Wailupe locale was secret center for communications

I’ve driven past the Fire Department in Aina Haina many times and vaguely noticed a Coast Guard facility of some kind just Ewa of it. I never thought much about it until Nancy Walden, who attended one of my talks, mentioned that her husband, Bob, was stationed there during World War II.

I had no idea it played an important military role until that moment.

Former Coast Guard Commander Gary Thomas took me out there for a visit. Today it’s a housing area for the Coast Guard, but 95 years ago it was a top-secret naval communications center.

It was called the Naval Radio Receiving and Control Station at Wailupe. It employed over 100 personnel.

Thomas told me that when it was built in 1919, its primary purpose was broadcasting messages to the naval fleet in the Pacific. By 1920 the Wailupe site was one of the largest radio receivers in the world. It could receive up to six messages simultaneously.

The Wailupe Radio Station tested many of the cutting-edge radio technologies the Navy was developing, including new transmitters, receivers and keying systems, Thomas says.

The station initially extended 90 feet out to sea, but by 1925 the land was filled in underneath it. Today that area is Wailupe Beach Park.

Besides regular naval communications, the Wailupe facility was responsible for intercepting Japanese-coded message traffic until that function was moved to Heeia in 1934.

Thomas noted that on the second day that Amelia Earhart was missing in 1937, the radio operators detected what they believed was a voice transmission on the frequency she was expected to use, but could not make out anything due to static.

Then came Dec. 7, 1941. “That Sunday morning, my husband Robert F. Walden (Bob) was on his way to breakfast at the Wailupe facility and clearly noticed huge amounts of smoke rising from the Pearl Harbor area,” Nancy Walden says.

“Wanting to find out what it was about, he ran to the ‘radio shack’ as they called it then. When he got there, those on duty were in the process of sending the confirming message that their previous message was accurate — Pearl Harbor was under attack by the Japanese Imperial Navy.

“As you know, after the attack, the military was expecting a land invasion,” Walden continues. “All the men at Wailupe were issued side arms, which none of them knew how to use. A brief instruction was given and the men were assigned to 24-hour watch duty surrounding the entire area.

“That night, there was a great deal of tension in the air as the invasion was expected. A couple of Bob’s buddies heard a rustling sound in the bush behind them. When there was no response to their ‘who goes there,’ they started firing their side arms.

“They heard a large and loud bellow. They had shot one of the cows from the nearby Hind-Clarke Dairy! The next day, everyone laughed about this, but there remained great tension over the threat of invasion.”

The week after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Navy felt the Wailupe facility was too vulnerable to attack and moved it to a more secure location north of Wahiawa near Whitmore Village.

The U.S. Coast Guard took over the facility and used it as a seaman’s school and radio signals school. It also provided a place for physical and combat training, swimming instruction and recreation.

Today it’s a Coast Guard recreation and housing site.

Former state Sen. Fred Rohlfing told me one of his early projects, after he was elected, was to get Congress to return the Wailupe area from Coast Guard to local control and ease access to and from Maunalua Bay.

“I had been lobbied to do so by residents and fishermen, many of whom were veterans of World War II,” Rohlfing said.

“So I enlisted U.S. Sen. Hiram Fong to lead the fight. It took a couple of years of letter and resolution writing but eventually the physical Coast Guard station was severed from the bay and was transferred to the state and then City & County of Honolulu.

“I worked with Sen. Fong on many a project but none was more satisfying than this one assuring ‘my vets’ access to their fish — and me access to their votes!”

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for holiday gifts for friends, let me recommend a couple of possibilities. Pam Chambers has released a second book of photographs of downtown Honolulu. It’s called “There and Back Again: A Unique Perspective of Honolulu.”

It showcases architectural styles from the early 1900s to modern day. No matter how many hundreds of times you’ve walked our downtown streets, you will see colors, angles and details that you had never before noticed. And forevermore you will have a greater appreciation of our beloved Honolulu.

For more information, please contact Pam via email at Speakout@pamchambers.com, or call 377-5679.

MY “THE COMPANIES WE KEEP” BOOKS are available at most local bookstores and www.CompaniesWeKeep.com. They are full of stories from this column and are a delight to any reader who loves the islands.

Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.