Joining the Military with Friends, 1918
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa published on August 2, 1918.
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
Dear Reader,
During World War I, many Hawaiians enlisted in the United States Armed Forces. Joseph Kalaukoa (4/1/1899–2/28/1958) was one of them. He is said to have been an expert on the steel guitar and entertained those on board the warship St. Louis as well as dignitaries wherever the ship traveled.
JOE KALAUKOA WRITES TO HIS FATHER.
[photograph]
JOE KALAUKOA.
The picture below is of Joe Kalaukoa, one of the Hawaiian boys who left Honolulu aboard the warship St. Louis with his many friends to enlist in the United States military.
According to what he wrote to his father, Officer Kalaukoa of the Honolulu police force, he is in good health, and so too are most of the boys. In a swimming competition held in Boston, that being a competition the Hawaiian boys took part in, each of them took the victory for their side.
Among the many Hawaiian boys aboard the St. Louis, only Joe Kalaukoa remained, along with a few other boys, and as for their friends, they were placed aboard other ships.
According to Frank Weight,1 one of the officers of the St. Louis who was sent from Pearl Harbor, there is nothing else he is proud of other than that of the good standing of the Hawaiian boys; they are always entertaining the people on the ship by playing their guitars and ʻukulele.
The places where these boys performed went truly crazy; and if the Hawaiian boys were asked to join a concert for the Red Cross, those concerts would fill up, and a lot of money made.
Some of the Hawaiian boys married haole women, but for Joe Kalaukoa, he doesn’t think much of women, but he is one of the Hawaiian boys who is attentive to his duties on the ship. He received medals from the captain for his abilities in his work on the ship.
On a tour of the St. Louis to England, those young musicians appeared before British nobility, and they were filled with joy and admiration for the performance by the boys, and as a true display of their delight, they presented them each with a medal.
According to another report by Frank Weight, when a gift of dried fish from Hawaiʻi’s people appeared before the boys of the St. Louis, they were filled with happiness. They went ashore and ate it together with the other Hawaiian boys who are there playing music, and their poi was poi palaoa.2
Joe Kalaukoa regularly sends twenty-five dollars to his father every month and has taken out a ten-thousand-dollar insurance policy. But he reports that it will not be long before he returns and is with his family and friends once more.
1Frank Wright
2Poi is generally made from taro and occasionally is made using breadfruit or sweet potato. When these were not available, poi palaoa was a substitute. This “flour poi” was made by cooking flour in water to achieve a similar mouth feel. For an early account of poi palaoa and how it is made, see Moses Nahora’s article in Ka Hae Hawaii, 3/16/1859, p. 199. The translation from the Museum’s Hawaiian Ethnological Notes (HEN) Collection can be found here.
Image: “Kakau mai o Joe Kalaukoa i Kona Makuakane” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, August 2, 1918, p. 4
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
Dear Reader,
During World War I, many Hawaiians enlisted in the United States Armed Forces. Joseph Kalaukoa (4/1/1899–2/28/1958) was one of them. He is said to have been an expert on the steel guitar and entertained those on board the warship St. Louis as well as dignitaries wherever the ship traveled.
Image: “Kakau mai o Joe Kalaukoa i Kona Makuakane” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, August 2, 1918, p. 4
JOE KALAUKOA WRITES TO HIS FATHER.
[photograph]
JOE KALAUKOA.
The picture below is of Joe Kalaukoa, one of the Hawaiian boys who left Honolulu aboard the warship St. Louis with his many friends to enlist in the United States military.
According to what he wrote to his father, Officer Kalaukoa of the Honolulu police force, he is in good health, and so too are most of the boys. In a swimming competition held in Boston, that being a competition the Hawaiian boys took part in, each of them took the victory for their side.
Among the many Hawaiian boys aboard the St. Louis, only Joe Kalaukoa remained, along with a few other boys, and as for their friends, they were placed aboard other ships.
According to Frank Weight,1 one of the officers of the St. Louis who was sent from Pearl Harbor, there is nothing else he is proud of other than that of the good standing of the Hawaiian boys; they are always entertaining the people on the ship by playing their guitars and ʻukulele.
The places where these boys performed went truly crazy; and if the Hawaiian boys were asked to join a concert for the Red Cross, those concerts would fill up, and a lot of money made.
Some of the Hawaiian boys married haole women, but for Joe Kalaukoa, he doesn’t think much of women, but he is one of the Hawaiian boys who is attentive to his duties on the ship. He received medals from the captain for his abilities in his work on the ship.
On a tour of the St. Louis to England, those young musicians appeared before British nobility, and they were filled with joy and admiration for the performance by the boys, and as a true display of their delight, they presented them each with a medal.
According to another report by Frank Weight, when a gift of dried fish from Hawaiʻi’s people appeared before the boys of the St. Louis, they were filled with happiness. They went ashore and ate it together with the other Hawaiian boys who are there playing music, and their poi was poi palaoa.2
Joe Kalaukoa regularly sends twenty-five dollars to his father every month and has taken out a ten-thousand-dollar insurance policy. But he reports that it will not be long before he returns and is with his family and friends once more.
1Frank Wright
2Poi is generally made from taro and occasionally is made using breadfruit or sweet potato. When these were not available, poi palaoa was a substitute. This “flour poi” was made by cooking flour in water to achieve a similar mouth feel. For an early account of poi palaoa and how it is made, see Moses Nahora’s article in Ka Hae Hawaii, 3/16/1859, p. 199. The translation from the Museum’s Hawaiian Ethnological Notes (HEN) Collection can be found here.
Hawaiian Youths Aboard the Warship St. Louis
The photo above is a photo of boys from Honolulu sailing on the warship St. Louis to go off to war some months ago. And in a letter written recently by Joe Kalaukoa to his father Joseph Kalaukoa who is on the police force of this town, he says the Hawaiian boys are in good health, and they are treated well by all of the officers.
Some of what the Hawaiian boys do aboard the warship is play music to entertain the captain of the vessel. Everything he reported to his father is encouraging. They have not met with any difficulties, have nothing to be worried about, and always believe that the time will come when the son will be reunited with his parents.
In the photo at the left stands Antone Gomes; to his right is Eddie Ladd; and seated is Joe Kalaukoa.
Image: “Kekahi mau Keiki Hawaii Maluna o ka Mokukaua St. Louis,” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, July 13, 1917, p. 2.
Image: Joseph Kalaukoa Sr. (–2/25/1931) wearing his police uniform; Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi. Photo by Louis R. Sullivan, 1920–1921. Bishop Museum Archives. SP 4120.
Image sharing on social media is welcome. For all other uses please contact Archives@BishopMuseum.org .
With the end of World War I, the Hawaiʻi boys who went off to war, including Joseph Kalaukoa Jr. returned home on February 13, 1919 on the transport ship Thomas.
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.
