Morning Session

Opening ceremony

National Anthem and Hawai‘i Pono‘ī sung by T Unique, a Samoan sisters group featuring Gataiala (Ala) Mailealo, age 19; Easter Mailealo, age 20, and Lafo Mailealo, age 21.

Hula Ki‘i (Hawaiian puppetry) and rare hula implements from the tradition of Nona Desha Beamer (1923-2008), Co-Founder of Hula Preservation Society (HPS). Keiki Dancers taught by Kumu Maile Loo-Ching, Executive Director of HPS.

Opening oli by Ka‘ala Estores Pacheco, Junior, California Polytechnic State University at Pomona, Kamehameha Schools Class 2010.

Welcome Comments; Administrative Announcements, Emcee Raine Arndt

Women in WWII Hawai‘i Scene Setter. This presentation explores women's roles while living within the war zone of the Territory of Hawai‘i, under martial law. The stories reveal how the upheaval of war changed these women along with their families, churches, and other associations while adjusting to painful new circumstances.

Irrepressible "Fly Girls": the U.S. Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).

Explores America's first female military aircraft aviators including instructor pilot Cornelia Fort who trained Army Air Corps cadets in Hawai‘i, 1930s aviation pioneer Jackie Cochran, and Chinese-American pilot Margaret "Maggie" Gee. These 1,074 women performed non-combat WWII flying missions and ferried almost all aircraft manufactured during the war, thus freeing male pilots for combat overseas. The story reveals how the upheaval of war profoundly changed these WASP pilots and cemented aviation aspirations for future generations.

Finally given recognition as military pilots decades after their service, the GI Bill Improvement Act of 1977 granted them full military stature, and in 2010 they were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, in part due to the advocacy of their champion, the late Congresswoman Patsy Mink of Hawai‘i.

Presenter: Vera S. Williams, author of WASPs: Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War II (Pacific Historic Parks, 2011), joined by legacy female pilots representing the United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and the Hawai‘i Air National Guard.

Dora Moon and the Korean Women's Relief Society (1941-1945).

Dora Moon was a pivotal organizer of a modern Korean women's movement in the Territory of Hawai‘i responding to the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula. Following the "March 1st Movement" in Korea in 1919, which resulted in scores of Koreans killed, beaten, or arrested by Japanese military authorities, Moon organized Hawai‘i's Korean women in social activism by forming the Korean Women's Relief Society whose activities and convictions supported women and children in occupied Korea throughout WWII.

Presenter: Julie Rancilio, Ph.D. candidate, Assistant Professor of History Kapi'olani Community College

Lei sellers as WWII Camouflage Net Makers: Adapting traditional Hawaiian art forms.

These female artisans, which included Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Puki, became the Pacific Theater's premier camouflage net makers from the Kalihi Camouflage Factory housed in Kamehameha Schools dairy farm buildings. As the camouflage net shortage eased, production shifted to making tropical furniture for the war zone.

Presenter: Sarah Razee, History Teacher, Kamehameha Schools High School-Kapālama Campus with Kamehameha Schools High School Youth Historians.

Japanese American Women of the Hawai‘i Internment Experience

Within 48 hours of Japan's attack across O‘ahu over 1,800 men and women of Japanese ancestry were arrested, detained and incarcerated in Hawai‘i. This presentation explores women's internment experiences, particularly those associated with Honouliuli Camp located within O‘ahu's Honouliuli ahupua'a agricultural district near Kunia, which detained several women of Japanese ancestry. Women's lives were further impacted when they took over businesses left by male head of households who were abruptly relocated to five detention sites across the Hawaiian Islands. The presentation also includes film excerpts from The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i, by Director Ryan Kawamoto (2012).

Presenters: Amy N. Nishimura, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Humanities/English, University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu with Jane Kurahara, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i.

Combined Question and Answer Session

Panelists: Vera Williams; Julie Rancilio, Amy N. Nishimura, Jane Kurahara, and Sarah Razee. Moderator: Colette Higgins, Professor of History, Kapi‘olani Community College and Pacific Historic Parks.

Afternoon session

Sophie Judd Cooke [1881-1966] established a recuperation site for injured and battle fatigued Army and Navy fliers and submariners at Moloka'i Ranch and maintained heartfelt correspondence with the military families of the 265 service members who stayed at Cooke's R&R site (1942-1945). It also reveals the aloha of Moloka'i's Hawaiian families who shared their great love for fishing, hunting and music with these visiting service members.

This story, adapted from the Sub Museum's Cooke WWII letter collection, also reveal news of the devastating loss of a son/boyfriend/father/husband after his return to the difficult combat conditions that awaited in the western Pacific.

Presenters: Curator Nancy J. Richards, USS Bowfin Submarine Museum.

Princess Abigail Campbell Kawānanakoa and Alice Kamokila Campbell's World War II service

Military Nursing and White Cap Sketches:Lieutenant (2LT) Monica Conter Benning, Purple Heart recipient LT Annie G. Fox, and LT Anna Urda Busby

The Pearl Harbor Survivor ranks included Army and Navy nurses serving on that fateful day, Dec. 7, 1941. These medical first responders were stationed at Hickam Field Base Hospital, Hospital Point at Pearl Harbor Navy Base, Tripler General Hospital on Ft. Shafter, Schofield Hospital, and other facilities to include converted hospitals at Farrington High School and Kamehameha School. Eye witness accounts reveal military nurses served patients with distinction and compassion, yet their place in medical history and community memory is largely overlooked.

Presenter: Patricia Liehr Ph.D., RN, Associate Dean for Nursing Research & Scholarship, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida

Women's History in WWII Hawai‘i is America's History: Elevating women's storytelling into the National Parks across Hawai‘i, inclusive of the wartime roles played by native women and women of color.

Presenter: Eileen Martinez, Chief of Education and Interpretation at Pearl Harbor's WWII Valor of in the Pacific National Monument, with music introduction Remembering Pearl Harbor sung by Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame member Noelani Mahoe.

Acknowledgments

Hawaiian Dancing Ladies and the practice of Hula during war time

Hui Menehune, a 250 member social dancing volunteer group, consisted of Hawaiian, Japanese-American, Chinese-American and Korean-American women. These young women helped change the social dynamics of their communities which had long relied on introductions through family circles. It is a story of forming new friendships- between women, military personal, and war workers. The illustrated talk is followed by a music and dance performance featuring the hula style prevalent during wartime, along with its recognizable music.

Performing Artists: Hawaiian songstress Marlene Sai and Kumu Hula Michael Pili Pang's Hālau Hula Ka No'eau.

Closing Ceremony: E Kolu Mea Nui with Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame member Noelani Mahoe, closing oli TBA. Program Evaluation turn.

Note: schedule subject to changes.