Cane Fires: The Anti-Japanese Movement in Hawaii, 1865-1945

9. Into the Cold Night Rain

Chapter 9 Into the Cold Night Rain I bid farewell To the faces of my sleeping children As I am taken prisoner Into the cold night rain -Muin Otokichi Ozaki Total War Years before bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii geared for war. The "Gibraltar of the Pacific" had to be made impregnable against enemies both within and without. The Army Service Command, established in 1935, tied "civil control forces" to the military in a close partnership to prevent sabotage and local uprisings, arguing the need for a total effort because of Hawaii's isolated location in mid Pacific but also because over one-third of its people were Japanese. The cooperation of the sugar planters was critical to the success of the army's defense plans. Representatives of the Service Command spoke at the 1935 annual meeting of HSPA to explain how crop diversification was a matter of national defense. In response, HSPA formed a diversified crops committee to explore the economics of moving away from an exclusive reliance on sugar. Going a step further, the army presented its own food plan to plantation managers in the fall of 1940, which proposed a comprehensive program of close control over the production and distribution of food during wartime and identification of sugar lands on which cane would be plowed under for less profitable table crops.! Predictably, the prospect of reduced revenues vexed some 195 World War II, 1941-1945 planters; nevertheless, the relationship between the military and the planters during the war was generally mutually beneficial. Despite the army's assurances that it was prepared to meet all emergencies , anxious business and community leaders met in the Honolulu mayor's office in July 1940 to consider Hawaii's war readiness. They agreed that although the territory's fall was unlikely, it was still possible, and they advised that plans be made to remove the dangers of "sabotage during the period of strained relations" and of war involving "partial blockade; bombardment; bombing; landing of parachute troops; landing of major boats or troops." 2 Civilian concern over sabotage and military preparedness was almost certainly influenced by the fortunes of war in Europe. The widespread fear of a Fifth Column-a term coined during the Spanish civil war of 1936-1939 in which Madrid was betrayed from within-seemed to have held particular relevance to many members of Hawaii's elite. Their anxiety increased when France's Vichy regime surrendered and the German Luftwaffe launched the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. The army's plan for total warfare in Hawaii led to the creation of a paramilitary organization called the Provisional Police in July 1940. The Provisional Police was apparently established through the efforts of the Honolulu mayor, the chief of police, and managers of plantations on Oahu; it consisted of plantation employees, members of the American Legion, and utility workers trained in guard duty. The Provisionals were led by a plantation manager, T. G. S. Walker, and their mission was to prevent and suppress any emergency such as "sudden and unpredicted overt acts by disloyal inhabitants." 3 The all-civilian Provisionals were headed by an officer corps under a field commander who directed large numbers of men in the field. Rural Oahu was divided into five districts, which were subdivided into local beats. Although the districts encompassed strategic installations, they were essentially demarcated by plantations, rather than by bridges, power stations, and the like. The idea was to free the regular militia from guard duty by utilizing plantation laborers familiar with local faces, terrain, and conditions, who could be easily mobilized, efficiently managed through the existing plantation hierarchy, and were eyes and ears for detecting sabotage and infiltration by outsiders.4 The plantations thus relieved the military of a potential manpower drain and the expenses of housing, food, and transportation; the army provided Into the Cold Night Rain 197 weapons, mainly riot guns, and training. By April 1941, over 1,500 Provisionals were ready for action. Soon after, Provisionals were organized on the outlying islands, making the system territorywide in scope.5 The planters were not moved by patriotism alone, although partnership with the military was certainly appreciated by the army commander, who commended the HSPA for its "splendid co-operation." What was important to the planters was the fact that the Provisional Police not only secured the territory but protected their private property as well. The...