Hawaii Homefront: Life in the Islands During World War II

Hawaii Homefront: Life in the Islands During World War II grew out of many long conversations with those who experienced the era firsthand, from civilian war workers at Pearl Harbor Navy Yard and the "Underground" at Red Hill to Navy pilots stationed at Kaneohe and Hilo Bay; from housewives and Red Cross volunteers to Provost Marshall Frank Steer who ran the Islands under martial law; from submariners who partied at the Royal Hawaiian between war patrols to HRT trolley bus operators trundling young men to th "boogie houses" in Chinatown; and from members of the 100th and 442nd who fought ferociously to prove their patriotism and then came home determined to improve life in Hawaii for everyone. Long before this book had any photos or paintings or maps, it had the collective memories of those whose lives changed forever on December 7.