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After Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, the Territory of Hawaii
immediately came under Martial Law. Windows were blackened out with paint or tar
paper. Curfew was 8:00 each night.
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To help the war effort, food was rationed and you were allowed only five gallons of gas
per month. Headlamps of vehicles were covered with tar paper with only a small slit
3" long and 1/2" wide with shields to reflect the light down.
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In Hilo, the downtown Post Office became Military Headquarters. The Army commandeered
Kapua Heuer's house on the north end of town and mounted a gun turret there
overlooking Hilo Bay.
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By April 1st, 1946, the war was over and curfews, rationing and Martial Law were all
things of the past. The people in Hilo were no longer fearful of attack from the
sea. They were mistaken.
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Floyd Hoopii was working at Pier 1 as a stevedore and freight clerk. That morning
there were two Liberty ships moored at Matson Pier1, one of them carrying dynamite.
At Inter-Island Pier 2, there were two Dillingham barges, one of them bringing in
new appliances and cars.
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The ocean receded, sounding like a monstrous vacuum cleaner. It revealed a gray,
stinking muck that covered the ocean bottom. Then the first tsunami wave rolled in,
bowling huge boulders out of the breakwater.
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Floyd's supervisor, Slim Holt, told him to unmoor the Liberty Ship at the end of the
pier. Floyd and his friend Bob McKeen unmoored the first ship and were headed for
the second one when the first wave struck. The wave lifted the Liberty ship twenty
five feet from the ocean bottom to high above the pier. The ship's keel
was at eye level to Floyd.
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Now the boats were alerted. The first wave receded. The ships started their
motors, their propellers sticking up in the air.
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The second wave came without warning, smashing the middle of the breakwater. The
sound was deafening and frightening. After the second wave, the ship captains headed
out, maneuvering to avoid collision.
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Bob and Floyd were in the middle of the Matson pier running towards the oil tanks.
Marines from Radio Bay came out on a weapons carrier and threw Floyd a rope.
He tied it around his waist and then Bob's waist. The Marines pulled
them in. The weapons carrier took shelter behind the biggest oil tank.
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When the third wave loomed 35 feet high and crashed into the pier, it created a vacuum
that exploded the warehouse like a bomb. The 10,000 bags of sugar stored there
disappeared into the ocean.
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The weapons carrier took Floyd to the Naval Air Station where he found his mother.
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As Floyd says, "That made my whole life worthwhile. We were both very happy.
Teaches you a lesson, you know, that we are not in control of our lives.
There is a higher power."
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Let us not forget.
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