Countdown to Infamy The Aloha Tower Story

COUNTDOWN TO INFAMY

The Aloha Tower Story

By Daniel A. Martinez, Historian, NPS

Illustration courtesy journalist and historian Burl Burlingame

On the morning of December 7th the sultry trade winds blew at a speed of 10 knots across the waters of Honolulu Harbor. The weather was temperate at 73 degrees and there were light clouds over the Koolau mountains. For those planning to spend a quiet Sunday on Oahu the weather was perfect.

In the heart of the city of Honolulu Aloha Tower was the tallest structure in the Hawaiian Islands. It was over 184 feet tall and was built just along the southern shoreline of the harbor in 1926. The tower was placed between the terminal buildings that were located between Piers 10 and 11. It was the central landing for the docking of the great Matson Liners that brought passengers to and from the mainland of the United States. In 1941 many civilian workers and military personnel brought their families here to work on expansion of military facilities for the Navy and Army.

My mother and her family came to Hawaii in the spring of 1941 aboard the Matsonia. As a young girl of 10 years, she remembered seeing the Aloha Tower as they approached Honolulu Harbor with its large balustrades holding the letters that spelled out the word ALOHA on the upper section of the building. What she didn't know was this was the largest structure in Honolulu and for that matter the Hawaiian Islands. Its design was unique as well as its construction which was made of reinforced concrete that was later covered in stucco. Its Art Deco design dominated the structure. Arched structures were placed at the entryways at the base of the tower. It was simply a splendid project design and a unique piece of architecture for the Territory of Hawaii.

The tower has a prominent square base with four large arched entryways. On the upper section of the tower were square stylized windows repeated on all four sides. An observation deck was located on the tenth floor. As the structure rises, it narrows slightly above the deck where the roof is curved and is adorned with green plaster with a 40-foot yardarm with rigging. But the dominant feature was its four-sided clockface that is 12 feet in diameter with a window band framed by two pilaster strips.

On that fateful day the tower served unwittingly as a register of the time of the attack at 7:55 am, which marked the first bomb to fall on the seaplane ramp at the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor. Truth be known, the raid had already begun at the airfields surrounding Oahu minutes before that. When the 1943 film December 7th directed by John Ford was released, in the opening sequence of the attack, the Aloha Tower clock froze in cinematic time at 7:55 as the start of the attack.

Unknown to most visitors to Pearl Harbor is the story of the brief attack on the Coast Guard ships at Honolulu Harbor. The Coast Guard became aware of the attack on Pearl within 15 minutes after it began. Anti-aircraft fire could be seen in the air above Pearl Harbor and six miles away the billowing clouds of black smoke rose up from Hickam Field. The cutter Taney moored in Honolulu Harbor at Pier 6 was a Coast Guard ship first to go to General Quarters. The alarm spread among the other Guard vessels. The Patrol Craft CG-8 was tied up at Pier 4 along with the Buoy Tender Kukui and Walnut along with the Patrol Craft Reliance. The strafing attack on Honolulu Harbor began at 9:00 am as the second wave attack unfolded on the island of Oahu. Several Zero fighters unleashed a lowlevel run on vessels below them. At the end of their run over the harbor a pair of Zero fighters flashed by the Aloha Tower. It was over as quick as it had begun.

Earlier that morning shortly before 7:55 am, the cutter Tiger was on patrol near the Barbers Point Lighthouse and may at that time have fired the first shots at the Japanese First Wave. The damage was light at Honolulu Harbor but the Pacific War had now come to the peaceful and welcoming icon of the Aloha Tower.