Camp 39 was located in central Oahu about a mile northeast of Kamehameha Highway just where it descends into Kipapa Gulch.  The camp had mango trees, avocado trees, banana trees and other fruits planted by the plantation camp builders.  There was ample space between the houses and areas for community activities.  Each family decorated and planted shrubs around their assigned home as they desired.  Families even planted vegetable gardens as space allowed.  The road from the Highway towards the camp was paved (present day Ka Uka Boulevard) because it was a military road that led to a radio communications facility in the lower Koolau Mountain range.  All other roads to and from the camp were dirt roads, including the network of roads servicing the surrounding sugar cane fields.  Associated with the sugar cane fields were water reservoirs the size of a football field or larger and a network of irrigation ditches to irrigate the sugar cane fields.  The ditches were constructed with either stone and concrete or wooden construction.  These waterways and reservoirs served the children of the camp as swimming sites.  The nearby valleys were convenient for exploration, getting firewood, picking wild fruits such as guavas and passion fruit and just a general playground for fun.

Nearby in the Kipapa Gulch was a fenced off area and well-guarded Waikele Naval Ammunition Depot.  There was more military presence in the upper section of the Kipapa Gulch, the exact nature of their business was not declared to the general public.   Frequently, military convoys traversed Kamehameha Highway on the way to Schofield Barracks or Wheeler Airfield.  The convoys consisted of tanks, other military vehicles, and troop trucks.  This occurred during post WWII period and continued into the Korean War era.  As curious kids, the camp children would often stand on the side of the road and salute as the convoy passed.  When the sugar cane field were in its early growth stages, the views of Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Punchbowl Crater, Waikiki, Diamond Head, and Ewa districts were spectacular.  To the Northeast, sat the Koolau Mountains which receive the majority of the rainfall on Oahu.   To the Southwest, sat the Waianae Mountain Range, including Mount Kaala the tallest mountain on Oahu at 4,026 ft above sea level.

The sugar cane grown in Hawaii is a species developed by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association Experimental facility in Honolulu.  It’s a hybrid designated as HC-109.   This species can grow up to 20 feet tall, with a girth of 2” or so, and matures in 18 to 24 months.  The fields are prepared for planting by tractors which make furrows that are 30” – 36” deep, utilizing the contour of the land and ensuring facilitation of the gravitational flow of water from the network of ditches and the locations of the reservoirs.  Planting was done manually by placing sugar cane stalks about 24’ -36” long in the bottom of the furrows at fixed intervals.  Usually planted fields covered several acres.  The fields were designated with a Field Number and assigned to one or two field workers to care for their field up to the time of harvest.

This is just a brief introduction to our family’s  early plantation camp life on Oahu, Hawaii. The buzz word for all the immigrant families was, “Opportunity!”  We were all lucky and fortunate to come to Hawaii!

I hope this a stirred your memories and brought to mind wonderful opportunities that your families have shared together!