Hawaii Marine, October 30, 2015

Lifestyle

The nation mourns as terrorists cause airplanes to crash into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and a ﬁ eld in Pennsylvania, Sept. 11, 2001. Marine Corps Base Hawaii soon joins the ﬁ ght by sending its Marines and Sailors in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

OCTOBER 30, 2015 VOLUME 46, NUMBER 44

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The Second Continental Congress for what would become the United States agrees to raise two Marine battalions. These battalions would be in service for a joint amphibious expedition to Nova Scotia but also remain in service as future projects came up for the nation.

In 1939, the Navy started construction on Mokapu Peninsula, and on Feb. 15, 1941, the facility became ofﬁ cially known as Kaneohe Bay Naval Air Station. On Dec. 7, 1941, the station was one of the ﬁ rst military installations to be attacked by the Japanese Imperial Navy before Naval Station Pearl Harbor, suffering the loss of 18 service members and two civilians.

Marines took over the facilities and redesignated it Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. Newspaper staff began to publish the Windward Marine in 1953, later becoming the modern-day newspaper known as Hawaii Marine.

Marine Corps facilities are consolidat- ed on all their installations and the Marines on Mokapu Peninsula ofﬁ cially refer to the base as Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii launches its own Facebook page, featuring news from Hawaii Marines and other Corps units.

Christine Cabalo

Marine Corps Base Hawaii C

racking open the “Hawaii Marine” archives, a birthday present from the past emerges with stories of what times were like at Marine Corps Base Hawaii in 1959.

Fifty-six years ago, the 184th Marine Corps birthday base celebrations looked slightly different from today. It was a busy time for newspaper staff, said Jack Paxton, executive director, United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association. When the base newspaper was called the Windward Marine, Paxton was a gunnery sergeant serving as editor. The base was also known as Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay.

“At that time the 4th Marine Regiment was also based at Kaneohe and, as I recall, there were three Marine Corps birthday balls celebrated each year: one at the Ofﬁ cers’ Club, Staff NCO Club and the Enlisted Club,” Paxton said in a Hawaii Marine interview in 2009. “Our newspaper staff, as well as other Marines in the Informational Service

Ofﬁ ce, was tasked with birthday ball coverage.”

In the Nov. 6 issue of the paper, the staff describes how cooks pulled out all the stops for the event. Instead

of inedible showpieces, the large birthday cakes were made from scratch for service members and guests. A total of 2,476 pounds of decorated cake was prepared, which included 574 pounds of icing. Everything for the cakes was measured in pounds: 6 pounds of vanilla, 510 pounds of sugar and 255 pounds of eggs.

“Last year the cake decorating was done by a civilian pastry artist,” wrote the Windward Marine staff in 1959.

“Since that time, a number of K-Bay cooks and bakers have been taking cake decorating classes during their off-duty hours at the YWCA and Waikiki hotels.”

The cooking process took four days, as bakers spent each day baking, icing or adding the ﬁ nal decorations. The ﬁ rst of the cakes was served at the base’s dining facility and the rest enjoyed at each of the birthday balls. Paxton recalls how some parts of the ceremony are still celebrated in the form they were in 1959.

“Then, as now, the tradition of celebrating the oldest and youngest Marine present took place; each receiving the ﬁ rst pieces of the traditional birthday cakes,” he said. “As I also participated in birthday balls in 1960 through 1962 while at Kaneohe, I cannot remember much difference from year to year. I do know that each was a great remembrance of our heritage as belonging to the nation’s ﬁ nest military ﬁ ghting force.”

Additional articles reported the Marine Corps birthday pageant was performed at each evening ball, after cake cutting. Just seven re-enactors were in the 1959 production, all volunteers from 4th Marines. Their uniforms ranged from the 1812 era to the 1950s modern-day aviator Marine. The 1st Marine Brigade Band along with the Drum and Bugle Corps provided live music for each scene.

The birthday balls were one of many events Paxton followed during his time on the base newspaper staff, with help from Marines he still keeps in contact with today. The former editor said he celebrated his 59th birthday ball in Tampa, Fla., and is honored to have served.

“I can assure you, I will still stand proudly as the ‘Marines’ Hymn’ is played — as I did in 1959,” he said. “I will still be ﬁ lled with the same feeling of esprit de corps as I was at my ﬁ rst ball at Parris Island, South Carolina in 1950. As a Marine, this never leaves you.”

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9. 1950. As a Marine, this never leaves you.”

Lance Cpl. Ezra Atencio, dressed as a Barbary War-era Marine, ﬁ res a vintage riﬂ e in rehearsal for the 2014 Birthday Pageant held Nov. 5, 2014, at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.

Marine Corps Base Hawaii hosts the 2015 Kaneohe Bay Air Show, Oct. 17 and 18. The theme of the air show is “Joining Forces with the Community,” and each branch of service showcase their equipment and capabilities. Guests have the opportunity to enjoy a number of activities and demonstrations, from military and civilian aircraft displays, to carnival rides, mer- chandise booths and Taste of Oahu food booths.