Cold War Veterans Blog

Ewa Field Dec 7th 1941

The Ewa Field Sunday, December 7, 2008 Commemoration
event is honored to have THREE Eye-Witnesses as Honored
Guests to the attack ON and NEAR Ewa Field on December 7, 1941.

Honored Guests:

Joel Fujita
Francis Fujita
Ramsay Hinshinuma

Joel and Ramsay are WW-II Veterans!

This event will start at 1 PM SUNDAY, at Ewa Field. Parking
on Corregidor Road, off Roosevelt Avenue. SEE MAP ATTACHED.

John Bond
Save Ewa Field
685-3045

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FYI- This article was published in 2001

Bruce Asato, Honolulu Advertiser

Ramsay S. Hishinuma, 76, of 'Aiea was compelled, like dozens of others, to
tell his story for the 60th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack,
reflecting not only on the day, but on its impact over the 60 years.

"Sixty years have gone by, but it seems like yesterday that I vividly
remember and shudder to think how close I came to getting killed by Japanese
warplanes strafing the West Loch area of Pearl Harbor where we sought
temporary refuge on that fateful morning. This is no way to describe how
scared this 16-year-old was on that terrifying day.

"When I told my parents that my fellow members of the 'Ewa Speeders Athletic
Club and I planned to camp out overnight on Dec. 6, I had no idea we were
reserving ringside seats for the big show the following morning. Our
ringside seats were at One'ula Park, known then as Hau Bush, just a few
miles west of Pearl Harbor.

"We were just about to eat breakfast when we heard booming sounds. Soon the
sky became very black with heavy smoke, and we knew something unusual was
happening. Shortly thereafter, two Marine Corps planes appeared, obviously
in trouble. One crashed on the nearby road and the other plowed into the
wooded area. We also saw a Japanese plane crash in the water a few hundred
yards offshore.

"Right above us, at just about tree-top level, we saw a plane with large red
ball insignia on its wings and fuselage chasing a Barbers Point Marine
dive-bomber. The machine-gun bursts from the Japanese plane were intense and
ear-shattering. The Marine pilot was able to get out of his plane before he
crashed, and he parachuted into the entanglement of nearby kiawe trees. He
looked more than bewildered by the time we approached him and his first
words were 'What the hell is going on?' We of course, were wondering the
same thing.

"One thing for sure, we were not safe on the beach, and we headed for the
road to 'Ewa town. The road had been blocked by Civil Defense, so we sought
refuge at Lower Village, across from the 'Ewa Plantation hospital.

"But this was not a wise move, either, as Lower Village above West Loch was
being peppered with shrapnel and bullets. Low-flying warplanes were strafing
the moored ships nearby, and we were simply in the line of fire and getting
fired on in a very intense way. It's a miracle how we were able to dodge all
those bullets splattering the grounds nearby. We were scared out of our
wits. We learned later that a 3-year-old was mortally wounded and a woman
was hit in one arm that had to be amputated.

"When the firing subsided, we ran into the nearby cane fields. It was dark
from the heavy smoke blanketing the sky, we had difficulty seeing where we
were going. Since then, any eclipse of the sun reminds me of Pearl Harbor
day.

"By the time we were able to stumble home, most of us were in a state of
shock. I can vividly remember the look on my parents' faces, with tears
streaming down in relief when they saw that I was unharmed and safe.

"To this day, when I go past Lower Village, which has been leveled and
converted to a modern subdivision, I try to visualize 'the spot' where my
young life nearly ended, and my thoughts go back how close I came to being
killed.

"Since the attack, things changed drastically for our family, beginning with
the internment of my father, who was a soldier in the Japanese army during
the 1904 war with Russia. He immigrated to Hawai'i in 1907, seven years
prior to World War I.

"Early in 1943, I tried to volunteer for the all-Nisei unit, later known as
the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, but was denied the chance to serve
because I was underage at 17. In 1945, soon after I was reclassified from 4C
to 1A, I was drafted into the U.S. Army and served my country as a member of
the occupation forces in Japan.

"During the early days of the occupation, I had a very unusual experience of
meeting my cousin, who was a former kamikaze pilot who was demobilized when
the war ended. For obvious reasons, he didn't seem happy to see me in a U.S.
Army uniform.

"As a 'survivor' of the Pearl Harbor attack, I feel very fortunate and
blessed to be able to enjoy the so-called 'golden years,' but a scary
thought still remains had I become a casualty of that terrifying and
unforgettable day 60 years ago."



Honolulu Advertiser Columnist William Cole
June 30, 2008 writes:

"Joel Fujita, who's now 88, remembers being on the
roof of his parents' 'Ewa Plantation home about 50
yards from the base front gate. He and three brothers
climbed up on the roof to see what they initially
thought was a training exercise.

A Zero fighter came over. You could see the canopy
open," Fujita said. "He was waving to us, so we
waved back, and about five minutes later, a plane
came back and started to strafe in front of our house.

Fujita recalls a very different time, when
Marines in 1941 used to walk over and
wait in the family's front yard for the bus to town.

We had four good friends, Marine pilots,
and we used to do their laundry," Fujita said."