[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3250-S3251]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ACKNOWLEDGING AND HONORING BRAVE YOUNG MEN FROM HAWAII
Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary
Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 109 and
the Senate proceed to its consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 109) acknowledging and honoring brave
young men from Hawaii who enabled the United States to
establish and maintain jurisdiction in remote equatorial
islands as prolonged conflict in the Pacific led to World War
II.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the
resolution be agreed to; the Schatz amendment to the preamble be agreed
to; the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; and the motions to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no
intervening action or debate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The resolution (S. Res. 109) was agreed to.
The amendment (No. 1437) was agreed to, as follows:
(Purpose: To amend the preamble)
The preamble is amended--
(1) in the 10th whereas clause, by striking ``March 30,
1935'' and inserting ``March 20, 1935'';
(2) in the 13th whereas clause, by striking ``proclaimed''
and inserting ``established'';
(3) in the 25th whereas clause, by striking ``distracted
by'' and inserting ``otherwise focused on''; and
(4) in the 27th whereas clause--
(A) by striking ``Jarvis and Enderbury'' and inserting
``Enderbury and Jarvis''; and
(B) by striking ``on February 9'' and inserting `` from
February 7 to 9''.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, as amended, reads as follows:
S. Res. 109
Whereas in the mid-19th century, the Guano Islands Act (48
U.S.C. 1411 et seq.) enabled companies from the United States
to mine guano from a number of islands in the Equatorial
Pacific;
Whereas after several decades, when the guano was depleted,
the companies abandoned mining activities, and the control of
the islands by the United States diminished and left the
islands vulnerable to exploitation by other nations;
Whereas the Far East during the late 19th century and early
20th century was characterized by colonial conflicts and
Japanese expansionism;
Whereas the 1930s marked the apex of the sphere of
influence of Imperial Japan in the Far East;
Whereas military and commercial interest in Central Pacific
air routes between Australia and California led to a desire
by the United States to claim the islands of Howland, Baker,
and Jarvis, although the ownership of the islands was
unclear;
Whereas in 1935, a secret Department of Commerce
colonization plan was instituted, aimed at placing citizens
of the United States as colonists on the remote islands of
Howland, Baker, and Jarvis;
Whereas to avoid conflicts with international law, which
prevented colonization by active military personnel, the
United States sought the participation of furloughed military
personnel and Native Hawaiian civilians in the colonization
project;
Whereas William T. Miller, Superintendent of Airways at the
Department of Commerce, was appointed to lead the
colonization project, traveled to Hawaii in February 1935,
met with Albert F. Judd, Trustee of Kamehameha Schools and
the Bishop Museum, and agreed that recent graduates and
students of the Kamehameha School for Boys would make ideal
colonists for the project;
Whereas the ideal Hawaiian candidates were candidates who
could ``fish in the native manner, swim excellently, handle a
boat, be disciplined, friendly, and unattached'';
Whereas on March 20, 1935, the United States Coast Guard
Cutter Itasca departed from Honolulu Harbor in great secrecy
with 6 young Hawaiian men aboard, all recent graduates of
Kamehameha Schools, and 12 furloughed Army personnel, whose
purpose was to occupy the barren islands of Howland, Baker,
and Jarvis in teams of 5 for 3 months;
Whereas in June 1935, after a successful first tour, the
furloughed Army personnel were ordered off the islands and
replaced with additional Kamehameha Schools alumni, thus
leaving the islands under the exclusive occupation of the 4
Native Hawaiians on each island;
Whereas the duties of the colonists while on the island
were to record weather conditions, cultivate plants, maintain
a daily log, record the types of fish that were caught,
observe bird life, and collect specimens for the Bishop
Museum;
Whereas the successful year-long occupation by the
colonists directly enabled President Franklin D. Roosevelt to
issue Executive Order 7368 on May 13, 1936, which established
that the islands of Howland, Baker, and Jarvis were under the
jurisdiction of the United States;
Whereas multiple Federal agencies vied for the right to
administer the colonization project, including the Department
of Commerce, the Department of the Interior, and the Navy
Department, but jurisdiction was ultimately granted to the
Department of the Interior;
Whereas under the Department of the Interior, the
colonization project emphasized weather data and radio
communication, which brought about the recruitment of a
number of Asian radiomen and aerologists;
Whereas under the Department of the Interior, the
colonization project also expanded beyond the Kamehameha
Schools to include Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians from other
schools in Hawaii;
Whereas in March of 1938 the United States also claimed and
colonized the islands of Canton and Enderbury, maintaining
that the colonization was in furtherance of commercial
aviation and not for military purposes;
Whereas the risk of living on the remote islands meant that
emergency medical care was not less than 5 days away, and the
distance proved fatal for Carl Kahalewai, who died on October
8, 1938, en route to Honolulu after his appendix ruptured on
Jarvis island;
Whereas other life-threatening injuries occurred, including
in 1939, when Manuel Pires had appendicitis, and in 1941,
when an explosion severely burned Henry Knell and Dominic
Zagara;
Whereas in 1940, when the issue of discontinuing the
colonization project was raised, the Navy acknowledged that
the islands were ``probably worthless to commercial
aviation'' but advocated for ``continued occupation'' because
the islands could serve as ``bases from a military
standpoint'';
Whereas although military interests justified continued
occupation of the islands, the colonists were never informed
of the true nature of the project, nor were the colonists
provided with weapons or any other means of self-defense;
[[Page S3251]]
Whereas in June of 1941, when much of Europe was engaged in
World War II and Imperial Japan was establishing itself in
the Pacific, the Commandant of the 14th Naval District
recognized the ``tension in the Western Pacific'' and
recommended the evacuation of the colonists, but his request
was denied;
Whereas on December 8, 1941, Howland Island was attacked by
a fleet of Japanese twin-engine bombers, and the attack
killed Hawaiian colonists Joseph Keliihananui and Richard
Whaley;
Whereas in the ensuing weeks, Japanese submarine and
military aircraft continued to target the islands of Howland,
Baker, and Jarvis, jeopardizing the lives of the remaining
colonists;
Whereas the United States Government was unaware of the
attacks on the islands, and was otherwise focused on the
entry of the United States into World War II;
Whereas the colonists demonstrated great valor while
awaiting retrieval;
Whereas the 4 colonists from Baker and the 2 remaining
colonists from Howland were rescued on January 31, 1942, and
the 8 colonists from Enderbury and Jarvis were rescued on
February 7 to 9, 1942, 2 months after the initial attacks on
Howland Island;
Whereas on March 20, 1942, Harold L. Ickes, Secretary of
the Interior, sent letters of condolence to the Keliihananui
and Whaley families stating that ``[i]n your bereavement it
must be considerable satisfaction to know that your brother
died in the service of his country'';
Whereas during the 7 years of colonization, more than 130
young men participated in the project, the majority of whom
were Hawaiian, and all of whom made numerous sacrifices,
endured hardships, and risked their lives to secure and
maintain the islands of Howland, Baker, Jarvis, Canton, and
Enderbury on behalf of the United States, and 3 young
Hawaiian men made the ultimate sacrifice;
Whereas none of the islands, except for Canton, were ever
used for commercial aviation, but the islands were used for
military purposes;
Whereas in July 1943, a military base was established on
Baker Island, and its forces, which numbered over 2,000
members, participated in the Tarawa-Makin operation;
Whereas in 1956, participants of the colonization project
established an organization called ``Hui Panala'au'', which
was established to preserve the fellowship of the group, to
provide scholarship assistance, and ``to honor and esteem
those who died as colonists of the Equatorial Islands'';
Whereas in 1979, Canton and Enderbury became part of the
Republic of Kiribati, but the islands of Jarvis, Howland, and
Baker remain possessions of the United States, having been
designated as National Wildlife Refuges in 1974;
Whereas the islands of Jarvis, Howland, and Baker are now
part of the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument;
Whereas May 13, 2015, marks the 79th anniversary of the
issuance of the Executive order of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt proclaiming United States jurisdiction over the
islands of Howland, Baker, and Jarvis, islands that remain
possessions of the United States; and
Whereas the Federal Government has never fully recognized
the contributions and sacrifices of the colonists, less than
a handful of whom are still alive today: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) acknowledges the accomplishments and commends the
service of the Hui Panala'au colonists;
(2) acknowledges the local, national, and international
significance of the 7-year colonization project, which
resulted in the United States extending sovereignty into the
Equatorial Pacific;
(3) recognizes the dedication to the United States and
self-reliance demonstrated by the young men, the majority of
whom were Native Hawaiian, who left their homes and families
in Hawaii to participate in the Equatorial Pacific
colonization project;
(4) extends condolences on behalf of the United States to
the families of Carl Kahalewai, Joseph Keliihananui, and
Richard Whaley for the loss of their loved ones in the
service of the United States;
(5) honors the young men whose actions, sacrifices, and
valor helped secure and maintain the jurisdiction of the
United States over equatorial islands in the Pacific Ocean
during the years leading up to and the months immediately
following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entry of the
United States into World War II; and
(6) extends to all of the colonists, and to the families of
these exceptional young men, the deep appreciation of the
people of the United States.
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