December 7th, 1941. 0700 Hawaii time. The Hawaiian island of O’ahu is just waking up, not knowing that this will be the last morning of peace for nearly four years. Whilst not the largest of the Hawaiian islands, O’ahu is perhaps the most important, containing the city of Honolulu and the nearby Pearl Harbor naval base, home of the US Pacific Fleet. The fleet has been deployed to Hawaii to counter Japanese aggression throughout the Pacific, and is vital to keeping the Japanese empire in check.
Undetected by the US Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy has positioned six of its aircraft carriers off the North coast of O’ahu. Even as the residents of Hawaii were waking up, a huge formation of aircraft has taken off from the carriers and is heading for targets on the island. Although detected by the US Army radar site at Opana Point, the formation is mistaken for a flight of B-17s, due to arrive from California at around the same time, and a warning is not transmitted to the rest of the island.
A few minutes before 0800, and the Japanese strike force arrives at its targets, and carnage ensues. Over the course of the next 90 minutes, two waves of Japanese strike aircraft hit the Pearl Harbor naval base, along with the naval air stations of Kaneohe Bay, Barber’s Point and Ford Island. Hickam and Wheeler Fields, home of US Army Air Force fighters and bombers are also attacked and severe damage done. At the end of the ninety minutes four battleships and three other warships are sunk (with many more crippled), 188 aircraft destroyed (plus 155 damaged) and 2386 Americans are dead. And so America had entered World War Two.
The majority of the casualties suffered during the raid were at Pearl Harbor - in fact nearly half were killed when the USS Arizona exploded, after a hit to her forward magazine. This fact, along with the iconic images of burning capital ships, has meant that a huge amount of attention has been paid in the intervening years to the story of the attack on the naval base and surrounding area, with the name Pearl Harbor synonymous with the raid as a whole. However, the first shots of the raid were not fired at Pearl Harbour itself, but at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, on the North side of O’ahu.
Today, Pearl Harbor remains a very important naval base, but it is also a place of remembrance and attracts many visitors every year. In common with Pearl Harbor, many of the other installations which were attacked remain active, with one of these being MCAS Kaneohe Bay, now know as Marine Corps Base Hawaii. MCB Hawaii is currently home to the 3rd Marine Regiment and Marine Aircraft Group 24, along with several US Navy flying units. This busy base has a long and illustrious history.
Located on the Mokapu peninsular, approximately 20 miles North East of Honolulu, there has been a military presence in the area since the US Army established a camp there in 1918. In 1939, the US Navy built a small sea plane base on the site, and this became known as NAS Kaneohe Bay. By 1941, Kaneohe Bay was home to three patrol squadrons (VP-11, VP-12 and VP-14), equipped with the PBY Catalina flying boat, tasked with patrolling the waters around the Hawaiian islands. These aircraft made Kaneohe Bay a prime target in the eyes of the Japanese Naval planners.
On the morning of Dec 7th 1941, three of the Catalinas were out on routine patrol. The remaining aircraft were parked around the airfield, with several at anchor in the bay. Off the North coast, a group of 36 Mitsubishi Zero fighters was heading for O’ahu, with their targets being Kaneohe Bay, along with other airfields in the area and their mission being to strafe parked aircraft and airfield facilities.
At 0748 (eight minutes before the main raid on Pearl Harbor), war came to Kaneohe Bay, and with it the United States as the Zeros arrived over their target, meeting little initial resistance. Caught off-guard, the sailors based at Kaneohe Bay were unable to respond and defend themselves initially, but gradually weapons were found and a desperate defence mounted. Sailors entered the armoury and equipped themselves with any weapons they could find, with which to return fire at the attacking aircraft. Others removed the defensive guns from the damaged Catalinas, desperately trying to drive the Japanese away.
One of the men heavily involved in this makeshift defence was Chief Aviation Ordnanceman John W. Finn. Chief Finn managed to acquire a .50 cal machine gun which was mounted on an instruction stand in a completely exposed section of the ramp. As a result of his exposed position, he attracted heavy fire from the attacking aircraft, and was wounded several times. Despite his wounds, he continued to fire at the intruders until the attack ceased, scoring hits on several aircraft, one of which subsequently crashed. After the attack ended, Chief Finn assisted in preparing further defences for the airfield, and refused medical treatment. It was only the next day that he reported to sick bay for treatment - he was promptly hospitalised for nearly three weeks of major care!
For his actions and heroism, Chief Finn was later awarded the Medal of Honor. He survived the war, and at 99 years old is currently the oldest living recipient of the US military’s highest award for valour. His name lives on at the present day MCB Hawaii, with the operations block bearing his name.
Kaneohe Bay was attacked again one hour after the initial attack, and further damage was done, although by this time, more organised resistance was encountered by the raiders. In total, three Japanese aircraft were shot down during the raid on the Naval Air Station, with two crashing in the bay. The other aircraft downed was a Zero flown by Lt Iida of the Imperial Japanese Navy, who was killed when his aircraft crashed within the boundary of the airfield. Lt Iida became the first Japanese casualty of the war, and the site of his crash is marked by a small but respectful memorial tended by the marines and sailors of Kaneohe Bay. These losses however, were small compared to the losses suffered by the US forces.
Of the 33 aircraft present on the airfield, 27 were destroyed with the remaining six damaged. The only aircraft left unscathed were the three aircraft out on patrol at the time of the raid. Two of the sea plane hangars lay in smoking ruins and 18 men were dead.
Of course, the US Navy recovered from the damage suffered during the Japanese attack and just over six months later won a decisive victory in the Battle of Midway. This allowed the US forces to seize the initiative in the Pacific, and significantly, four of the Japanese aircraft carriers which had attacked Hawaii were sunk. NAS Kaneohe Bay spent the rest of the war as a training base for pilots, gunners and navigators, who went on to fight throughout the Pacific theatre.
After the end of WWII, the US Navy closed NAS Kaneohe Bay in 1949, however this period of inactivity did not last long. The US Marine Corps recognised the base as a potentially excellent location for a training site for a combined air/ground team, and moved in in 1952, beginning a residency which continues to this day, with the area being known now as Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH).
Since the arrival of the USMC, the airfield has been home to many marine aviation units, including both helicopters and fixed wing assets. The current parent unit based at MCBH is Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG 24), consisting of three squadrons (HMH-362, HMH-363 and HMH-463), all equipped with the Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion heavy transport helicopter. In 1999, the closure of NAS Barber’s Point meant that four squadrons of US Navy P-3 Orions made the move to MCBH, meaning that the base is now home to personnel from both the Navy and Marine Corps. The presence of the Orions is appropriate given the wartime history of the base - the Orion being a worthy successor to the wartime PBY Catalina maritime patrol aircraft based at NAS Kaneohe Bay in 1941.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii remains an important installation for US military operations in the Pacific area. In recent years, the marines and sailors based there have been deployed around the world, including operational tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. With Japan now a key ally in the Pacific region, the base is now occasionally visited by aircraft from the Japanese Self Defence forces. As a further sign of the reconciliation and close relationship between the two nations, these Japanese visitors are always keen to pay their respects at the place where Lt Iida became their Nation’s first casualty of WWII. The US sailors and civilians killed in the attack are commemorated by a memorial near the parade ground.
