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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1943)
Student Tells First-Hand Account of Pearl Harbor (Editor’s Note: The following was written by a fresh man in journalism at the University, who was in Hono lulu at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor on De cember 7, 1941.) By AL HOWARD In Hawaii, back in the 1930’s, we heard numerous rumors in. ,:egard to the ideas which people on the mainland United S .Ates have about the Islands. In many cases it was the lack c': ideas which was most apparent. Rumors had it that people <th nk that pineapples grow on trees, that the girls wear hula skirts all the time, that many of the inhabitants live in grass e'. rcks. Some people went so far as to put foreign postage on let ters to Hawaii—an integral part of tlie United States. ■ t Opportunity Now ; Now that I have had an op portunity to talk with people here on the mainland I haven’t fo old anyone who thought such things. But, the trouble is, X am afraid, that they have not had much occasion to think about Ha '•Ruti at all. Why? Because news from the islands does not appear ic. papers here on the mainland. For a period of about a month after Pearl Hai-bor there were undoubtedly many articles about Hawaii in the papers and on the radio; but there has been posi tive evidence that many of them were misleading. Hawaii Resident For instance, a resident of Ha waii who happened to be on the continent on December 7, 1941, remarked upon his Return to Honolulu that he had expected to .see the waterfront with its famous Aloha tower, and the city itself in ruins. That was the im pr vision he had gleaned from the reports available here on the coast, and you can imagine his plmsant surprise when he found that, nearly everything was as it had been when he left with the exception of the damage done at the military bases, and the def initely changed attitude of the people. The other day on a well-known radio program, a woman, who a ' in Hawaii at the time of the attack, remarked in the course of t fu? interview that in the week following the 7th, there was, as f)hi> termed it, “a panic,” which resulted in a rush on foodstoros and service stations. A few ob servations in way of clarification of the actual situation may help to discredit her use of that term. Food Kush On There was a/ush on the food Gtores only in the sense that peo ple were merely following the course of storing food which all along had been advised by civil and military authorities. I do not moan that hoarding was officially sanctioned. but rather that the officials were trying to distribute the storage space and by so doing to Increase the amount of food that, could be stored. People bought all the blue Pg .Is and flashlights they could, simply because blue lights were ttio one type permitted in the to tal blackout which went into ef fcc the night of the 7th. Very few, if any. of the homes were blacked out prior to the attack and so, until they were, even one flashlight with blue paper over the bulb was a great blessing. People did fill their gas tanks, but only because they feared that the supply would be cut off be fore long. These reactions wore typical of human nature, not a "poaic.” Keal Interview T- two different interviews which appeared in. this paper last t ?. i, the people interviewed, who incidentally were only mali liinis (newcomers to Hawaii), a*' both of whom, I believe, left or the first convoy out, painted r v ither "panicky” picture of life in-vvediateU after the attack, very few cases were the ex amples of fear that they cited actually true of the whole situa tion. One of them said that peo ple rushed down to the steam ship company in an endeavor to hook passage home. But that is exaggerated. A few individuals did get queer ideas and made a clamor to leave. Army and navy officials suggested that as many people as could make arrange ments should leave. First Went Army However, nearly all of the peo ple who did leave on the first few convoys were the relatives of army and navy personnel, most of whom, I am positive, would not have left if they had not been ordered to do so. The civilians who rushed to get out were most ly tourists enjoying the end of the tourist season. Exceptions to the previous statesmen were the members of the visiting football teams of Willamette university and of San Jose, who surprised everyone by volunteering for temporary police duty until they could get passage home. I think tiiat a few concrete facts about the islands and their people, (not meant in a way of boasting) may help to dispel some cf the false and exagger ated ideas that may have been placed in your minds, and arouse in you a desire to learn more about Hawaii. Honolulu largest City Honolulu, which is the capital, is located cn the southern shore of the third largest island in the group, Oahu. In 1940, before the influx of large numbers of de fense workers started, the popu lation of Honolulu was set at 179,359 persons. Now it is esti mated to be about 200,000 per sons. There are three big pineapple canneries in the capital, Honolu lu. Two of them are owned by nationally known food produce companies and the third, owned by the Hawaiian Pineapple can nery, is believed to be the larg est fruit cannery in the world. Sugar Chief Industry Hawaii’s chief industry, sugar growing, operates under the the third largest sugar quota in the United States. The year-arouhd employment of the sugar plan tations is approximately 40,000, and Hawaii is the highest annual wage-paying sugar area in the United States. Hawaiian Airlines, ltd., which operates among these islands 'in the group, up to November of 1941, had flow in excess of 25, 000.000 passenger miles and had carried more than 250,000 pas sengers without fatality to either crew members or passengers. Fully Accredited The University of Hawaii in Honolulu is fully accredited by the Association of American Uni versities. In 1941 the number of credit students enrolled in the university was 2,219. Of course, since the war began, the enroll ment has dropped greatly, hut the university is still operating on a restricted basis. Schofield barracks, which was started in 1909, is today the larg est military post in the United States. Before the Jap attack on December 7, 1941, it was estimat ed that in monthly pay of mili Lost in Action A headline in the Wednesday Emerald announcing- the death of Lieut. Norman R. Angell, Oregon alum, was incorrect, although the accompanying story gave cor rect details. Lieutenant Angell has been reported “lost in ac tion” and no announcement of his death has been received. tary personnel, and in disburse ments in Honolulu for routine supplies and services, the army spent about §4,500,000 a month. Small Army Posts There are smaller army posts scattered throughout the islands, and there are large permanent airfields and small temporary landing fields on all the islands. And, of course, there is the navy’s great base at Pearl Harbor, about six miles from Honolulu. I am afraid that too many people think of the Hawaiian islands purely in terms of Pearl Harbor just as they think of the Philip pines in terms of Bataan. This trend of thought is understand able, but it is also correctable. Several people have asked me whether or not the resident Jap| anese in the islands have been interned. With the exception of a few who were actually known to be dangerous, the Japanese have not been interned. Figures re leased at the end of December placed the number of interned Japanese aliens at 273. Not Many Interned Why were not more of them in terned? The most convincing an swer, I think, lies in the figures that of some 450,000 island resi dents, about 160,000 are Japan ese. Of the latter, some 35,000 are aliens. And so, we find that about 34 per cent of the popula tion of Hawaii is of Japanese de scent. Danger? Possible, but not very probable. The Japanese language schools have ceased to exist, and most of the Shinto temples have been closed, (Shintoism is the state religion of Japan). Japan ese young people’s social groups have disbanded, and only two Japanese language newspapers are still printed. These two are allowed to continue for the sole purpose of informing the elderly Japanese, who do not read or write English, of the various laws which affect them. No Violence Despite the large number of Japanese in Hawaii, at no time prior to or since the attack on Pearl Harbor has there been re ported any specific case of vio lence involving persons of Japan ese ancestry. It is a known fact that the FBI, the arlny, and the navy are all on the alert; but also, the Japanese themselves realize the importance of mani festing their loyalty and obedi ence to America. What I have tried to point out, is that Hawaii, as an integral part of the United States, is as civilized, as well developed, as much a part of America as is any state; and that your knowledge about Hawaii should not lie solely in the fact that Pearl Harbor is Said to be located on one of the Islands, Twenty-five professors of Hol land’s University of Amsterdam have been dismissed under Nazi pressure. APMaeTells Stirring Tale Of Midway Is. “Japanese service men have very little to live for but a lot to die for; while our men are not fighting to die but to live,” said Wendell Webb, Associated Press correspondent, in his talk to the ASUO Thursday morning on th ■ battle of Midway. “The first day of the Midway siege, was the last, for the rest was merely a chase,” said Webb Coordinated Warfare “I think it was the finest exam ple of coordinated warfare be tween the navy, army, and mar ines that at least has come to public notice today," he added. The fleet was lying in wait for the Japs who were approaching Midway on the belief that there couldn’t be enough power among U. S. forces to withstand them. Soft Side, Too Midway was a “catcli-their breath-place” on iheir way to Ha waii and the United States. He explained that the Nips had only four cards left—the attack of Ha waii, Panama, the Aleutians, or the mainland of the United States. “Our boys are not going to commit suicide or give their lives uselessly,” he continued. “They have a healthy attitude but a soft side, too." He explained that when some live pigs were brought for food, the men kept them for mas cots instead of eating them. Keep Interested “If people in the United States knew exactly what these men are doing they wouldn't complain about coffee, sugar, and other types of rationing. Those ’iving on islands don’t see people for weeks at a time, but they keep interested among themselves. Be tween occupation with the big thought on their minds, the Japs, they also read, write stories, po ems, do some painting, and en gage in other forms of amuse ment." a correspondents one order when on shipboard is “keep out of the way.” Webb says they are treated like other service men, wear the same uniforms, and are accepted by most people as being in tiie service, except that they don’t have to get up every four hours to go on watch. Competition Keen “I am just an ordinary, every day working man reporter,” he continued. “I report as an observ er and only take assignments as they are given, leaving out per sonal opinion.” He explained that competition is keen among correspondents, for they don’t know where they are being sent or on what ship— thus having no idea who will get the best stories. PLAN NOW for * Senior Ball * Group Parties * House Dances Phone 2000 EUGENE HOTEL CLASSIFIED ADS LOST -Gray gabardine over coat from McClure between hours 1 and 4 Thursday. Please return to Gilbert Hunt, McClure. LOST Brown leather bill fold Wednesday. Call Hollis Hartwick, 3300—Ext 275. Finder may keep money. Merchants Predict With Oregon now leading the league in basketball, and the first home conference game to- ^ night and tomorrow night with ' Washington, Eugene merchants have made predictions as to the final score of the game. Predictions will appear in mer chants’ ad's in the Emerald to day. Weather Postpones Salvage drive pick-ups which had been previously scheduled for today have been postponed, ac cording to Marge Curtis, co chairman of salvage drives of the campus war board. Adverse weather conditions—in the form of “white rain” necessitated the change. Weatherman (Continued from page one) bra and plane geometry and one year of high school science. Advanced Groups The premeteorology group re quires one year of college math including college algebra, trigo nometry, and analytical geom etry plus the requirements for the basic class. To be eligible for the advanced course students must have all the above requirements and differen tial and integral calculus, one year of college physics and have completed two years of college study. Full College Credit Full college credit is given for all work completed during the training period, and jobs as me^. teorologists following the wa’aj should be plentiful because of the predicted increase in air trans portation. Men who would like to inter view Dr. Webb may make ap pointments with him in his office in the basement of Fenton hall. Guess Who? BUD ABBOTT and LOU COSTELLO in "WHO DONE IT?" Double Feature! "The Silver Queen" GEORGE BRENT PRISCILLA LANE and "TISH" MARJORIE MAIN ZASU PITTS I r> Now Playing"! "TALES OF MANHATTAN' RITA HAYWORTH CHARLES BOYER also "Stardust on the Sage" with GENE AUTRY 1 Western and Thriller! "SHADOWS ON THE SAGE" with The Three Mesquiteers also ‘HIGHWAY BY NIGHT’ Richard Carlson Jane Randolf t