thedrifter
05-06-08, 09:05 AM
‘Maui’s Own’ Marines who trained at Wailea honored
Long-concealed signs of wartime training uncovered
POSTED: May 5, 2008
WAILEA — Although only scraps of evidence remain above ground, in 1944 and 1945 thousands of Marines practiced for deadly invasions of Japanese-held islands over the shores of what is now the Wailea luxury resort.
The developers of the Kai Malu residential project mauka of the Shops at Wailea uncovered the crumbling remains of a Marine bunker during construction, and Saturday they blessed and dedicated a monument to the memory of “Maui’s Own,” the 4th Marine Division.
Lt. Gen. John Goodman, commanding officer of U.S. Marine Corps Force Pacific, attended, along with a Marine brass quintet and a platoon of Leathernecks.
Also attending was Dale Cook, president of the 4th Marine Division Association.
Armstrong Builders Vice President Wayne Muraoka says his boss, Robert Armstrong, wanted to remember and honor the men “whose sacrifices made possible what we enjoy today.”
The plaque reads: “We salute their heroic efforts at Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, which were critical to securing victory in the Pacific during World War II.”
Armstrong said, “Let us also take this opportunity to renew the ties between the 4th Marine Division and the people of Maui, who fondly called them ‘Maui’s Own’ and changed Maui’s famous slogan to let the world know ‘Maui Marines No Ka Oi.’ ”
The Marines also are memorialized at the county’s 4th Marine Division Memorial Park in Haiku.
There were as many as 200,000 troops on Maui during the war, primarily Marines and Navy personnel.
Navy frogmen developed their revolutionary technique on South Maui’s reefs, and Marine assault teams and combat engineers learned how to approach a defended shore and how to establish a beachhead where luxury hotels stand. In 1944-45, there weren’t even paved roads to Makena.
Kai Malu has 150 residences, of which about 130 sales have closed.
Ellie
Long-concealed signs of wartime training uncovered
POSTED: May 5, 2008
WAILEA — Although only scraps of evidence remain above ground, in 1944 and 1945 thousands of Marines practiced for deadly invasions of Japanese-held islands over the shores of what is now the Wailea luxury resort.
The developers of the Kai Malu residential project mauka of the Shops at Wailea uncovered the crumbling remains of a Marine bunker during construction, and Saturday they blessed and dedicated a monument to the memory of “Maui’s Own,” the 4th Marine Division.
Lt. Gen. John Goodman, commanding officer of U.S. Marine Corps Force Pacific, attended, along with a Marine brass quintet and a platoon of Leathernecks.
Also attending was Dale Cook, president of the 4th Marine Division Association.
Armstrong Builders Vice President Wayne Muraoka says his boss, Robert Armstrong, wanted to remember and honor the men “whose sacrifices made possible what we enjoy today.”
The plaque reads: “We salute their heroic efforts at Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima, which were critical to securing victory in the Pacific during World War II.”
Armstrong said, “Let us also take this opportunity to renew the ties between the 4th Marine Division and the people of Maui, who fondly called them ‘Maui’s Own’ and changed Maui’s famous slogan to let the world know ‘Maui Marines No Ka Oi.’ ”
The Marines also are memorialized at the county’s 4th Marine Division Memorial Park in Haiku.
There were as many as 200,000 troops on Maui during the war, primarily Marines and Navy personnel.
Navy frogmen developed their revolutionary technique on South Maui’s reefs, and Marine assault teams and combat engineers learned how to approach a defended shore and how to establish a beachhead where luxury hotels stand. In 1944-45, there weren’t even paved roads to Makena.
Kai Malu has 150 residences, of which about 130 sales have closed.
Ellie