Prints in the Sand: My Journey with Nanea

About Nanea’s Time

Discussing what it would have been like for Nanea to grow in Hawaii in the early 1940s. Topics include:

• By summer of 1942, America had been fighting in World War II for six months
  • For kids like Nanea, it was difficult to remember a country that wasn’t at war
  • Hawaii was a combat zone, meaning there were blackouts, curfews, and air raid drills
  • The military and the residents feared there’d be more attacks
  • Everyone had to carry a heavy gas mask around at all times
• Increase in military personnel had a huge impact on all of Honolulu
  • More people meant there were long lines at stores, crowded buses, and a shortage of housing
  • Almost all of Hawaii’s food was shipped from the mainland
  • When military supplies took up most shipments, thousands of women and children had to leave for the mainland
• War separated families and friendships, but also created new ones
  • Many families opened their homes to servicemen stationed on the islands
  • Sons and brothers became soldiers
• Women stepped into jobs previously done only by men
  • Some worked in military orgaizations and air raid defense groups
  • The Women’s Air Raid Defense group even helped decode top-secret messages used to track enemy aircrafts
• Children took on new responsibilities
  • Sugar and pineapple plantations hired kids
  • All children aged 8-12 spent one day a week working in the fields
• When World War II ended, women and children had a new understanding about what they coudl do in the workforce and how they could contribute to their families and communities