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There's a great article on the history of the Red Hills Tunnels in today's Honolulu Advertiser. Ted Vorfeld, who is an engineer, sent the link, along with some memories of the Red Hills Tunnels (which at one time were classified top secret by the U.S. government):

Uncle Charles Mullin took us through the place many years ago. He was in charge of PWC Pearl Harbor at the time. Then they stored Avgas and had automatically closing doors at each tank in case of fire. You had only about 20 seconds to evacuate the chamber after a horn blared, then the door closed and the chamber was filled with carbon dioxide.

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Posted by Judy Vorfeld at 11:22 AM | Permalink

R.H. "Harry" Lodge, Division Overseer of Oahu Sugar Company, tells his story of December 7, 1941. Lodge was also a brilliant photographer, and many of his works fill the publication Waipahu at War, which he compiled. I have a copy of this wonderful publication.

A Report on the Pearl Harbor Attack on December 7, 1941 as it affected my section of Oahu Sugar Co. Ltd...R.H. Lodge

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor came as a sudden shock to all of us. How the military could have been so unprepared is one of the puzzling aspects that has not yet been solved. Months prior to the attack, the F.B.I., Army and Navy Intelligence had made studies and census of the plantation workers living on the perimeter of Pearl Harbor which was part of the Waipio Peninsula under my supervision. A few of these workers were Japanese, the balance Filipinos. It appeared obvious that the reason for the study was to plan the evacuation of these people in case of attack. Yet the military, particularly the Navy was caught totally unprepared...

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Posted by Judy Vorfeld at 08:22 PM | Permalink