The People Prepare

Honolulu County Medical Society Medical Preparedness Committee

In 1940, the Honolulu County Medical Society appointed a committee of seven physicians to prepare a plan, program and schedule for training medical units to take care of civilian casualties in the event of a disaster. Known as the Preparedness Committee, these doctors divided the city of Honolulu into zones that consisted of general circles about a half-mile radius around seventeen schools and other buildings suitable for the purpose of aid station locations. The first phase of the training program was instruction in first aid, and the second phase was training the units to function as such in the finding, tagging, treating, sorting and transporting of injured to aid stations and then to hospitals.

Preparedness Committee Members, top row, left to right: Drs. Nils P. Larsen, Joseph E. Strode, Robert B. Faus.
Bottom row, left to right: Drs. Paul Withington, James R. Judd, Forrest J. Pinkerton, and Harry L. Arnold, Sr.

By September 1941, the committee felt that the city of Honolulu was reasonably well organized for the first aid care of casualties that might result from aerial or other hostile attacks.

"Medical Preparedness Activity in Hawaii," Hawaii Medical Journal 1 (September 1941): 43.

Public Health Committee of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce and the Blood Bank of Hawaii

In February 1941, the Public Health Committee of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce made funds available to establish a blood bank to serve the community, through Dr. Forrest J. Pinkerton, its Committee Chairman. A budget of $3,000.00 was appropriated to convert space at the City and County Emergency Hospital into a laboratory, to purchase equipment and to pay salaries. The first blood was drawn on June 2, 1941, and after five months, over 200 donors had given blood, and more than 200 flasks of blood were on hand. On November 13, 1941 the blood bank closed its doors, but several more weeks were required to draw and culture plasma, take inventory of equipment and plan for its disposition. On December 1, 1941, 203 flasks of plasma were placed in the cold storage warehouse at the Hawaiian Electric Company, and plans made to turn the central laboratory over to the City and County Emergency Hospital for an indefinite period.

Forrest J. Pinkerton, "Honolulu Blood and Plasma Bank," Hawaii Medical Journal 1 (January 1942): 204-206.

Hawaii Chapter, American Red Cross

Chartered as a member of the American Red Cross in 1917, the Hawaii chapter began preparations for war in Hawaii in March 1941. In April, the chapter cooperated with the Major Disaster Council of Honolulu to coordinate the resources of the city with residents, firms, agencies and organizations to meet any major disaster or emergency. The plans of the Red Cross were laid primarily with a view to air attack by Japan, which might be directed against the city as well as military installations. The possibility of bombardment was considered, as well as invasion, and its effect on the civilian population. Mrs. Herman von Holt, Chairman of the Volunteer Special Services (VSS) of the Hawaii Chapter of the American Red Cross organized five VSS corps the year before the war broke out in the US: Surgical Dressing, Knitting, Sewing, Motor Corps, and Canteen.

American Red Cross, Hawaii Chapter, War Record of Volunteer Special Services ([Honolulu]: American Red Cross, Hawaii Chapter, 1947), 4, 7-8.

Office of Civilian Defense

The Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) was established in the Office for Emergency Management by an executive order of May 20, 1941. The purpose of this nonmilitary office was to coordinate Federal, State and local defense relationships regarding the protection of civilians during air raids and other emergencies, and to facilitate civilian participation in war programs¹.

According to Dr. H.L. Arnold, Jr., prior to America's entrance into the war, Honolulu's OCD existed only in skeletal form, and primarily on paper.²

1. NARA's Pacific Region (San Francisco), "Guide to Archival Holdings at NARA's Pacific Region (San Francisco)," http://www.nara.gov/regional/findaids/sanguid6.html accessed 2 October 2001.
2. Harry L. Arnold, Jr. Medical unpreparedness, Hawaii Medical Journal, 1 (January 1942): 186.

Honolulu Prepares for Japan's Attack, by Dr. Rodney T. West

Written by a physician who lived in Hawaii throughout the war, and the years preceding it, Honolulu Prepares for Japan's Attack recounts the success of Honolulu's civilian defense systems in preparing for the possibility of war. Before this book was written, little was known about the groundwork set into place by civilian organizations such as the Red Cross and the Preparedness Committee of the Honolulu County Medical Society during the months prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, on December 7, 1941 the efforts of these and other organizations were realized in the hours following the Japanese attack.

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