planes just seconds apart over Ewa Field.
Hughes himself later became a decorated Marine combat pilot in the Pacific War that began that morning with him fighting back against Japanese planes armed only with just a 1903 Springfield rifle.

A rifle salute team of US Marines from the 3rd Radio Battalion, Marine Corps Base Hawaii and bugler from the MARFORPAC Band provided the rifle salute and playing of taps for the 14 US Marines, Naval airmen and Ewa civilians killed on the morning of December 7, 1941. This was followed by a low flyover of a US Coast Guard HH-65A Dolphin helicopter which is based near by at USCG Air Station Barbers Point.

Following the event the Hawaii Military Vehicle Preservation Association, Hawaii Military Vehicle Museum and the Hawaii Historic Arms Association displayed their vehicles and re-enactment weapons for the attendees. Others gathered around Pearl Harbor historian Ray Emory and Ewa Field Marine veteran John Hughes to ask questions about what they saw that Sunday December 7th morning. For many it was a great honor just to shake the hand of these great WW-II veterans and December 7th survivors.

Other Ewa Village residents were also available to recount their own eye-witness attack stories, including Kiyoshi Ikeda, a retired UH Hawaii college professor who lived in nearby Ewa Village as a teenager, and barely missed being killed by a strafing Japanese plane. The extensive attack on Ewa Village remains as another uncommemorated and yet to be fully documented Pearl Harbor history.

The Ewa West Oahu Pearl Harbor histories and stories were again barely mentioned and largely ignored by the US National Park Service for reasons that suit certain pro-developer interests and agendas.

Fort Barrette - MCAS Ewa Event Coordinator - John Bond, 808-685-3045

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ALSO SEE Honolulu Star Advertiser Story...

An airfield gets its due during a ceremony recalling Dec. 7, 1941 By Dan Nakaso

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/2010 ... e_too.html

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Retired US Marine Jack Cunningham has made a "Cause" webpage for Save Ewa Field...

http://www.causes.com/causes/554541-hel ... ttle-site/
about?m=

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The Save Ewa Field website is: http://www.december7.com/

More History about Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field is here:
http://www.december7.com/1941/index.html

John Bond
Save Fort Barrette and MCAS Ewa Field

The Ewa marine air base aircraft ramp, hanger and fortified aircraft revetments were also a featured location in the 1970 movie "Tora, Tora, Tora."

I don't know the subject of the area of Pearl Harbour, but in a more general discussion, I think it's difficult to find the real good compromise between the history, the remembrance and on the other side the futur, the developpement and unfortunately the $$ (or €€ or £££ depending of where you are)

In Europe, a huge part of the the countries, are "historical area", from the fields of the Somme (WWI battle), the Normandy, the Bulge area, etc

Of course, lots of historical points are preserved (and well preserved), but it's impossible to keep in "the same aspect" than in the 1940's period, for example 30% of a countryside.

I'm not shocked to see that fields where no historical things are still visible were returned to their first function: farming.
By the same way, the beach of Normandy are, each summer, place of swimming, plays, leasure time. Probably a bit shoking I think

Personnaly, as a scout leader, I have organised "game" during scout's camps in the Bulge area: not very easy to find the good compromise between fun and remembrance when you play in woods where people probably died decades ago (I precise that we avoided all the area where we known that combats takes place, but in the zone around Bastogne, every woods saw action during the war and after discussion, we decided to firstly organised an activity re-explaining to the scouts what's was the history of the area)

Just to say, mixing past and futur, need lots of respect.

Thanks CDF.

I remember a shot of P-40s being taxied out of revetments; guess that was Ewa. Which other scenes were filmed there?

As the aircraft of Lieutenants Welch and Taylor, they engaged in dogfights with Japanese planes over the sugarcane fields by Ewa Marine Corps Air Field.

The US Navy will be finally transferring around 500 acres to the C & C of Honolulu (pending for at least a decade already) as a Regional Park. Various issues held up this transfer for years.

We are making a proposal to the City to allow a Friends of Save Ewa Field group to maintain and protect the battlefield area from looters, vandals and trash dumpers. Our SEF Friends will include community civic organizations, veterans, Youth Challenge cadets and off-duty military folks who live in the Ewa area and care about our local WW-II history. These same people have already been keeping the ceremonial area clean through many weekends of hard work and clean-up, so we don't think the City will want to turn down this offer!

This land transfer will actually happen through the Dept. of Interior - National Park Service, which is the usual Federal land transfer protocol for a FEDERAL park lands transfer. This means that NPS SHOULD be able to accurately translate to the City the great important of this location as an December 7, 1941 Oahu battle site. All other major battle sites on Oahu have received National Landmark status already, and Ewa Field became a recognized part of the NPS "WW-II Valor in the Pacific" National Monument in 2008. This didn't make it a monument, but it can still be elevated to that status in the future by a Presidential proclamation (which we are working on, as well as elevated National Landmark status.)

The attached map shows the northern part of this city land transfer (which also includes other Ewa Coast areas) and how the City parcel includes the area where we hold our annual Save Ewa Field Commemoration. It's that blue area just above the FAA Circle. Hunt Corp is currently doing its own Section
106 Survey, as required by Federal Law, because they want to built a solar farm in that yellow panhandle area just above the historic WW-II aircraft revetment horse stables area.

The RED line shows an approximate horse trail "right of way" that allows horseback riders to go from the stables, up to the December 7 battlefield area, and on out to join up with the Pearl Harbor Historic Trail.
The PHHT is something our new District One City Councilman Tom Berg has been fighting for for 10 years.
We are definitely very happy to have a new city councilman who can give this Ewa Field site, and the surrounding historic areas, a much needed additional political voice.

In addition, we hope to be working with an active WW-II Military Museum organization that would provide the additional educational and protective components to make this all work for purposes of historic WW-II era interpretation.

Since this land area also comes under State of Hawaii Community Development Authority (HCDA) jurisdiction as part of the Barbers Point NAS BRAC, it is also zoned as "Eco-Industrial." The question here will be- how will this affect a City Regional Park in the types of activities that can take place in this area?

Let me know if you would like to be a member of the Friends of Save Ewa Field group that would provide security and caretaking support for the December 7 Ewa Field battle site area.

John Bond
Save Ewa Field
gm@december7.com