Kalaupapa December 7, 1941

Ten year old Henry upon admission to Kalihi Hospital

Portrait of Uncle Henry 1995

HOW KALAUPAPA LEARNED PEARL HARBOR WAS ATTACKED

by Sister Alicia Damien Lau

This past December 7, 2021, was the 80th commemoration of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. If you asked anyone where they were on December 7, 1941, most would remember.

My parents were just married on December 6, so everyone was still partying when the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. Wondering about Kalaupapa, I found that many of the children with leprosy, were at the Kalihi Hospital in Honolulu and witnessed the bombing themselves. In Kalaupapa, Uncle Henry Nalaielua was here when the bombing happened. He tells of the account in his book, “NO FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND - A Memoir of Kalaupapa.”

It was a Sunday morning, and they had just finished their breakfast, Uncle Henry’s favorite - “steak and eggs with rice and coffee.” He says, “the oldest guy at Baldwin Home, Hayashi, had a radio turned on in the dorm, tuned to his favorite Honolulu station. But instead of hearing music, we found out that the Japanese Imperial Navy had just made an unprovoked sneak attack on Pearl Harbor wreaking havoc and destruction on all Hawaiian military bases but especially Pearl Harbor Naval base where the battleships were being bombed relentlessly. We all crowded around Hayashi’s radio, listening to sirens in the background of the news report.”

Uncle Henry with Polynesian Voyaging Society navigator Nainoa Thompson

Martial law was declared in Hawaii. He tried to call his parents; however, all calls were cancelled. His greatest fear was that two of his brothers would join the U.S. Armed forces since they were already in the National Guard.

Rationing became a way of life affecting food, gasoline, and everything else. They could not get poi and had to rely heavily on rice. Uncle Henry “did not like the blackout.” All activities had to cease at 9pm and the blackout was total. Car and truck headlights were painted black except for a little hole in the middle. Shades were pulled and only BR light was left on. “We were young, and it did not matter, but lots of patients were quite handicapped and were groping around in the dark, barely able to see where they were going.”

The war did not touch them at all. Uncle Henry goes on to say, “Ironically, although we were essentially imprisoned at Kalaupapa, we had more freedom and privacy and less war-induced hardship than many of Hawai’i residents.”

Six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, most of the children from Kalihi Hospital were transferred to Kalaupapa on May 15, 1942. The forty-two children between the ages of nine and eighteen created a change for the Board of Health. Providing diversions and education for them resulted in the formation of the Kalaupapa Boy Scout Troop No. 46 and establishing a school using equipment from Mount Happy School in Kalihi.

UPDATES ON THE PANDEMIC

The pandemic took its toll on the nine remaining patients at Kalauapapa National Historical Park. Relatives and close friends were forbidden to visit, and news stories chronicled their loneliness and disappointment. On Jan 6, 2022, a ceremony was held on Kalaupapa to mark the 156 years to the day since the first dozen residents landed on the isolated peninsula. The irony was not lost on remaining patients who were quarantined for contracting Hansen’s Disease but became prisoners during the COVID lockdown. Also in January 2022, which had been designated Kalaupapa Month, loved ones and supporters began a campaign asking for letters of support. PHP joined in the letter writing campaign asking our members and donors to write letters. See the results above and check our PHP social media for additional photos.

“They are just delighted that people are writing to them and they are not forgotten,” Sister Alicia Damien Lau said.

And there’s a positive update to go with those letters of support and encouragement. In mid-March 2022, at roughly the two-year anniversary of the pandemic shutdown, the state Health Department began allowing limited visits by relatives and friends of the patients to the settlement. There are still stringent rules to be followed. And the park remains closed to the general public and commercial tours.