John R. Rowe, First Hawaiian to Sacrifice his Life on WWI Battlefield
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa published on August 23, 1918.
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
We once again changed the page last week Wednesday of the Kuokoa newspaper volume on display. It is in the bicentennial of printing in Hawaiʻi display on the third floor in Hawaiian Hall. If you haven’t seen the display yet, what are you waiting for? If you have, you should see the new pages of the Kuokoa now on display for about a month.
One of the articles on the front page of the August 23, 1918 issue, is a death announcement for John Rupert Rowe, the first Hawaiian to lose his life in World War I.
Image: “Make Ia Hawaii ma ke Kahua Kaua.” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, August 23, 1918, p. 1.
That Hawaiian Dies on the Battlefield.
JOHN R. ROWE.
As per the telegraph message received by Mrs. Robert J. Rowe on this past Tuesday evening, General Harris explained that her child John R. Rowe died in France on the 31st of July while he was fighting the enemy as an American soldier.
This was a boy who had worked in this printing office almost ten years ago, whereupon he left for America, and it was there that he joined the military and went on to the battlefields of France.
He has two brothers that are in the marines. Their names are Lawrence K. Rowe and Robert J. Rowe.
(Kuokoa, 8/23/1918, p. 1)
Image: A comparison of the photo of John R. Rowe as seen online (digitized from a microfilm copy) and an image digitized directly from an original newspaper.
Hawaiʻi Boys Who Died in World War I.
Frank Aki
Archie Bal
F. S. Blackwood
James Henry R. Bryant
Kenneth Cameron
Richard Catton
Henry H. Chapman
Clair Churchill
Alexander Collie
Mekia Corneilson
Harry L. Davies
John Davis
George K. Dwight
H. J. Evans
H. Fogarty
John S. French
Edward Fuller
Louis Gaspar
Manuel Gouveia
Ivan Graham
Edmund Hedemann
George Ibbertson
Edward Jones
Paulo Kaiewe
Charles Kanai
Ekela Kaohi
Apau Kau
R. L. Leander
Han Young Lee
Ted Llewelllyn
Robert G. Mackenzie
Julian Macomber
James P. May
Norman McLean
Philip O. Mills
John S. O’Dowda
Gideon Potter
Manuel Ramos
Harry Rice
John R. Rowe
William K. Scholtz
Robert Sharpe
Charles B. Tom
Gordon Turner
John Turner
Claude O. H. Usborne
Manuel G. Valente, Jr.
Frank C. Vierra
Clarence Watson
Thomas P. Williams
David L. Withington, Jr.
This post is part of He Aupuni Palapala: Preserving and Digitizing the Hawaiian Language Newspapers, a partnership between Bishop Museum and Awaiaulu with assistance from Kamehameha Schools. Mahalo nui loa to Hawaii Tourism Authority for their support. Learn more about this project here.
