Show Conditions in Hawaii Since Disaster of December Kv Alice Trimble J Letters I have received 1 December have made me realize the many friends 1 have on the mainland much each of them is wondering how we are what conditions In Hawaii are and in general how we are It's a long story so I have decided to tell all in a letter which of course must pass Now that we realize that every Sun 1 sets sooner or we can in look back and think over the somewhat staggering events since We found that day that the Hawaiian skies could be and that the beautiful blue waters of our Pacific shores contained something besides smallest since that eventful things have settled back into the old groove and except for changed outward appearances and the changes in our living due to military we find it difficult to think of Hawaii at war December was a typical Hawaiian Sunday cool and I awakened hearing noises which practically shook my little Thought maybe we were just experiencing another then on second thought with the sound of planes decided it was just army maneuvers to which we are all so I did think it was rather poor taste on their part to put on a noisy exhibition on such a beautiful Sunday I made the best of propped my head up with a couple of pillows and started reading the The door bell not once but many times so I slipped on my kimono and opened the door there stood my neighbor from downstairs with a glare in her eyes I shall never She are being the Japs are here I just stood amazed and by this time another neighbor across the hall opened her door and heard the In about minutes I had the ladio on and from the tone of the announcer s voice there was no doubt that what he was trying to say was I can still hear service men report to duty at once All civilians stay off the streets This is the Real McCoy Those are real bullets Stay off the streets Don't use your By this time I had made three phone My neighbor across the Charm was now with me because her husband reported for a girl friend from across the way also arrived in a very few The three of us and were so then I felt it my duty to prepare breakfast which I I have found out that in such trying times people really eat We spent the day running down talking with all the neighbors who for two years I have never before made an effort to get acquainted with From my hack lanai to I have a view of Diamond Head crater and this morning besides the sun shining on this old land mark we actually saw bombs fall as our eyes followed the coast line toward the During the day we walked only three and that was to see where a bomb had fallen You can just imagine the bombs were not so far away for yours Nightfall early this December day and blackouts were enforced That night we didn't rest much in fact Monday morning my slacks and shirt had no signs they had been used In place of a A 1 1 night as we watched we wondered if we should evacuate from our homes foolish thought because there was no place to I forgot to say that all garbage cans were filled with sand and placed around the house still Rumors flew The water was said to be We filled everything including the kitchen Parachute troops were landing on St. Louis we rushed to the lanai and even imagined we saw Jap troops were landing at And dozens of others they were all false as were most of those that reached the Martial law went into effect almost immediately and brought many changes some good some Jap explained to their children that the FBI had their Santa We soon realized the Christmas cheer be lacking as the Mauna Ala went down with all the Hawaiian bound Christmas trees and pounds of The military governor put an end to all liquid cheer right Froze it and it hasn't melted Christmas day I around with sort of a heavy heart and a tired back because my two neighbors who had practically been my roommates for thirteen days left with other evacuees who reached your land a few days As for New Year's there isn't much to We listened to coast music as Auld Lang Syne and only hoped that those back home knew we were safe and that our thoughts were with Blackouts are here for the At first we ate our dinner in the dark my neighbors were with We depended on and Harkness downstairs to let us join them every evening at which time we all had something new to tell but we don't discuss any Then a week or so later we blacked out my little The heat was like a steam chamber we couldn't live that After borrowing and buying blackout paper Charm and 1 did a perfect job in my living room and Now living was more but still find that fresh air has an odd odor as we emerge after hours in the closed The provost court doesn't monkey One beam of light if detected by the wrong people costs one five At first the sentence forced one to buy Defense Bonds or donate blood for the blood bank but now J they pay for keeps and tell you to bring your wallet along when they take you to the police Blackouts have brought out many humorous One can have a eye now and get sympathy rather than All civilians are to have bomb This brought on another flood of stories The following poem sort of explains why all of the tennants in the apartment house are to run to the store room if a raid dug a shelter at the I guess I hadn't It isn't comfortable to squat in half a foot of At the university our shelters are just open trenches but we are lucky to have Along with the blitz and the evacuation of and navy wives came which is well summed up in the following A dillar a the landlord's a He used to charge a hundred ten i And now it's Then came the finger I The teachers of the public schools I were drafted for this stupendous They recorded our pres- and future and ended by tak-l 32 separate prints of every one of The lady in front of me j in the printing line gave her middle name as I don't i know what it means and can't I pronounce but you can see the difficulties which the ran We have had our blood typed and each of us carries a little gas mask so come what may we are i set for When we get a helmet we will almost need a trailer to carry our passes and what have i Honolulu business men were really right when they forecast 1942 as a boom I almost forgot to mention my I must say I was happy 1 had completed my regular trips to the other islands just the week I before and was at home on De-comber We were really Food and adequate food of course I is the most important thing facing All home economists I are in fact we have even I organized ourselves into a committee and every day we have radio talks and newspaper articles giving information to home Supervising the food project takes me back to my extension days on the mam-I It is really fun to pack a I pressure cooker around once You should see me extract delici- I ous cooking fat from coconuts and did you know that butter can be made from coconut When I see you I shall tell you more I Women's Clubs we met since the blitz and will con-I to do Meeting in organized groups such as our Business j and Professional Women's club j and club helps to keep up morale and they do have a place in our program for Wartime Honolulu presents a very different picture from that which the Tourist Bureau Barbed wire machine gun taped for rent armed guards at strategic sandbags piled j around public parks and school grounds and guards to stop you for identification when you enter an important building are a part of the daily scene but we can't say too much can we Nevertheless all the outward show of war only dim the beauties of It takes more than this to erase the charm of our islands the beautiful blue the I majestic mountains and the glorious colors of our flowers and They will live on and when r the has sunk to its 1 Hawaii will again blossom forth in all its I Me kealoha pau which in Hawaiian our i friendship be Mahalo Alice Trimble j P. S. This letter has been in the making so long that now I can say Hawaii also enjoys We don't or get i off the streets until p. m. anymore Mornings are bad for Blackout until 7 a. m so we I get dressed in the P P. S. Another week has elapsed and the liquid cheer has partially |