A date that will live in infamy!

Yesterday, December 7, 2017, we remembered Pearl Harbor and the more than 2,000 sailors and soldiers who died in the early morning attack. Some twenty survivors attended the ceremony at Pearl Harbor yesterday.

In the aftermath of the attack, the islands were placed under martial law. The police and courts became militarized. The police were tasked with hunting spies and saboteurs. So who did the normal policing? Somebody had to write speeding tickets, respond to robberies and burglaries, and investigate crimes. In addition, there were now curfews that needed to be enforced. Much of the police work fell on volunteers.

The Honolulu Police Department already had a volunteer program in place. It was introduced in July 1941. This is where things get interesting. On December 6, 1941, the Spartans of San Jose State University played the Rainbow Warriors of the University of Hawaii in football. On December 7, the Spartan players woke up to learn the islands were under attack and they were stranded. Only naval vessels or ships carrying military cargo could enter or leave the islands. So, the players volunteered for the police department. Some eventually joined the armed forces and left, but others remained throughout the war. You can read about it on the Honolulu Police Department website. http://www.honolulupd.org/department/index.php?page=history

Go For Broke

The 100th Infantry Battalion first adopted “Remember Pearl Harbor” as their motto. They later adopted “Go For Broke.” Their original song was Remember Pearl Harbor. I don’t know who wrote the Remember Pearl Harbor lyrics. The Go For Broke lyrics were written by Martin Kida, who was killed in action.

REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR.
History in every century
We recall an act that lives forevermore
We recall as into night they fall
The things that happened on Hawaii shore

Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
As we go to meet the foe
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
As we did the Alamo

We will always remember
How they died for liberty
Let’s remember Pearl Harbor
And go on to victory

GO FOR BROKE
Four Forty-Second Infantry
We are the boys of Hawaii Nei
We will fight for you
And the red white and blue
And will go the front
And back to Honolulu-lu-lu
Fighting for dear old Uncle Sam
Go for broke we don’t give a damn
We will round up the Huns
At the point of a gun
And victory will be ours
Go for broke! Four Four Two!
Go for broke! Four Four Two!
And victory will be ours.
All hail our company.

Ukulele

On Wednesday, I wrote about how the ukulele got its name. George S Kanahele, in his book, Hawaiian Music and Musicians: An Illustrated History, 1979, University of Hawaii Press, cites the Pukui-Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary, which is the authoritative source on the Hawaiian language. According to Pukui and Elbert, the name comes from an Englishman, Edward Purvis, who came to Honolulu in 1879 after serving in India as an army officer. Soon after his arrival, he took the post of assistant chamberlain to the court of King Kalakaua. Because of his size and nimbleness, the king nicknamed him “Ukulele,” “little jumping flea.” “Uku” meaning “flea,” and “lele” meaning jumping. Purvis was a fine musician and learned to play the braguinha well enough that he frequently performed for the court. He became so identified with the instrument that it came to be known by his nickname.

So now you know.

The Tiki Bar is open!

The holiday season is upon us. If you’re hosting a party, what is more festive than a good punch? This one serves 12. It is called the Cinerama Luau Punch. It was created for the 1958 release of the Cinerama South Seas Adventure movie, the fifth in the Cinerama series of travelogue-type films composed of fictional vignettes in exotic places. In this movie you can fly over fjords of New Zealand, and surf big waves in Hawaii, among other adventures, all captured in the curved screen Cinerama style. If you are old enough to remember Cinerama, you are old enough to drink the punch.

Recipe:
8 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
8 oz fresh lemon juice
8 oz fresh lime juice
8 oz orange juice
2 oz orange curaçao
½ bottle of any white wine
1 ½ bottle gold Jamaican rum

Mix everything in a punch bowl and chill with ice.
This recipe came from Beachbum Berry.