Matsunaga: No Defense Cuts Here

Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.

Congressman Spark M. Matsunaga said today Hawaii need have no fears about drastic cutbacks in the military defense structure here despite the economy drive now sweeping other military commands.

This includes keeping up the present military and civilian strength at Pearl Harbor, he said.

In fact, Matsunaga said, Hawaii can look forward to an increase in its military status in the years ahead.

The boosting of military strength here, Matsunaga said, will result from withdrawal of troops from nations such as Japan, Thailand, Okinawa and Vietnam for duty in Hawaii.

The Congressman made these statements in a press conference today following his arrival from Washington last night.

Matsunaga said there will be defense retrenchments in many other military commands but the possibilities of economies and cutbacks affecting Hawaii are remote. He based his remarks on interviews with Congressional leaders.

He said as troops are withdrawn from the Far East there will be a need for expenditures in Hawaii for military personnel and other facilities to serve the increased military population.

He said that before his departure from Washington, he had a talk with Congressman J. Mendel Rivers, vice chairman of the House Armed Service Committee, who told him that “the day that they close down Pearl Harbor is the day they close down the Navy.”

Rivers is due to become chairman of the committee on the retirement of Representative Carl Vinson after this session of Congress. Hawaii’s Congressman said that only after the Defense Department gets rid of the “excess” elsewhere will it make military surveys here.

The Congressman held his press conference today following a breakfast meeting with Governor John A. Burns and other visiting Federal officials on the surplus lands question.

At this conference when discussions turned to Fort DeRussy and its future, Bernard Boutin, General Services Administration administrator, remarked, “Hawaii will forever be an important military post.”

Boutin arrived Saturday with Tom Hannon, a regional director of G.S.A.