A last salute to the very last known combat veteran of World War I. Claude Choules, who lied about his age to enlist in Britain’s Royal Navy, has died in Australia. He was 110. Choules saw action in the North Sea on the HMS Revenge, where he later witnessed the surrender of the German fleet in November 1918. He remained in uniform until 1956, transferring to the Royal Australian Navy in 1926 and serving in World War II as a demolition and explosives expert. Choules’ death ends mankind’s living memory of combat in the Great War. The last known American
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Archives for History
Farewell to a soldier… and a generation
America said goodbye Tuesday to Frank Buckles, the last-surviving U.S. soldier from World War I. Outside Washington, President Obama and Vice President Biden paid their respects at Arlington National Cemetery before the former corporal was carried to his grave and laid to rest with the traditional honors: The bugle call “Taps” and a volley of rifle fire. Here in Hawai’i, U.S. and state flags flew at half-staff in honor of the last doughboy – and in honor of all the brave soldiers, sailors and airmen with whom he served. Buckles died last month at his home in Charles Town, W.Va.,
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"Fix it, Danno!" Mainland travel writer catches Natatorium's Five-0 star turn
Turns out we weren’t the only ones who noticed the Natatorium’s guest appearance in Monday’s Hawaii Five-0 episode. Over in San Francisco, SFGate’s “Hawaii Insider” blog also was paying close attention. The blogger, travel writer Jeanne Cooper, says she’d bet that Navy SEAL and Five-0 boss Steve McGarrett would back restoration and reopening of the Natatorium. Now there’s a Five-0 plotline we’d love to see! Thanks, Jeanne and SFGate, for telling the Natatorium story to your readers on the Mainland!
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History and Uncategorized.
Happy Birthday to Duke… and the Natatorium!
Today is the 120th birthday of the ultimate Hawai’i waterman, Duke Kahanamoku: Olympic swimming champion, surfer, diver, paddler and sailor. And it’s the 83rd birthday of the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, inaugurated by Duke with a ceremonial first swim on Aug. 24, 1927, the day the champion turned 37. That ceremony kicked off the four-day AAU National Outdoor Swimming Championships, a meet studded with stars like Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe and Japan’s Katsuo “Flying Fish” Takaishi. According to a Honolulu Star-Bulletin account, “Opening night attracted 6,000 people. … The Natatorium was packed with spectators — as was every tree outside
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Nice list. Where's the Natatorium?
As Natatorium supporter Chris Boyle said when he sent us this link with 12 cool swimming pools, “I think this list is missing one pool, in Hawaii.” That’s for sure, Chris! For decades, from the first stroke taken by Duke Kahanamoku the day it was dedicated in 1927, the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial was on anyone’s list of the world’s most important swimming pools. It can be on those lists again. Let’s fix it, and swim! There’s no reason in the world that this pool in Honolulu should be any less celebrated than this one in Australia
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Swimming at the Heart of "Living Memorial" Design
It was a bold, out-of-the-box decision to build a pool – a pool “of Olympic proportions” – as Hawai’i’s official World War I memorial. The story of the Natatorium’s conception, design and construction is told in the final chapter of the 1928 book Hawaii in the World War by Ralph S. Kuykendall. That chapter is available online here. In fact, the entire book is online, starting here. It’s well worth reading. And it’s well worth remembering the words of Gov. Wallace Rider Farrington to the Territorial Legislature of 1927, arguing for the rapid completion of the entire memorial: “We should
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Hokule'a Crewman, Beachboy and Waterman: Clifford Ah Mow is Remembered at the Natatorium
Hundreds gathered at the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium Sunday to remember an icon: waterman, lifeguard and surfer Clifford Ah Mow. Ah Mow was one of the 17 original crewmen of the canoe Hokule’a; in 1976, they piloted the double-hulled craft from Hawai’I to Tahiti without modern instruments to demonstrate that Polynesians could indeed have navigated far and wide across the open Pacific long before the arrival of Europeans. It was a feat intended not only to support an important historical theory about the origins of the Polynesian people, but also to focus pride and revitalize Hawaiian culture. After remembrances at
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The Natatorium: The place to be
Here’s a slideshow of some wonderful historic photos of the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, unearthed in the collections of the Hawai’i State Archives. Several of them show the Natatorium as it was meant to be: A living memorial to Hawai’i’s honored war dead, a lively, active fun place where families and athletes and all of us could enjoy the freedom preserved for us by our warriors’ sacrifices. For so many years, the Natatorium truly was the place to be. It can be again. It should be again. For so many reasons: Because of the debt of honor we owe to
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Now playing…
The Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium is not only a memorial to Hawai’i history, but itself a part of that history. The world premiere run of a new play, The Three-Year Swim Club, is a good occasion to remind ourselves that this commemoration of Hawai’i’s war dead was always meant as a living memorial, full of activity and emblematic of the way of life that our military men and women fought to preserve. And as a living memorial, the Natatorium has had a unique role in Hawai’i’s history and the history of competitive swimming. This show, written by Lee A. Tonouchi
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Lt. Col. Mike Donnelly – Memories of the Natatorium
Mike – Memory of the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial
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History, Uncategorized, and Veterans.
