The Pearl Harbor Murders

Hully had dared a kiss before she boarded-for once, her mother didn't frown-and, a spring in his step, the young Burroughs rejoined bis father, who was standing with the friend he was seeing off, the reason Tarzan's (and Hully's) daddy had braved the Boat Day crowd.

Colonel Frank Teske of the Army Signal Corps had already seen his wife and infant son aboard to their first- class stateroom, and had returned to invite the Burroughses to join them for refreshments till the 'all ashore' was sounded.

'No thanks,' the elder Burroughs said in his husky baritone, as Hully fell in beside him. 'I'm off the sauce, and, anyway, I couldn't take those corridors reeking with damn leis, it's like dimestore perfume… not to mention the cigarette smoke.'

Pop had quit drinking and smoking recently, and was of late displaying a reformer's intolerance for the second habit, if not for the first As for the leis, personally Hully got a charge of the full, fragrant ropes of yellow ilima, the sweet-scented loops of mountain maile; not bad for a quarter apiece.

Colonel Teske was only one of many friends Hully's pop had in military circles. O. B. relished the army bustle of Fort DeRussy, Fort Ruger, Fort Shatter, and Schofield Barracks; a flier himself, he took any excuse for a trip over to Hickam Field. As for the Navy at Pearl Harbor, the elder Burroughs had on the very day Hully arrived taken his youngest boy to Battleship Row for a personal tour of the California, courtesy of its captain.

Hully had soon learned that his father was thick with most of the brass on Oahu-Hawaii was easy duty for officers, who had lots of time on their hands, and were more than willing to mix with civilians, particularly one as famous as Hully's pop.

Thirtyish, a knife blade of a man with a pencil mustache, just another white linen suit in the crowd, Colonel Teske said, 'I appreciate you coming down like this, Ed. I'm sure going to miss our poker games.'

“I'm going to miss winning your money,' O. B. said.

In the shadow of his own Panama, the colonel's eyes were tight, and he spoke so softly his words barely registered above the din. 'I only wish you'd take my advice and get the hell back to the mainland.'

'Come on, Frank,' O. B. replied, in his typical staccato fashion. 'You know a Jap attack here is a long shot This entire island is a fortress! Every point, every headland fortified… Navy and Army and Navy Air Corps, twenty- five thousand troops! I refuse to worry.' 'Get yourself on the next boat, Ed.' A smirk dimpled Burroughs' cheek. 'Well, if a skinflint like you springs for traveling first class, you must mean what you say.'

Shaking his head, Teske said, 'First Class was the only accommodation available. There's a record number of passengers on this trip-seventy of 'em assigned to cots in the main lounge!'

O. B. pawed the air goodnaturedly with a big blunt hand. 'I don't deny war's coming. But Honolulu is one of the safest places under the Flag. Teske, you're a damn pessimist!'

Hully wasn't so sure he agreed with his father. After all, me Matsonia-the Lurline's sister ship-had been recently converted to a troopship; today was the first time in two weeks transportation to California had been available, excluding a few seats on the Pan Am clippers.

'No offense, Colonel,' Hully said, 'but you told us there'd be an attack by Thanksgiving, and nothing happened. What makes you think-'

'You'll probably be all right till Christmas. Oh hell, who knows?' Teske put a hand on O. B.'s shoulder. 'You may be right, Ed-or why else would the brass order me to San Francisco?'

'What are you doing, heading out there, Colonel?' Hully asked. 'If you can say …'

'Same thing I was supposed to be doing hoe-install radar installations, and run simulated attacks by carrier- based planes.'

'Now that makes sense,' Burroughs said. 'The San Francisco Navy Yard, there's a target'

Teske shrugged. 'Anyway, I'm glad to get out of this madhouse…. Ed, thanks for the send-off. I'll see you in the States.'

'One of these days,' Burroughs said.

Father and son did not wait around for the Lurline's actual departure, avoiding the hoopla of whistle blasts and a brassy 'Aloha Oe,' hoping to beat the crowd. They had parked three blocks away, noting more police in evidence than usual-further sabotage fear? — and Fort and Bishop streets were jammed with traffic; it was getting as bad as back home in California, Hully thought.

Pop drove, as usual-he loved to drive-and they both tossed their Panamas on the floor in the backseat, as otherwise the wind would have whisked the hats away; the top was down on the sporty white '37 Pierce Arrow, a twelve-cylinder with chrome wheel covers. They were heading Waikiki way along the Ala Moana (Sea Road), and traffic had let up some.

As they glided by the United States Army Transport docks, across from which was the Hawaiian General Depot and the Air Depot, Hully asked, 'What exactly does Colonel Teske do?'

His blacksmith's hands gripping the steering wheel, O. B. glanced over at his son, blue eyes hard. 'Besides talk a lot of pessimistic baloney? He's with the Army Signal Corps. Commander of the Army's aircraft warning system in Hawaii.'

Hully had not been privy to the conversations between Teske and his father, but he knew the colonel had arrived only about a month ago, and was a recent addition to the roster of his pop's military pals.

'So what's this about radar?' Hully asked. They were passing the Myrtle and Healani Boat Clubs.

'Well, you know what it is, don't you?'

'Sure.'

'Frank brought radar to the islands, and it's a damn good idea, too. Look at the role it played in the Battle of Britain.' O. B. shrugged, wind whipping the white linen of bis jacket. 'And I guess I can't blame Frank for his attitude-both the military and the civilians have given him one load of horseshit after another.'

'How so?'

'Well, General Short thinks mobile radar stations aren't worth operating on a twenty-four-hour basis. To him, they're just a good training tool for the lower ranks.'

Rather enjoying the wind rustling his hair, Hully asked, 'What good does radar do if you're not using it all the time?'

'None-that's Frank's point.'

Just ahead was the entrance to Fort Armstrong, one of five Coast Artillery Defense Batteries on Oahu.

'You said civilians were giving him crap, too,' Hully said. 'What do civilians have to do with it?'

'Plenty, when it's the governor. Him, and the National Park Service. They won't let Frank put his radar setups on mountain peaks, where they'd be most effective-it might ruin the view.'

'Hell,' Hully said, snorting a laugh. 'I can see why Colonel Teske is frustrated.'

'So can I, son, but he's still wrong about a Japanese air raid on Oahu. And most military personnel, and informed civilians, agree with me, in considering that a remote possibility.'

They were nearing Kewalo Basin, home of sampans in the water and out-several Japanese boatbuilding firms sat along the artificial harbor with its fleet of marine-blue sampans, blending with the water they bobbed in.

'The threat here,' his father said, casting an eye toward the man-made Japanese harbor, 'isn't from above- it's from within.'

'Sabotage.'

He nodded, his expression grave, his thick hands tight on the wheel. 'I know you don't agree with me on this, Hully, but you can't deny the reality-better than one out of three Hawaiians are of Jap heritage.'

'Come on, O. B.-the majority of them are hardworking, conservative souls-'

'With relatives living back in Japan,' his father finished. 'A good number of these issei and nisei are Japanese citizens….'

Issei were first-generation immigrants, ineligible for U.S. citizenship, and nisei were born in Hawaii, and as such were U.S. citizens.

Trying to rein in his irritation, Hully said, 'The nisei hold dual citizenships, Pop. You know that.'

O. B. frowned over at his son. 'Yes, and if war breaks out, what flag will they serve under?'

Hully gave his dad a sarcastic smile. 'And I suppose you think sweet Mrs. Fujimoto is just waiting for a signal