Hawaii Goes to War: The Aftermath of Pearl Harbor

by Wilbur D. Jones Jr.

For six months following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii rearmed and awaited the inevitable. Patricia O'Meara Robbins, a professional photographer, documented everyday life as the shocked Oahu community recovered from one attack and prepared for another. In Hawaii Goes to War, the Joneses skillfully interweave Carroll's childhood remembrances and her mother's photographs with the history of the fleet salvage operations that enabled the navy to take on the Japanese armed forces. They follow the war from Pearl Harbor to the battles of the Coral Sea that led up to the triumph of Midway.

Genres: World War II

150 pages, Paperback

First published April 23, 2001

Reviews

[Melsene G · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. What a fantastic story by the late Carroll Robbins Jones. This is a memoir of her time as a seven-year-old in Waikiki, Hawaii while her father was deployed in the navy and her mom was a professional photographer. She witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor with her younger brother Berton. We learn about the Robbins family, Carroll's childhood in LA. Her mother Mary Pat O'Meara was a Cali girl. Carroll was born in China and had a Chinese nanny and learned to speak Chinese.

We learn of the horrid situation in Hawaii after Dec 7, 1941. There were curfews, rationing, food shortages, black out curtains, and much talk about 'cat' houses which were legal at the time. Most of the war books don't focus on life in Hawaii so this is rather telling and the photos give a wonderful glimpse into life at the time.

In August 1942 the Robbins family was sent home to the mainland. Pop was deployed and not seen for some time. When back in LA, they stayed with the family until the kids were sent to Catholic boarding school. The kids saw their dad once during that time and then he was injured while deployed, hospitalized, and then sent home to recover.

Carroll married co-author Wilbur Jones in 1959 in Naples, Italy and they had 3 children. The personal stories written by Carroll in italics are fantastic. This is a well written book with wonderful photos. Kudos to Carroll's mom-she was way ahead of her time!