I often look for a story about World War II for the first week in December to honor those who fought and died for our freedom. Recently, Frank Haas and I interviewed David Carey, former president of Outrigger Hotels, about Richard “Doc” Kelley, who had been CEO of Outrigger.
Richard Kelley was one of 14 “Pioneers of Hawaii Hospitality” who were inducted into the Hawaii Hospitality Hall of Fame in August. Kelley left a job at The Queen’s Hospital to work for his parents’ growing hotel chain.
In his book, “Paddling the Outrigger,” I found his recollections of Dec. 7, 1941. He was 7 years old when Oahu was attacked.
“It started like just any other Sunday,” Kelley recalled. “That meant our mother’s famous waffles were on the menu for breakfast. Our parents, Roy and Estelle Kelley, had overnight guests, a young Navy officer, Commander John Henry Shultz, and his wife Martha.
“The four of them were to sit down — Commander Shultz in his dress whites — to their leisurely waffle breakfast after our father carted the three young ones off in our family car to Sunday school at the Parish of St. Clement, a block Ewa of Punahou School on Wilder Avenue.
“As we drove away from the house, we noticed puffs of smoke in the sky in the direction of Pearl Harbor. We saw planes flying around and heard loud noises.”
His father told them it was another of many “war games” that the military was staging and that it wasn’t anything to be concerned about. Distant rumbles and occasional puffs of smoke in the sky were not unusual in those days.
“He dropped us off about 8 a.m. After waving goodbye, Dad drove back to Waikiki. We split up and went to our respective classrooms. For those first few minutes, none of us knew that the loud noises and puffs of smoke were from the first wave of planes bombing Pearl Harbor.”
What’s a war?
“Pat was looking forward to practicing the Christmas play. But as we walked into the parish house, we realized there were no other children there.”
They were met by a lone Sunday school teacher, who asked, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know there’s a war on?”
“What’s a war?” I asked.
“It’s hard to believe today, but in the pre-television era of 1941, I was not the only 7-year-old who did not know what a war was. We would soon find out.”
Roy Kelley returned to their Kuhio Avenue home. His wife, Estelle, ran out, frantically yelling at him to return to St. Clement’s and get the children. The Japanese were attacking Pearl Harbor. Shultz had just been informed and told to report for duty. News of the attack was not on the radio yet.
Roy Kelley raced back to St. Clement’s to pick up the kids. On the way, he turned on the radio and listened to Webley Edwards’ now famous announcement, “Some people think this is a maneuver. This is not a maneuver. This is the real McCoy!”
“Father ran into the parish and shouted at the top of his lungs for everyone to ‘go home. We are being bombed!’ Pat was mortified that he was shouting in the church, because we had been told it was a house of God and we had to be quiet there.
“In a flash, he scooped us into the car, and we went zooming down McCully Street, heading home.”
Friendly fire
“When we stopped at the intersection with Beretania Street, the building next to us exploded and burst into flames. We went another block down the road, and there was another loud noise and more fire, as a Japanese language school was hit.
“By this time, we were going quite fast and somewhat erratically. We went down Kuhio Avenue, with Father shifting gears roughly at each cross street, driving as fast as he dared go.
“Our car stalled at the corner of Lewers Street and Kuhio Avenue, and after much fuss, our father got it going again. When we had gone half a block, there was a loud noise behind us, and where our car had stalled, there was now a big hole in the road.
“These explosions were probably not Japanese bombs. They were very likely what we call today ‘friendly fire,’ our own anti-aircraft shells falling back to earth and exploding after missing attacking planes.
“When we got home, we found that Commander Shultz had gone off to war in his dress whites. Despite the danger, we hurried up to the third-floor patio in time to see the second wave of Japanese planes come around Diamond Head.
“We saw the ‘meat ball’ Rising Sun insignia on the fuselage and the puffs of smoke in the sky from our anti-aircraft fire.
“They had already hit Bellows Field, near Waimanalo, and were on their way to hit Hickam Field and Pearl Harbor again.
“In the direction of Pearl Harbor, huge black clouds were rising. We could see aircraft circling and diving into the clouds.
“Then we heard a high-pitched whine for about a second, followed by a deafening roar as Kuhio Avenue blew up in a cloud of gray and white smoke a block away. Everything around us shook.
“My God, they got my building!” Father exclaimed, thinking there had been a direct hit on his three-story apartment building at the corner of Royal Hawaiian and Kuhio Avenues.
“Shrapnel from that shell ripped through the apartment building on the makai-Diamond Head corner of the intersection and almost killed Mrs. Harry Good, who, with her husband, ran a liquor store on Kalakaua Avenue.
“Mrs. Good was in the apartment at the time. Fortunately, she had just bent over to tune in the radio, so the shrapnel missed her. If she had been standing, it would have gone right through her.”
Kelley says there were more explosions in Waikiki as American anti-aircraft shells fell back to earth. “One exploded close to our home and pieces of the shell landed at our feet. I still remember how warm a jagged piece of shrapnel felt when I picked it up. We were lucky to be alive.
“After that close call, we all hurried down the stairs to a basement in one of our two-story apartment buildings across the street.
“We pulled some bedding off the shelves, placed it on the dirt floor and sat on the mattresses.”
Waffles
“Father had missed his breakfast and asked our housekeeper to go back and get the mix and waffle iron. At first, she wasn’t about to go, but Father eventually talked her into it. She was probably more frightened of him than the bombs.
“Someone had the presence of mind to bring the radio, so we listened and heard what was going on.”
One shell had fallen near Washington Place, the residence of territorial Gov. Joseph Poindexter. An entire family of eight or nine people was reported killed by a bomb near the corner of Nuuanu Avenue and Kuakini Street. Five people were reported to be dead at Palama Settlement.
Sixty-eight civilians were killed and approximately 35 wounded in the attack. These figures compare with 2,403 dead and 1,247 injured military personnel.
Invasion?
“We were relieved when night fell and there was no sign of further activity. Many people thought an invasion by Japanese troops would soon follow. We had nowhere to go.”
In February 1942, Estelle Kelley and the children were evacuated to the mainland. They were allowed to return in 1944.
“Looking back on those years, it’s clear that the Kelley family has a lot to be thankful for. We were the lucky ones,” Richard Kelley said, “but we’ll never forget those who weren’t.”
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Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
