Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 1, 1 January 2004 — A mahalo for Kahoʻolawe's sacrifice [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A mahalo for Kahoʻolawe's sacrifice

By C!arence A. Medeiros Jr. Editor's note: Clarence A. Medeiros Jr. is a Hawai'i island cultural practitioner with family ties to Kaho 'olawe 's past. The views expressed in this community discusion eolumn are those ofthe author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. It has taken a decade for the Navy to finally turn control of Kaho'olawe back to Hawai'i and for me, it has brought thoughts of how Kaho'olawe has played a part in my life and the lives of my 'ohana of the past. Kaho'olawe has endured many sacrifices that have degraded its status as a wahi pana (sacred plaee). It was used as a prison for lawbreakers ranging from the commoner to petty chiefs. Kaho'olawe lived a rough existence, victim of a legendary curse that left the land and environment barren, harsh and desolate, whieh was environmentally well suited for the harsh punishment that eame with breaking the law. Samuel M. Kamakau attests to this fact in his book, "Ruling Chiefs of Hawai'i": "She (Ke-ka-ulu-ohi-o-Mano) made Kahoolawe and Lanai penal settlements for law breakers to punish them for such crimes as rebellion, theft, divorce, breaking marriage vows, murder, and prostitution. Kahoolawe was the prison for men and there was no protection for them; the government furnished them with food, but they suffered with hunger and some died of starvation Some petty chiefs were sentenced to Kahoolawe, namely Ka-nuha and Kini-maka. Ka-nuha was saved through the influence of Kua-kini the governor of Hawaii, but Kini-maka was sent to Kahoolawe."

Kanuha and Kinimaka are my blood relatives. Kaho'olawe's use as a prison was also told to me by my father in a story about a man named Kelekala who escaped from Kaho'olawe. He returned to his home in Honokua, South Kona with the ball and ehain still locked around his ankles. A Japanese blacksmith who also lived in Honokua cut the shackles off of Kelekala's ankles. Later on, Kaho'olawe was further damaged by the destructive overpopulation of goats and sheep and fell victim to the ultimate sacrifice of being used as a military site for bombing training. How ironic that Kaho'olawe was a plaee for prisoners and was itself imprisoned by the military. And like Kelekala, is finally free of that bondage. For three years, I, too, was the property of the U. S. military, serving a part of my duty in Viet Nam as an engineer. One day, our 12-man

detachment and a rifle company were pinned down in the late afternoon in the thick, dense jungles of the A Shau Valley near the Laotian border. We were outnumbered by a battalion of NVA that was so close that we could hear the mortars being shot out of their launching tubes. But air support would not eome until daylight, and we prayed that we would live to see the next day. Our prayers were answered, and at daybreak my detachment was able to move to a safe extraction point. I boarded a recon observation chopper and markers so a bomber plane could drop a daisy-cutter bomb on the enemy. This was the same type of bomb that was detonated by the Navy on Kaho'olawe in 1965, whieh was then the most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever. Because of the skill and expertise of the pilot, he dropped the bomb on target, without killing American soldiers. It took bombing training like that done on Kaho'olawe to give that pilot and many others the skill and expertise that saved my life and the lives of countless soldiers worldwide, then and now. Like parents, who would sacrifice their lives for their children, Kaho'olawe sacrificed its sacredness to save lives — unfortunately and regrettably at the great expense of the people and lands of Hawai'i. But Kaho'olawe's sacrifice has brought mueh good. It has united and strengthened the Hawaiian people in restoring our language, our culture, our traditions, our rights, our identity, our nation. So I say mahalo a nui to Kaho'olawe, and I ask for forgiveness and pray for healing. I will strive for physical, mental and spiritual healing by giving of my time, energy and self so the sacrifices made for me by Kaho'olawe will not have been made in vain. ■

Kūkākūkā

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A Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana member holds a shell fragment, circa 1970s. Photo: Ed Greevy