[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 63 (Tuesday, May 10, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE HUI PANALAAU

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 10, 2011

  Ms. HIRONO. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share the story of 130 young 
men from Hawaii, who were asked by the U.S. Federal Government to 
occupy a trio of deserted islands in the remote Pacific Ocean from 1935 
to 1942.
  These young men were asked to live on the islands of Howland, Baker, 
and Jarvis for three-month shifts of four-men per island. The men 
earned $3 a day, a good wage during the Great Depression.
  The majority of the colonists were Native Hawaiians because the 
government planners felt that the colonizing task was so daunting that 
only young Hawaiians would be able to survive. Kamehameha Schools, a 
school for Native Hawaiian children, was asked to recruit recent male 
graduates who could swim, fish, and handle a boat. Collectively, the 
group came to be known as the Hui Panalaau (group of colonizers).
  The islands of Howland, Baker, and Jarvis are about halfway between 
Hawaii and Australia. The colonists traveled by boat and it typically 
took five days to reach Jarvis and another three to reach Howland and 
Baker.
  The Hui Panalaau were supplied only with canned goods, water, and a 
few tents. The colonists were asked to keep logbooks about the weather 
and to gather natural specimens. Their lives on the islands meant 
enduring rats, beetles, sharks, and the blazing sun.
  Why were the Hui Panalaau recruited by the United States to live on 
these islands? The U.S. Department of Defense considered these islands 
to be of strategic importance. After the first year of colonization, 
the United States claimed territorial jurisdiction of the islands and 
air supremacy. So while the public mission of the colonists was to take 
weather readings for potential commercial flight routes, the colonist 
program also served secret military objectives.
  In 1941, as World War II intensified, Japanese planes attacked 
Howland Island likely because of the landing field the colonists were 
directed to construct. Two colonists, Richard ``Dickey'' Kanani Whaley 
and Joseph Kealoha Keliihananui lost their lives during the attack. 
Their deaths ended the Hui Panalaau program.
  Bishop Museum, the Hawaii State museum for natural and cultural 
history, developed a documentary on the story of the Hui Panalaau, 
entitled, Under a Jarvis Moon. The film combines historical interviews 
of the colonists, still photographs, government documents, and newsreel 
footage. The film is titled after a song co-written by one of the four 
surviving colonists, George Kahanu, Sr. The film was directed by 
Heather Giugni and Noelle Kahanu, the granddaughter of George.
  Under a Jarvis Moon premiered at the 2011 Hawaii International Film 
Festival and was nominated for the Halekulani Golden Orchid Award. On 
March 12, 2011, the U.S. Department of the Interior will be hosting a 
screening of the film and I encourage my colleagues to see it and hear 
the story of the Hui Panalaau from the men who lived it.
  Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much).

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