Chapter 2: The Defense Effort Gains Momentum
The first months of 1941 found the engineers in the outlying territories under increasing pressure as numerous signs pointed to America’s becoming involved in open hostilities. Top-ranking American and British military and naval planners, meeting in Washington from late January through March to assign areas of responsibility to the United States and Great Britain in global strategy, agreed that the United States would have primary responsibility in the Pacific if it was drawn into the war. In a strategy at first defensive, American forces would attempt to hold a line running from Alaska through Hawaii to Panama and from there down the west coast of South America. With the passage on 1 March of the Lend-Lease Act, which authorized sending arms and war supplies to Britain and its allies, the United States became virtually a belligerent. A month later, Russia and Japan signed a 5-year neutrality pact. With little to fear from the USSR in the near future, Japan was free to turn southward toward the Philippines and the Indies. The situation in the Pacific appeared even more critical after Germany invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June. With the USSR engaged in a desperate struggle in Europe, Japan could devote its attention almost exclusively to the Pacific.1
In Washington and the Pacific outposts anxiety grew in early 1941 over the state of the defenses, and Hawaii now became a major cause of concern. Late in January Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox wrote to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson of his dissatisfaction with the existing protection for the fleet in the Islands; he was especially apprehensive over the possibility of an attack by carrier planes.2 Stimson, agreeing fully as to the urgency of preparing a coordinated defense, reassured Knox that Hawaii was “the best equipped of all our overseas departments” and that the Islands continued to hold high priority in the overall defense program.3 Less than two weeks later General Herron, in a letter to the War Department requesting more construction equipment to speed up defense work, stated that it could “be anticipated that the attack on these islands might take the form of a sudden raid without any advance notice.”4 On 7 February, Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short succeeded Herron. Taking up his new post, he informed General Marshall regarding his plans for further strengthening
the Islands. He hoped to build more airfields, improve harbor and antiaircraft defenses, bombproof installations, camouflage important military areas, and put in more roads and trails.
In Panama, a new command—the Caribbean Defense Command—was established in February under General Van Voorhis, who henceforth directed the activities of the Panama Canal and Puerto Rican Departments and the Trinidad Base Command. He continued to press for more defenses for the Canal. He wanted a more extensive network of aircraft warning stations and was troubled over continuing shortages of equipment.
Alaskan defenses, likewise, left a good deal to be desired. General Dewitt, concerned over inadequate protection for the installations at Dutch Harbor, stressed the need for airfields on Umnak Island in the Aleutians just to the west of Unalaska Island and on the Alaska Peninsula at Port Heiden. He persisted in championing these projects against almost unanimous opposition in the War Department. He continued to take a strong interest in CAA’s plans for a network of airfields in the Territory. Dissatisfied with the slowness of CAA’s preparations, DeWitt made repeated attempts to have construction of the fields of military value placed under the Seattle District Engineer.5
Early in 1941 the Engineers, as had been agreed the previous November, took over construction for the Air Corps in Hawaii and Alaska. In Hawaii, the constructing quartermaster had already
made substantial progress in improving airfields, and at the time of the transfer on January he had a fund of $18 million for such work. Most of the construction—done by contractors and hired labor—had been finished; the biggest projects were the building of barracks and quarters at Wheeler Field, at a cost of approximately $6 million. Additional jobs were in prospect, such as storage for gasoline and bombs, involving an expenditure of about $1.5 million. Additional improvements at existing fields and the building of new ones would undoubtedly soon be necessary.
In line with General DeWitt’s recommendations of the previous December, G-4 on 4 January directed the Engineers to take over all construction for the Army in Alaska, and Ladd and Elmendorf were transferred less than two weeks later. Ladd, being built by hired labor, was 85 percent complete; Elmendorf, being worked on by the contractors Bechtel, McCone, and Parsons, was 80 percent finished. For better supervision of the engineers’ growing number of projects, Colonel Dunn set up an area office at Anchorage under Talley, who was transferred from the 28th Engineers at Yakutat.
The engineers in the triangle could expect an increasingly heavy workload. They could also count on growing shortages of workmen, equipment, and supplies and mounting transportation problems. In addition, each of the outlying territories would continue to present difficulties of its own.6
Panama
With the beginning of the dry season in January, a great push forward in construction in Panama was possible. But it appeared that progress on important projects would, as before, be held back by the disagreement over the acquisition of land. On 5 March, the Panamanian Government stated it would be willing to turn sites over to the U.S. Army, provided the leases were for the duration of the war, compensation was adequate, and Panama would retain jurisdiction over civilians. Negotiations continued until the end of the month when Panama agreed to let the United States occupy the sites, pending the working out of a final settlement. During April, Van Voorhis took over nine tracts for airfields and two for aircraft warning stations.7
Since construction for the Air Corps in the Panama Canal Department had not been transferred to the Engineers, the War Department directed General Schley to turn over $600,000 from his general fund for airfield work to the constructing quartermaster in Panama to finance work on the new fields. Van Voorhis, however, insisted that the Engineers do the construction. He pointed out that the quartermaster already had more than a full schedule of work in the Canal Zone, and that engineer troops and the civilians had for months been working on airfields in Panama, so that assigning the jobs to the quartermaster would seem to be an inefficient procedure. Brig. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, Chief, Construction Division, Office of The Quartermaster General, agreed to give the money back to the Engineers and have them do the jobs. Two companies of the 11th Engineers were assigned to the fields. In March the 805th Engineer Aviation Company reached Panama to help with the work. Just as the construction effort was getting well under way, North returned to the United States. His place as department engineer was taken in May by the commander of the 11th Engineers, Colonel Young, who continued with Colonel North’s program. Since there were too few engineer units and the supply of local labor was almost exhausted, Young planned to recruit additional workmen and purchase large quantities of equipment and supplies in the United States. At the same time, he planned to make the greatest possible use of local sources of surfacing materials, such as rock and sand.8
As Young took over, the engineers were under increasing pressure. Maj. Gen. Frank M. Andrews, chief of the recently organized Caribbean Air Force, was anxious to expedite work on the airfields because the rainy season would
Map 4: Panama, 1941
begin any day. He suggested that his airmen help the engineers, since substantial numbers of civilian workmen from the United States were not expected for some time. In May, Andrews put the airmen to work on the fields, despite the fact that this prevented them from getting proper training as aviation mechanics. By June six emergency landing strips were ready in Panama with runways sufficiently graded to allow planes to land. Two auxiliary dromes—Aguadulce and Chame—were under construction. (Map 4) With the onset of the rains late in May, Andrews demanded better airfields. He wanted the emergency strips developed into auxiliary airdromes with hard-surfaced runways, for the original plans had not specified hard-surfacing. The engineers experimented with soil stabilization and compaction at Chame to find out if such treatment would make all-weather use possible. In June construction began on two of the aircraft warning stations, one at Jaque near the Colombian border and the other at Almirante, at the extreme western end of the Republic. Both sites were hard to get to, being accessible only by plane or ship. Land had been acquired for two
more stations but the three remaining sites had not yet been taken over. Van Voorhis was already thinking of expanding the system further. The local joint board wanted five more stations in Panama, and proposed extending the service into Costa Rica and Colombia.9
Work went ahead in Panama during the summer and fall of 1941 despite the downpours of the rainy season. Additional handicaps as frustrating as the climate were, Colonel Young believed, the “lack of money, of authority, and of certain equipment for special jobs; notably, seagoing vessels to service the construction crews at several distant (AWS) sites.”10
The protracted negotiations over the acquisition of land continued to hold up engineer work after midyear. Since the original stalemate had been broken in March, a number of sites had been occupied. But the procedures still had to be worked out to make possible the legal transfer of tracts. In July two U.S.-Panamanian boards were established, one of which investigated sites that were to be taken over immediately, while the other arranged for their formal transfer, after investigations were completed, to the United States. This system worked well, and by late August the additional tracts which Van Voorhis had requested late in April had been surveyed and Panama had authorized their occupation by U.S. forces. By now the Panama Canal Department was in possession of all sites for airfields. Tracts needed for other installations would be occupied as soon as enough men and materials were on hand to make occupation practicable. Negotiations for a permanent settlement of the leasing problem were being carried on through diplomatic channels. There was nothing more the military authorities or the engineers could do except finish the surveys and request the transfers.11
The engineers continued to put their major effort on the airfields, but despite hard work, they could not keep up with the demands of the Air Corps. Planning to make more intensive use of the fields, Andrews wanted more of the emergency landing strips converted into auxiliary airdromes. Those not converted he wanted improved through better marking of the runways and the removal of obstacles in the approach zones. As the rainy season wore on, the experiments with soil stabilization and compaction proved that such expedients were no substitute for asphalt or concrete. Runways would have to be hard-surfaced, an improvement agreed to by Panama. Washington was requested to approve plans to expand some of the emergency landing strips, particularly the one at Chorrera and the two at La Joya, into airdromes and to provide hard surfacing for the runways. Construction was expected to be so extensive that contractors, already working for the Navy and the quartermaster in Panama, would probably have to be employed. More money was requested but the War Department did not want to ask Congress for additional sums until more land had
been secured. General Andrews, meanwhile, transferred funds from other projects, hoping that he would later be reimbursed. Improvements of airfields continued, but slowly.12 The airmen occupied Aguadulce in September but construction at Chame was still under way. Work had barely started at Chorrera and La Joya.
During the summer the engineers began work on two more aircraft warning stations and obtained the right of entry to the three remaining sites. With priority in construction going to the stations on the Pacific side, General Van Voorhis pressed for the completion of all seven stations. Colonel Young believed there were only two ways of speeding up construction. One was to postpone work on what he called the “elaborate barracks” at the stations until essential apparatus had been installed. The other was to transfer workers from other jobs. But this would mean slower progress on such important installations as searchlights and antiaircraft batteries. There remained the difficulty of transporting men and supplies to the remote sites, one of the prime causes of delay. As recommended by the local joint board, early in September Van Voorhis asked Washington to approve construction of several more stations in Panama and in Colombia and Costa Rica as well.13
The Engineers now had to devote some attention to camouflage, hitherto neglected in the Canal Zone. In line with a suggestion made in the spring of 1941 by Col. Homer Saint-Gaudens, chief of the Camouflage Branch, OCE, an expert in the subject, Capt. Frederick L. Fritsche, was sent to Panama. Captain Fritsche’s main concern was how best to camouflage the waterway and in due course he prepared three plans. The first, calling for covering the three sets of locks with netting, was not considered feasible because of mechanical difficulties. The second—building a dummy set of locks in the Chagres River and the old French canal—was not practicable because the river did not present a straight line or follow the contours of the Canal. The third, hiding the waterway under a smoke screen to be supplied by the Chemical Warfare Service, was adopted.14
On 19 September, Andrews succeeded Van Voorhis and proved as insistent as his predecessor that defenses be strengthened. The number of Engineer jobs continued to grow, and work had to be carried on in the face of mounting shortages of workmen and equipment. On July Colonel Young had 2,295 employees and 1,500 more were expected before the end of the year, but there were never enough to keep pace with needs. Various ways were tried to increase production. On 16 July, Young received permission to have his employees work eight hours a day, seven days a week. In October, he asked that the restriction of working hours to 56 a week be suspended. Contractors working for the Quartermaster Corps and other services already
had their employees work longer hours. One group of new arrivals was dissatisfied with the 56-hours-a-week limit. During the rainy season working hours in some weeks totaled only 30 or 40; in others as many as 70 hours would have been possible except for the limitation. On 16 October, approval was received to extend the work week. As part of an effort to get more equipment, Young in July asked for almost $6 million more for the fiscal year 1942, much of it to go for additional machinery. The rest would be used for hiring more workers, providing housing, and getting materials. Construction could then be vigorously pushed with the beginning of the dry season in January. Late in July the War Department approved this plan, and in the following months additional workmen were recruited in the United States and machinery ordered. A new difficulty arose in October when, in a coup d’état, President Arias was replaced by Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia. In the change of administration, the Panamanian members of the land boards lost their places. The land transfer question was stalemated again.15
Alaska
With the end of the long subarctic winter, the tempo of work in Alaska quickened. The Alaska Defense Force was in February 1941 redesignated the Alaska Defense Command, and the following April authorized strength was raised from 7,300 men to over 18,500. In May DeWitt asked that a headquarters detachment and one company of an engineer construction battalion be sent to Fort Richardson to help the 32nd engineers, who had more than enough to do in working on facilities for their camp, improving roads, and engaging in combat training. Meanwhile, the General Staff directed Schley and DeWitt to prepare plans for housing for the growing garrison. By early May Col. Richard Park, Lee’s successor as North Pacific Division Engineer, had finished designs for the buildings for the enlarged Army forts at the three naval stations, for a new post, Fort Raymond, at Seward, and for housing for a small garrison at the airport being planned by CAA for Nome. The engineers were to do all construction, except at the naval stations, where it would be performed by contractors working for the Navy. Additional projects were being planned. In April Colonel Dunn received $1 million to install tanks for aviation gasoline at the airfields and naval stations. That same month, Company D of the 29th Engineers and Flight F, 1st Photo Squadron, arrived in Alaska to begin ground surveys and take photographs for mapping purposes. Areas to be mapped included the region around Anchorage, the Richardson Highway, and a number of major routes regularly flown by military aircraft.16
On 5 April the President approved the Fifth Supplemental Appropriation Bill for the fiscal year 1941 which made available funds for the cutoff for the Alaska Railroad.17 Two weeks later, the Seattle District advertised for bids. Construction was to be under a lump-sum contract rather than under the new and unfamiliar fixed-fee type of agreement. On 12 May Dunn opened the two bids he had received and found that the lower one was about 35 percent above the engineers’ estimate of the reasonable cost of building the cutoff. Both bidders, Dunn wrote Park, were undoubtedly trying to protect themselves “against the uncertainties of labor conditions, rising costs in construction, remote location” and other factors which ruled out “normal estimates” in this period of increasing defense construction.18 Dunn rejected both bids. To get work started with a minimum of delay, he decided to let a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract. The following month, he signed an agreement with the West Construction Company of Boston, Massachusetts, for work on the subgrade, drainage, and tunnels. The job was to begin in July.19
Receiving a report from General Buckner in May that CAA was making little progress on its airfields in Alaska, General DeWitt again advocated that the work be turned over to the Engineers. There were, he observed, only two major airdromes in the Territory suitable for military aircraft—Ladd and Elmendorf. The fields CAA was preparing to build were urgently needed. In addition, DeWitt recommended that the War Department construct seven dispersal fields. The War Plans Division did not concur, but did agree that the CAA program should be expedited and asked General Schley if the Engineers could take over. Many in the War Department wanted the Engineers to do the work because they questioned whether the runways and facilities put in by CAA would be adequate for Army planes. Countering this view, CAA assured the War Department that the facilities and runways would be adequate and explained that the cause of the delays was the fact that money had not been received in time to start surveys before the winter had set in. Now that spring had come, construction could be expedited. Contracts for two of the fields had recently been let, work on the others would be pushed, and by fall graveled runways would be ready. Persuaded by these assurances, Colonel Park recommended against having the Engineers take over. The War Department decided not to press the matter, and by the end of June CAA had let contracts for four additional fields.20
In May, DeWitt decided to go to Alaska to see for himself how construction was progressing. Accompanied by General Buckner and Colonel Park, he made a tour of the various projects. The ones at Anchorage and Fairbanks, begun early by the Quartermaster Corps, were the most advanced. The garrison
of 5,000 men at Fort Richardson was “properly sheltered.” Such work on the post and at Elmendorf as was not finished was being rushed to completion by Major Talley and the contractors. At Ladd, living quarters for an infantry garrison of 500 men were nearly finished and it was planned to transfer many of the workmen to Yakutat. Here, improvement of the runway was continuing and a start would soon be made on hangars and storage for gasoline. When DeWitt, Buckner, and Park arrived at Annette on 1 2 May, they found an emergency landing strip in use but, on the whole, progress was not as marked as at Yakutat. An obstacle was the muskeg, a spongy growth found in low, marshy places, and sometimes as much as eighteen feet thick. When the engineers encountered it at a construction site, they often had to scoop it out and fill the hole with gravel. Nold had solved the troublesome problem of the shorter working hours for the CCC, for in April the head of the organization in Washington had authorized the same working hours for the CCC men as for the troops. After reviewing progress of the work to date and estimating the number of troops and civilians likely to be available, DeWitt concluded that one of the regular runways would be ready by December. At the three Navy bases, the temporary buildings for the Army garrisons, which had been given priority by the Navy over its own permanent construction, were nearing completion and some troops were already housed. On the whole, DeWitt was well pleased with what he found.21
Alaska’s defenses still had one glaring weakness. There were no airfields on the Alaska Peninsula or in the Aleutians. DeWitt and Buckner pressed for construction in both areas to protect not only the Alaskan mainland but also the Navy base at Dutch Harbor, which was remote from other defense installations. Fighter planes could not safely fly the 600 miles from Kodiak, the nearest field, because the distance was too great. In view of the increased shipping and naval protection required, Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, argued that airfields should not be constructed in the Aleutians without approval by the Joint Board. General Marshall, on the other hand, pressed for the building of an Aleutian airfield. Construction would have to wait until differences of opinion between the services could be resolved.22.
The rapid advance of the German armies into the USSR during the summer focused attention especially on Alaska, since many in the War Department feared that a quick Soviet collapse might soon bring German forces to the Bering Strait. Early in July, Secretary of War Stimson directed that the sending of additional troops to the Territory be expedited. On the 15th of that month the War Department increased the authorized strength of the Alaskan garrison from 18,500 to 24,000. Because the Army posts at the three naval stations were far from ready, Stimson promised DeWitt that he would turn over funds to the Navy to assure housing for the military garrisons there as soon as possible.
General Schley received additional funds to complete previously authorized construction. Meanwhile, DeWitt directed Buckner to prepare, in cooperation with the North Pacific Division and the 13th Naval District, a comprehensive program to strengthen further the defenses of the Territory.23 “Actual pressure,” Talley wrote later, “commenced ... on the 4th of July 1941, when an alert came to Brig. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., ... from that date the tempo changed and Alaska was psychologically and mentally prepared for war ...”24
The small number of engineer troops continued working on major defense installations. The 32nd engineers, immediately after 4 July, began ,building tactical roads and bombproof shelters at Fort Richardson. At Annette the 802nd Engineer Aviation Battalion was fully occupied developing the airfield, especially after DeWitt directed that the runways be lengthened to 7,500 feet. The men were confident that they would have one of the runways ready by the end of the year. At Yakutat the 807th Engineer Aviation Company was making further improvements. On 30 July, DeWitt ordered the unit to construct a third runway and lengthen the two already partially completed; by mid-August, Yakutat had limited runway facilities. During August and September, part of the 1st Battalion of the 151st Combat Engineers reached Alaska to take care of maintenance at Ladd Field and various other Army installations from Dutch Harbor to Sitka.25 So far, the engineers, their jobs restricted to a few coastal areas, had encountered no major difficulties. “There was cold, rain, ‘muskeg,’ ice, and snow.” Talley observed, “and engineer troops ... many the first time away from New York—but no other problem per se.”26
Contractors and hired labor were also making progress. By midsummer, runways at Ladd and Elmendorf were operational. Ladd was a comparatively small installation with permanent housing for 560 officers and men. Elmendorf was the largest military base under construction in the Territory. In July the West Construction Company began work on the railroad cutoff. Much preliminary labor was required—unloading supplies and equipment, erecting camps, putting through access roads, and grubbing the right of way. Blasting began in August on the 2½ mile tunnel at the eastern end of the line. In September the Seattle District advertised for bids for the construction of a dock at the terminus of the cutoff. In addition, work had begun on those aircraft warning stations which had been approved almost a year before, and survey crews were investigating sites for other stations.27
Many projects which had been planned did not get under way. During the summer, DeWitt wanted to start construction on the storage tanks for reserve gasoline. Work had been deferred pending further investigation. Storage for five million gallons was to be provided in Alaska, over four million of it near Anchorage, but no final decision had been made regarding the remainder. The Air Corps wanted to put much of it near various airfields, with maximum dispersion and concealment. Discussions continued over building landing fields on the Alaska Peninsula and in the Aleutians. In July, DeWitt suggested putting in a field at Port Heiden and another at Cold Bay, the latter near the tip of the peninsula. He pointed out that the airmen would need more extensive facilities than those being planned by CAA, so that longer runways and hard surfacing would be necessary. He asked that the Engineers be made responsible for building the fields on the Alaska Peninsula. In August the Joint Planning Committee recommended that the Army construct an airfield on Umnak. The Joint Board postponed making its decision because it wanted the engineers first to survey the island to determine if the sites were as suitable as they seemed. Late that month a group of engineers from the Seattle District began a reconnaissance of Umnak and of Unalaska as well. Construction would have to wait until their reports were in.28
General Buckner, who had repeatedly requested the War Department for authority to have an engineer on his staff, was authorized in September to appoint Nold. Nold took up his new duties at the close of the month, and during the next few weeks became fully aware of how far the defense buildup still had to go. Ladd, Elmendorf, and Yakutat were operational and refinements were being put in, while Annette was expected to be operational shortly. The CAA fields were coming along fairly well. The Army posts at the naval stations were under construction. Work was progressing slowly on the aircraft warning stations which had been started in the summer, but other projects were, as before, still in the planning stages. On 6 October Colonel Dunn in his preliminary report summarizing the findings of the engineers who had made the surveys for airfield sites in the Aleutians, pointed out that no suitable sites had been found on Unalaska, but Umnak had several which looked promising. Visiting Alaska in the fall, Maj. John F. Ohmer, Jr., of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, an expert in camouflage, found that almost nothing had been done to conceal military installations. He recommended planting trees, using camouflage nets, and painting structures so that they would blend in with their surroundings. Soon thereafter DeWitt had buildings painted in three colors in place of the standard ivory previously directed by the General Staff. In mid-fall, Alaskan defenses still needed a great deal of work.29
Hawaii
Upon assuming his post as department commander in February 1941, General Short began to push especially the program of airfield expansion. During the first months of 1941 Congress did not appropriate large funds for airfields in the Islands. In its Fourth Supplemental Appropriation for the fiscal year 1941, passed on 17 March, it allotted 5108,410 for officers’ quarters at Hickam Field, but in the Fifth Supplemental, passed on 5 April, no funds were included for airfields in Hawaii.30 Short believed large sums would be necessary. “The development of adequate airfields for the rapidly expanding Hawaiian Air Force is essential,” he wrote to Marshall on 2 May. “An effort has been made to develop these fields through use of troop labor and WPA, but this is entirely too slow and uncertain.” Short asked for some 517 million for airfields to insure “satisfactory operating conditions.” He wanted $110 million of the total for use as a general fund “to finance necessary projects as the need for them occurs,” adding that “the situation has progressed to such a point that we can no longer afford the delay in time which has heretofore been required to secure appropriations by Congress after the projects have been approved.”31 Old fields were to be modernized and new ones made available. First priority was to be given those with runways that could be extended to at least 5,000 feet for use by heavy bombers; later, lengths were to be increased to 6,000 feet. In addition to the effort on the airfields, more work would be necessary to house the increased garrison, improve roads, build fortifications, and otherwise strengthen the Islands.
Lyman continued to labor under the handicap of insufficient personnel. His staff consisted of but two officers, eight enlisted men, and four civilians. With construction for defense expanding, WPA labor was almost impossible to get. Lyman needed more troops. The 3rd Combat Regiment, still the only engineer unit in the Islands, was spread thin. On April, Lyman wrote General Schley that the engineers made up only about 3 percent of the garrison of 30,000 instead of the more normal 8 to 10 percent. In view of the growing importance of air power, the Hawaiian Department especially needed aviation engineer units. More combat engineers were required for work on roads and trails, fortifications, and cantonments. There was a growing shortage of equipment. Lyman’s requests were partly met with the arrival, on 26 April, of the 804th Engineer Aviation Company. But prospects of getting more combat engineers or substantial amounts of machinery in the near future were not bright because the War Department had neither the one nor the other to spare.32
Colonel Wyman likewise was faced
with a growing construction program and inadequate means for carrying it out. The transfer of work for the Air Corps added to his burdens. In January 1941 he began to reorganize the district office so as to be better able to supervise construction. In February he designated Maj. Bernard L. Robinson, his principal military assistant and executive, as operations officer. On Major Robinson henceforth fell the main responsibility for furnishing workmen, materials, and equipment to the widely separated areas where projects were under way. He was soon under constant pressure to insure the uninterrupted progress of the engineer effort in the Islands. To decentralize responsibilities for construction, Wyman established seven field areas in the first months of 1941.33
Using data furnished by Maj. Gen. Frederick L. Martin, commander of the Hawaiian Air Force, the Honolulu District office prepared plans for improving old airfields and putting in new ones. Eight were to be enlarged and modernized and two new ones added. Wyman and Martin, while awaiting expected approval from Washington, were anxious to get work started on the airfields. Little money was available for such work, and until more was forthcoming from Washington, only stopgap measures could be used. Wyman had inherited rather meager funds from the quartermaster with which to build temporary barracks at three fields—Hickam, Wheeler, and Bellows. He could enlarge the two military fields on the outlying islands—Morse on Hawaii and Barking Sands on Kauai—with funds supplied by WPA. He could improve the four territorial airports—Burns, Hilo, Molokai, and Maui—with money from CAA. These resources would have to do until Congress appropriated more funds as requested by Short. But even stopgap construction would require more workmen, substantial quantities of equipment, and large amounts of supplies.34
For some time the War and Navy Departments had been making plans for storing reserves of 100 octane aviation gasoline for use in wartime. In 1940, the Joint Board had advised construction of storage facilities at eight places, four of them in the United States and four in overseas territories. The board recommended putting in storage for 100,000 barrels in Hawaii, a recommendation approved by the Secretaries of War and the Navy. With the transfer of construction for the Air Corps to the Engineers, Wyman became responsible for this job in the Islands. Since the reserves were to be used only if shipments from the United States were cut off, two considerations were uppermost. One was that the sites selected would make reasonably certain the expeditious delivery of gasoline in time of need. The other was that protection against aerial and naval bombardment would be adequate.35
There were two good sites on Oahu,
one on a ridge at Aliamanu Crater and the other in the side of a steep cliff in Waikakalaua Gulch, two and one-half miles east of Schofield Barracks. The question arose as to how much bomb-proofing was necessary. Many felt that only completely bombproof storage was practical, while others, believing that complete bombproofing would take too much time and money, urged concealment and protection against light incendiary bombs and bomb fragments only. The District Office reported in June 1941, after an exhaustive study of the problem, that concealment and partial protection were of little value. Complete concealment was impossible because any region on Oahu could be readily identified from the air, and saturation bombing would quickly destroy a lightly protected installation. It would be fairly easy to provide enough “cut and cover” protection to withstand hits from one-ton bombs, the largest used up to that time. Required would be a concrete cover about 6 feet thick, topped with earth. But with larger bombs undoubtedly soon to be used, the question arose as to how much additional protection would be necessary. Only tunnels under 75 feet of solid rock would provide sure protection. Wyman believed the safety provided by tunnels justified the higher cost of construction and the longer time required to finish the work. How much storage should be provided had not been decided. Although the Joint Board had recommended 100,000 barrels, Congress, in the Fifth Supplemental, authorized construction for 250,000 barrels. Then the Navy requested storage along with the Army and allotted 3200,000 for the project, but did not specify how much storage it wanted or where it wanted it. As with other defense work, there was the problem of rising costs. Originally estimated at two dollars per barrel, by January the cost for constructing storage had gone up four dollars and, by May 1941, to six.36
While concerned with many new projects, Wyman still had to give a good deal of thought to old ones. A matter of importance was the improvement of Honolulu harbor. The city’s port facilities had been gradually expanding north-westward. New areas were being developed around Kapalama Basin, lying between the mainland and offshore Sand Island. On 17 October 1940, Congress had authorized the dredging of Keehi Lagoon north of the island to provide a landing place for seaplanes, a project which came under the category of improving rivers and harbors. Primarily of commercial value, the improvement would also benefit the armed forces. The work, financed by CAA, was being carried out by the Engineers. Linked with the dredging of the seaplane basin was the construction of John Rodgers Airport, which was to be built just east of Hickam on. the northern shore of Keehi Lagoon, partly on land dredged from the sea bottom. Construction was authorized in May 1941, and preparations were soon being made to begin work. The engineers made little headway on the aircraft warning stations. In May, after Short had decided that a larger number of stations would be
needed, twelve were authorized, half of them to be mobile. Negotiations with the National Park Service over permission to build on Haleakala were proceeding slowly.37
Responsible for more and more construction, Wyman awarded additional cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contracts. On 19 May he signed one in the amount of $1,801,159.70 with the Territorial Airport Contractors, a joint venture including W. E. Callahan Construction Company, Gunther & Shirley Company, and Paul Grafe. This group was to improve the territorial airports with funds supplied by CAA. He signed an agreement with the engineering firm of Sverdrup and Parcel of St. Louis, Missouri, for the preparation of designs for bombproof shelters; this firm was also to do field engineering and supervise some of the work at the territorial airports. For most of the additional construction, Wyman made supplemental agreements with the Hawaiian Constructors, enlarged in May with the addition of Ralph Woolley and Company, a prominent contracting firm of Honolulu. In June 1941 he made such an agreement with the Constructors for cut and cover bomb-proof storage for 200,000 barrels of reserve gasoline in Waikakalaua Gulch. A tunnel had been considered, but the contractors had estimated it would take twenty months to complete the job, whereas cut and cover construction could be finished in eight at considerably less cost. Nothing was being planned for Aliamanu Crater, but Wyman asked that funds be provided so that work could begin there for storage for the Army and Navy. On 19 May the original contract with the Hawaiian Constructors was modified. Complying with a recent directive from Under Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson for streamlining administrative and auditing procedures, Wyman took over such functions as timekeeping, preparing payrolls, and procuring supplies. The contractor would henceforth be responsible only for construction. Wyman’s added responsibilities made an ever larger district organization necessary. By mid-1941 there were 10 officers and 401 civilians in the Honolulu office and three officers and 220 civilians in the field.38
In June, Lyman received the first of the additional combat troops he had been requesting. That month, the 34th Engineer Combat Regiment was activated in the Islands, its cadre furnished by units in the Hawaiian Department. Bringing the 34th up to full strength would take some time, since most of the men for the organization were not expected to arrive from the United States until several months later. Meanwhile, efforts were being made to bring the 3rd Engineers up to full strength and steps were taken to increase the number of aviation engineers. Plans called for expanding the 804th from a company into a battalion by 15 July.39 Slowly the defenses of the Islands were being built up.
By midsummer, the Engineers could point to considerable progress in construction in the Islands. The Hawaiian Constructors were at work on five military airfields—three on Oahu, one on Hawaii, and one on Kauai—jobs expected to be finished by the end of the year. Improvement of the territorial airports with CAA funds, just getting started and about 5 percent complete, was to be finished by July 1942. The Constructors were beginning work on coastal defenses, including emplacements for 155-mm. and 240-mm. guns, fire control structures, storage for ammunition, and access roads. Meanwhile, they had made a start on the aircraft warning stations which, along with the coastal defenses, were to be completed by November. The Honolulu District continued dredging Kapalama basin and expected to complete this job by the end of the year.40
Still in the planning stage was the underground storage for reserve aviation gasoline. Much confusion developed over this. The Hawaiian Constructors had been ready to start work at Waikakalaua Gulch late in June on cut and cover construction for 200,000 barrels. Investigations at Aliamanu Crater indicated that only a tunnel would be practicable there. General Short and Rear Admiral Claude C. Bloch, Commandant, 14th Naval District, wanted storage for 83,000 barrels at the crater. A pipeline would connect the two installations with the airfields. Since no funds had been received for construction at the crater, Wyman asked General Schley for authority to proceed.41
The Office of the Chief of Engineers had misgivings about the whole project. The bombproof storage being planned for Hawaii “would require an impractical amount of cover.” Concealment and protection against light incendiary bomb and bomb fragments was all that could reasonably be provided. Aviation gasoline should be placed underground, but for concealment only. Brig. Gen. Eugene Reybold, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4, advised General Schley that it was “desired that the full amount of storage be provided on the basis of the established construction policy rather than a smaller amount of storage having a greater degree of protection.42 In September, Schley accordingly informed Wyman that plans providing for the added protection would have to be revised. OCE sent three specialists from the oil industry to Honolulu, where in October they consulted with Wyman and helped revise construction plans. Meanwhile, no work was being done at either site.43
While Wyman was struggling with construction, Lyman was trying to get more troops and put his units on a war footing. Repeated requests went to the War Department for more men. The activation of the 34th Combat Regiment and the expansion of the 804th into a battalion with an authorized strength of
656 officers and men in July only partially met the need for more manpower. More aviation engineers were urgently needed. Heavy construction equipment was in short supply, especially concrete mixers, compressors, and power shovels. Much of the machinery on hand would be worn out before the defense program was completed.44 “In previous planning for an emergency,” Short wrote to the Adjutant General on 5 August, “much reliance had been placed upon the availability of ... equipment in the hands of local contractors and plantation owners”; now, because of the demands of defense construction, equipment was fast wearing out and, as Short explained, “Manufacturing and transportation bottlenecks are making it extremely difficult for both contractors and plantation owners to obtain needed replacements.”45 The reply from Washington was not encouraging. Reybold informed Short that “no action is being taken at this time with reference to provision of special or additional Engineer equipment for the Hawaiian Defense Project. It is desired that a listing of additional equipment required ... be submitted for further consideration ...”46
Most of the men for the 34th and 804th Engineers reached Hawaii in the fall. Now at almost full strength, the 34th took over the Hawaiian Division’s job of improving roads and trails on Oahu. Routes leading to searchlight positions and 155-mm. gun emplacements had highest priority. Most of the aviation engineers went to Wheeler and Hickam Fields. From time to time, detachments were assigned to other fields on Oahu and the outlying islands. On
October the square Hawaiian Division was converted into two triangular divisions—the 24th and the 25th. The 3rd Engineer Regiment was split into the 3rd and 65th Battalions, which were assigned to the new divisions. Both units continued on the same tasks, with the 65th engineers working mainly on beach defenses and trails in the southern half of Oahu, and the 3rd engineers, in the northern.47
Plans had long since been prepared for mobilizing the entire engineer service in case of an emergency. Under the Mobilization Plan of the Hawaiian Department, which would go into effect if an attack on the Islands was launched or appeared imminent, Colonel Lyman would have overall responsibility for using troops and civilians on engineer tasks as required. He would assume control over the Honolulu District office and the organization of the zone constructing quartermaster. He would be responsible for taking over vital civilian utilities and industries to insure continued operation. The mobilization plans called for recruiting some 12,000 civilians who would work under the supervision of the department engineer. Lyman’s staff developed in detail the type of engineer organization which would be set up in case hostilities occurred. Vehicles, equipment, and supplies would be requisitioned from local
factories and from sugar and pineapple plantations.48
The engineers were at work on plans for better protection of the Islands against air attack, even though Army and Navy commanders at this time seemed to think the chance of such an attack was remote. Capt. James A. Ostrand, Jr., commander of the 804th, together with members of his staff, made a study of the role the aviation engineers would play in case of an aerial assault. For planning purposes, Ostrand assumed that both the USSR and Great Britain would be defeated, and that Japan would have preponderant power in the Pacific. An air attack on the Hawaiian Islands would be possible. There might be an assault by paratroopers, with landings by amphibious forces not to be ruled out. The airfields, a major objective of the enemy, would have to be defended by infantry and engineers. The infantry would try to repel any paratroops or amphibious forces, while the engineers would block the approaches to the airfields with demolitions and obstacles, maintain and repair runways, and put up camouflage. If necessary, they would destroy fields which had to be abandoned. At each field an engineer force of one officer, four noncommissioned officers, and 200 civilians would be required. Considerable engineer work would be necessary in advance to prepare airfields for defense. It would take time to build plane pens, pillboxes, and barbed wire entanglements, ready fields for demolitions, and disguise them with camouflage. Lyman on 10 October approved the overall plan, which he believed might be especially valuable in the defense of the fields on the outlying islands. He recommended to the Chief of Staff, Hawaiian Department, that the plan of the 804th be adopted.49
More emphasis was being put on camouflage. Much study and experimentation would be needed before military installations in the Islands could be hidden effectively. Early in 1941, the engineers began training commissioned and noncommissioned officers at a number of installations and helped plan camouflage treatments. Various groups were making experiments. The Camouflage Section of the 3rd Engineers was successful in developing a paint that would not show up as paint on photographs made with infrared filters. On two of the oil tanks at Pearl Harbor the men painted trees which did not appear as camouflage on pictures made with specially equipped cameras. Several men of the 804th prepared a plan for camouflaging Wheeler Field with netting. Hickam could not be effectively concealed unless Pearl Harbor were included. The engineers discussed with a number of naval officers plans for camouflaging this crucial area. The consensus was that about forty-five machines of the type used in Hollywood for producing fog effects in motion pictures would be enough to hide Pearl Harbor and Hickam. Some progress was made
in camouflaging a number of gun positions with netting or by planting trees and shrubbery. Very useful in this connection was the hau tree, which could be made to grow in almost any direction and within a year produced branches thirty feet long. Extremely difficult to camouflage were command and observation posts on mountain and hill tops. The most effective expedients for breaking up sharp outlines were the construction of false rock formations and the planting of cacti. On the whole, because Washington, despite requests, provided few funds for camouflage, little effective work was done. There was almost no coordination with respect to camouflage among the various units of the Army and no overall plan. Trees planted to conceal an installation would be removed a few weeks later to make room for a new building. Runways, taxiways, and hardstands being built at Bellows and at other fields in the usual manner could be easily identified from the air.50
The Air Ferry Route
In the fall of 1941 a new route was needed to ferry heavy bombers from the United States to the Philippines. The existing one by way of Midway, Wake, and Guam, traversing the Japanese mandated islands, was dangerously exposed. A more secure route would be by way of the islands of the South Pacific and Australia. On 4 October the War Department directed Short to begin work on fields in the South Pacific and to have them finished as soon as possible, as the matter was urgent. “It must be thought of in terms of weeks and not years,” he was told. “Every possible expedient must be visualized and utilized. ...”51 The General Staff charged General Reybold, who succeeded Schley as Chief of Engineers on October, with construction of the route. Reybold directed Wyman to carry out the work. An initial sum of $5 million was allotted. General Short, after conferences with members of his staff and with Admiral Bloch, in mid-October ordered construction at Christmas Island, Canton Island, Fiji, and New Caledonia; in Australia at Townsville or Rockhampton and Darwin; and at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines. At each place, at least one 5,000-foot runway suitable for heavy bombers was to be built. Short set 15 January 1942 as the date for completion of the first runway at each field. Thereafter other facilities were to be finished as soon as possible. Each site would ultimately have three runways at least 7,000 feet long and 200 feet wide. Storage for gasoline and buildings for servicing crews would be provided later. The project was given an A-1-a rating, the highest at that time. Wyman considered this his most important job.52
Wyman and his staff knew little about the islands of the South Pacific, except two—Canton and Christmas, which were owned jointly by the United States and
General Reybold
Great Britain. CAA had already prepared plans for building an airfield on Canton, and its survey was available to the Engineers. To get more up-to-date information on Christmas, Wyman on 16 October prepared to send out a survey detachment. The next day Short and Wyman agreed that construction on Christmas would be done mainly by the men of the 804th, assisted by civilians; on Canton, by the Hawaiian Constructors under a supplemental agreement to their contract, aided by a few troops. To get firsthand knowledge about the more distant sites, Wyman sent two officers, Maj. Roger M. Ramey of the Air Corps and Capt. Stanford MacCasland of the Corps of Engineers to make a reconnaissance. They set out by Navy seaplane on 18 October, and the same day a party of officers and civilians left by ship for Christmas to investigate conditions on that island and make preliminary preparations for construction. On 21 October an engineer from the district office left by clipper to make a reconnaissance of Canton. Wyman, meanwhile, began securing supplies and equipment. Requiring at least one supply ship based on Honolulu, and finding the Navy short of ships, Wyman chartered an inter-island steamer, the Haleakala. The Hawaiian Constructors began to purchase plant and supplies in the United States and to recruit workers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.53
Ramey and MacCasland sent back optimistic reports. The word from Canton was that “the only acceptable site looks excellent from an airman’s point of view.” The setup in Fiji was “about perfect.” The defenses of that British Crown Colony were being strengthened by New Zealand, which was developing an airfield, Nandi, on Viti Levu, the largest island of the group. On New Caledonia, there might be some difficulties. Here, a field at Tontouta, about 30 miles north of Noumea, the capital, did not look very good, but other fields on the island held promise.54 Ramey reported from Australia late in October that he had found two good runways at Townsville. The British, French, and Australian authorities agreed to do the construction in their territories.55
On 6 November, Mr. Leif J. Sverdrup,
president of Sverdrup and Parcel of St. Louis, Missouri, arrived in Honolulu, and that same day signed a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee contract for architect-engineer services in connection with the ferry route on the British- and French-owned islands and Australia. The next day he and Major Robinson left for the South Pacific to establish the necessary liaison with the local governments. At this time the War Department informed Short that General Douglas MacArthur, commanding U.S. forces in the Philippines, would be responsible for work on the fields west of New Caledonia.56
On 18 November 4 officers and 145 men of the 804th Aviation Battalion and 70 civilians of the Hawaiian Constructors and Honolulu District reached Christmas to join the group already there. In command was Maj. John E. Shield of the district office. About 1,350 miles south of Honolulu, Christmas, 35 miles long and 20 miles wide, was the largest coral island in the Pacific. The newcomers found it to be flat and generally only ten feet above sea level. At the western end was a sizable lagoon opening into the sea. The once numerous coconut plantations had been abandoned after the collapse of the copra market. In 1940 the population had been evacuated, but a British resident commissioner and 26 Polynesians had returned in April 1941 and had established two settlements at the mouth of the lagoon. There were a number of warehouses, a dock fifty feet long at high tide, and two residences, all inadequate for present needs. The roads were poor. The engineers would have to build not only runways but also piers, roads, and camps.57
On 3 November a transport, with about 130 troops and civilians headed by Capt. C. D. Baker aboard and towing four barges loaded with equipment and supplies, began the 2,000-mile trip from Honolulu to Canton. During the voyage two of the barges filled with water and had to be abandoned though some of the equipment was saved. On 14 November the ship reached its destination. Canton was a narrow strip of coral, enclosing a lagoon eight miles long and four miles wide. The land was covered with scrub; the lagoon, choked with reefs. An Englishman operated the radio station. Pan American Airways had a few facilities on the island. The first jobs were the construction of a temporary dock, the blasting of coral from the lagoon, the erection of shop buildings, and the surveying of the site for the runway.58
Meanwhile, work had begun on Fiji. In New Zealand and its possessions, governmental agencies constructed public works. Practically all the heavy equipment which would be needed for airfield construction was government owned. The most feasible solution was to lease or borrow the machinery and hire native workers. Sverdrup and Parcel’s original architect-engineer contract was expanded to include supervision of construction. The Dominion authorities were most cooperative. Within thirty-six hours
after Ramey and MacCasland had made the survey for the route and discussed with Prime Minister Peter Fraser the desirability of improving Nandi field, work had begun. New Zealand even gave the project priority over all defense work being done in the Dominion itself. The Governor of Fiji issued a proclamation prohibiting the export of lumber and ordered sawmills to operate under direct orders of the government in order that sufficient lumber might be obtained locally. On 20 November several pieces of equipment arrived from the United States. The next day Sverdrup wrote Wyman that work had started at Nandi. In late November Capt. Carl F. Ende arrived from Honolulu to take up his duties as area engineer.59
Accompanying Captain Ende was 1st Lt. Richard P. Sauer, who went on to New Caledonia as area engineer for that island. Visiting Tontouta, Sauer found that the pessimistic report of Ramey and MacCasland was fully justified. One of the field’s main drawbacks was that hills obstructed the approaches to the runways. When Sverdrup and Robinson arrived later, they inspected a field the French had started at Plaines des Gaiacs, about 150 miles northeast of Noumea. They believed the runways there could be developed easily to minimum requirements. It was planned, consequently, to lengthen the runways at Tontouta for emergency use until the field at Plaines des Gaiacs could be gotten ready. Sauer discovered the Hawaiian Department had made no arrangements with the French High Commissioner for construction. Doing any work on the island would be out of the question until an agreement between the War Department and the Free French government had been signed. Since workmen sent over by the Australian Government at the request of the Free French were already improving Tontouta, Sauer asked the Australians to develop Plaines des Gaiacs until an agreement could be made by the American authorities and the Free French to permit sending in American workmen and equipment. The Australians agreed to complete Tontouta as an emergency field. They also made planes available for a reconnaissance of additional sites in the Solomons and New Hebrides, but they were unable to do anything at Plaines des Gaiacs because their resources were too slender.60 Development of this important field would have to wait.
Supplies
Procurement of supplies and equipment for the burgeoning construction program in the Pacific outposts was increasingly hampered by various obstacles. Transportation bottlenecks began to plague the construction forces. After Congress appropriated funds for projects, it took three or four months to get materials from the United States to the outlying territories. Before long, procurement became entangled with the priorities system. In the summer of 1941, the Army and Navy Munitions
Board (ANMB) rated projects in Panama A-1-b; those in Hawaii, A-1-c; and those in Alaska, A-1-c or lower. Local commanders tried to get their priorities raised. In July, Short recommended that projects in Hawaii be given the same priority as those in Panama. He wanted especially to have an A-1-b rating for materials needed for the storage tanks for reserve gasoline, a request strongly supported by the Chief of Engineers. But ANMB refused to grant the higher rating. In July, all defense projects in Alaska were rated A-1-c. With this low rating, the Seattle District Engineer had great difficulty in getting materials, particularly steel and copper, all the more so since the Navy’s Alaska projects enjoyed the top A-1-a rating. Because of the difficulty of winter delivery, it was essential that the bulk of construction materials be on hand by early fall. Under the current ratings, it would take several months or even a year to get delivery. On 9 August Colonel Dunn requested the A-1-a rating, stating it should be given at least for steel, spare parts, and similar items.61 A few days later, DeWitt reminded the War Department that he had been instructed to alert the garrisons in the Territory and declared that the “defense of Alaska will be endangered” unless vital construction was helped in every way “during the short working season which is now rapidly dwindling.”62
Although balking at first, the ANMB Priorities Committee on 4 September assigned an A-1-a rating to construction materials for military projects.63 General Short was not so successful. The A-1-c rating remained in effect, except for the ferry route. Construction in Panama and Alaska was at this time apparently considered more essential than construction in Hawaii.
It was impossible to stockpile materials. Only after Congress had voted funds for a project could the Engineers place orders for the supplies. All materials shipped from the United States were to be used only on the project for which they were designated, a normal procedure in peacetime. To make possible building up reserves of materials and transferring them from one project to another as deemed necessary, efforts were made to change this system. In the meantime, the Chief of Engineers, in order to ease the supply situation in Hawaii, made an allotment of more than $1,000,000 to Wyman for the purchase of materials and equipment. In November, The Quartermaster General made available $400,000 to the Seattle District for a similar stockpile for work in Alaska. As materials were withdrawn, the Seattle District was to replace them with stocks purchased with funds allocated to the projects. Dunn planned to have the stockpile in operation before the spring of 1942. Still, these sums could not be used for building up stockpiles in any real sense because the money was to be used for the advance purchase of materials for authorized projects. Nor were
commanders in Panama more successful in getting authority to build up reserves.64
War Appears Imminent
Relations between the United States and Japan had reached a precarious state by October 1941. On the 18th of that month General Hideki Tojo, an advocate of an aggressive, expansionist policy, became premier of Japan. The American position regarding a settlement in the Pacific, hitherto unacceptable to Japan, remained unchanged. The Imperial Army and Navy were being put in a state of readiness to strike early in December. Last-ditch diplomatic negotiations for a peaceful settlement continued in Washington. Japanese intentions were known to the American negotiators because the Japanese code had been broken, but it was not known when and where Japan would attack. Still greater efforts would have to be made to improve the defenses of the triangle.65
Panama needed a good deal more work, even though much had been done. Since the summer of 1939 the cost of construction under the department engineer’s supervision had increased from $1.5 million to $17 million. The number of workmen had risen from 1,000 to approximately 5,000. Despite the rains and shortages of men and equipment, work was being accelerated. By mid-November, the engineers had completed more than 100 magazines for storing ammunition and had almost finished the bombproof command post. They had placed the concrete foundations for small defense installations such as antiaircraft guns, had completed emplacements for medium caliber coastal guns, and were preparing plans for casemating large sea-coast defenses. In the Panamanian Republic, engineer troops and civilians, and in some cases the using units themselves, were doing all military construction, except some housing at Rio Hato being built by the constructing quartermaster. The auxiliary airfields were being improved. By mid-November, Chorrera had two graveled landing strips. The 805th (which had been expanded into a battalion late in June) continued with construction of the auxiliary drome at Chame, and work was continuing at the two strips at La Joya. A major effort was necessary on the roads. The engineers were building about 225 miles of new paved routes and were resurfacing many existing ones. When completed, hard-surfaced roads would lead to over zqoo searchlight positions and other installations. Continued maintenance was required, especially during the rainy season, “to preserve even a semblance of a road in the mountainous areas.” A continuing bottleneck was the land acquisition question, since the places left vacant by the dismissal of the Panamanian members in the coup d’état of October had not been filled.66
Alaska had only a minimum of defenses.
With winter approaching the engineers would be able to do little more in the immediate future. In October and November, a group representing the War Department’s General Staff divisions toured the Territory to see at firsthand how work was progressing. All were struck by the few defenses and by the lack of camouflage and concealment. Lt. Col. Nelson M. Walker, the G-3 officer, declared that construction in Alaska “invites disaster” from air attack because Army installations made such conspicuous targets and on the whole were inadequately defended, a view shared by most members of the group. On 4 December Lt. Col. James K. Tully of the War Plans Division made several recommendations for Alaska based on observations made during the tour. He urged particularly that construction, approved by the Joint Board a week earlier, be started at Umnak, Cold Bay, and Port Heiden, that Army camps be built at several fields under construction by CAA besides the ten with military priority, and that a number of roads be built as alternate lines of communication. To bring Alaskan defenses up to the level envisioned by the War Department planners would require much more engineer work. Completion of the airfields alone would take another summer season. “Full construction,” in the opinion of Colonel Walker, “could only be accomplished within a year by a maximum, and most improbable, effort.”67
In Hawaii, the contractors continued to improve the airfields. Crews were lengthening the runways, erecting permanent and temporary buildings, and constructing storage facilities for ammunition, gasoline, and water. Wheeler, Hickam, and the new Bellows airfield were getting longer and better runways. On the outlying islands, 6,000-foot strips were under construction or were being planned. But work on most of the other projects lagged. The aircraft warning stations were behind schedule. As expected, in some cases acquiring real estate took an inordinately long time. The Engineers had to negotiate with the National Park Service for almost a year before they were allowed on Haleakala. By late November progress was a little more encouraging. Housing for the station on Mount Kaala on Oahu was finished, and the station on Haleakala was almost completed. Kokee was about two-thirds done. Surveys for sites for the remaining stations were continuing. None of the stations were in operation and would not be for weeks to come because the Signal Corps’ apparatus still had to be installed. By late November the revised plans for the reserve gasoline storage were complete and had been given to the Hawaiian Constructors, who were assembling equipment to start work shortly. Nine tanks, each with a capacity of 40,000 barrels, were later to be installed in Waikakalaua Gulch by the Hammond Iron Works of Warren, Pennsylvania. Three major projects for ammunition storage had been started. Two were being built underground—one at Wheeler Field and the other at Aliamanu Crater—while the third, consisting of igloos for storing minor ammunition,
was under way at Hickam. Work had begun on coastal defenses, principally the bombproofing of command posts, and a start had been made on railway gun positions.68
By December, Wyman had added ten supplemental agreements to the originally modest contract of the Hawaiian Constructors. The estimated cost of the work had risen from $1,097,673 to $19,545,557; the fixed fee, from $52,220 to $455,145. The Hawaiian Constructors, plagued with growing scarcities of men and materials, struggled to build up an organization capable of completing the defense projects. To fashion into a smoothly functioning force the relatively small number of workers who could be recruited required an extraordinary effort. Adequate supervision was difficult because the jobs were so widely scattered. The contractor’s expanding organization was beset with numerous deficiencies, duly commented on by the inspector general of the Hawaiian Department after his investigation in September. Many property records kept by area clerks were incomplete and carelessly posted, while the handling of money and the keeping of accounts at many of the commissaries were unsatisfactory. The personnel and payroll auditing subdivision lacked proper coordination. To make matters worse, the using agencies often did not furnish exact information as to what they wanted, or, after construction had begun, requested changes in design. Wyman, trying as best he could to keep the construction effort on an even keel, held conferences every Monday morning with key men from the district office and the Hawaiian Constructors. At these conferences Wyman and the contractor’s men tried to “iron out any problems that arose,” with the district engineer constantly trying to impress on the contractors the need for speed. But even so, the difficulties he faced were great.69
Last Days of Peace
Prospects for an agreement between the United States and Japan seemed so slight that on 24 November the Navy informed its Pacific commanders that Japanese troop movements indicated a sudden attack could be expected “in any direction,” and especially against the Philippines or Guam. Three days later, the Army told its commanders in San Francisco, Panama, Hawaii, and the Philippines of the imminence of war and directed them to undertake appropriate measures, keeping in mind that it would be desirable to have Japan strike the first blow. All but MacArthur were instructed “not to alarm the civilian population.”70
At this critical juncture, it appeared that engineer work would soon reach its
full stride everywhere except in Alaska. In Panama, the impasse over real estate was broken on 3 December when President de la Guardia appointed members to a new land board. The program of extending installations out from the Canal could begin in earnest.71 In the Hawaiian Islands, where work was just getting well under way, coastal defenses were being steadily strengthened and airfields improved, the aircraft warning stations were nearing completion, and a start was about to be made on storage for reserve gasoline. Construction on the ferry route had begun. In Alaska—aside from the three airfields that were operational, and preliminary construction on some of the aircraft warning stations and the railroad cutoff—projects were still in the planning stage. Little could be done before spring.72
Besides building up the triangle’s defenses, the Corps was increasing its troop strength, the figures for which were beginning to appear more encouraging. In Panama, there were 1,500 engineers in a total Army force of approximately 32,000—just under 5 percent. In Hawaii, the three combat units and the 804th engineers totaled some 2,800 men—about 7 percent of the 42,000 troops in the department. In Alaska, engineers totaled approximately 1,400 of some 21,000 troops in the Territory.73
At 5 minutes before eight o’clock on Sunday mottling, 7 December 1941, Japanese planes appeared over Oahu without warning. Some made straight for the warships anchored in Pearl Harbor; others headed for the major Army and Navy airfields. In this attack, lasting about 30 minutes, dive bombers heavily damaged Hickam and Wheeler Fields and machine-gunned Schofield Barracks. At Schofield, a bomb exploded near the area occupied by the 34th Engineers, leaving a large crater. In a second assault, beginning at 20 minutes before nine and lasting about an hour, Bellows Field was also hit. No engineers were killed during these attacks, but a considerable amount of equipment was destroyed, especially at Hickam and Wheeler. At Bellows, although most of the planes on the field were demolished, no equipment was damaged. In both assaults, the attackers directed their most devastating blows against the Navy. They wrecked the bulk of the fleet at Pearl Harbor and partly destroyed the Navy’s Kaneohe Seaplane Base in eastern Oahu and its Ewa
Marine Air Station in the southwestern part of the island. The period of peacetime preparations for defense was a thing of the past. The United States was plunged into war.74