Na Leo O Na Koa - MOAA Hawaii€¦ · and Dr. Fryer's presentation was very well received. Dr....

Volume No. 14, Issue No. 9 Web Site: http://www.aloha-moaa.org September 2013

(Voices of Warriors)

Chartered January 27, 2000

Na Leo O Na Koa

Newsletter of the Aloha Chapter,

An Affiliate of the Military Officers Association of America

2007 Chapter Rating

MOAA Picnic Again, the annual Military Officers’ Association of America Picnic on 4 August at Bellows AFS, Oahu, with over 70 attendees, was a great suc-cess, mostly thanks to the per-ennial efforts of George Sul-livan, Chairman of the Board of the Hawaii State Chapter.

There was an overabundance of food and fun and, as a spe-cial treat, George even ar-ranged with a friend to put on an aerial acrobatic show for us in his Extra 330L airplane.

Another special treat was the presence of our guest of honor, the unpretentious and knowledgeable LTC Matthew G. Clark, Ph.D., USA, a mem-

See MOAA Picnic Page 4

September Tour The John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) was estab-lished in 1965 at Le'ahi Hospital on the slopes of Diamond Head as a two-year program of basic medical sciences for stu-dents hoping to enroll in medi-cal schools on the mainland. Few could have guessed then that this fledgling institution would become the genesis for a major medical school; it has, indeed, come a very long way!

JABSOM now resides on a 150-million dollar state-of-the-art campus of technologically ad-vanced medical facilities that ri-val those of renowned medical institutions around the world.

For the Wednesday, 25 Sep-tember, meeting of our Chapter, we are privileged to be given a guided tour of this marvelous

See JABSOM Page 7

Inside September Issue Arcadia Follies 5 Birthdays 7 Bridge Report 5 Calendar of Events 2 Chairman’s Corner 2 Chapter Leaders 8 Community Affairs Projects 4 Golf Report 6 Membership Application 7 Scholarship Fund Report 5

August Luncheon There were 23 Chapter members, spouses and guests that attended our luncheon meeting at Hale Ikena on Wednesday, 28 August. We had an excellent buffet lunch, and Dr. Fryer's presentation was very well received.

Dr. Fryer started his presen-tation by narrating a YouTube video of the 2011 Japan tsu-nami that compressed about 45 minutes of shocking foot-age into 5 minutes. This in-troduction to his presentation certainly got our attention, and set the tone for a very in-teresting and informative pres-entation. (I did not notice any nodding heads.)

See August Luncheon Page 6

Kibitzers and Chefs, l to r, RADM Bruce Smith, CDR Lee Bor-denave, LTC Darrell Large and COL Mark Torreano

Aloha Chapter members and spouses socializing before the luncheon, left to right, Larry Zane, Bob Kozuki, Howard Okada, Ken Me-

nechika and Grace Menechika

Nā Leo O Nā Koa No. 14, September 2013

Chairman’ s Corner

By Mark Webster On Thursday, 19 September, your Aloha Chapter Board of Directors will have a scheduled meeting at Kalihi Union Church. It will be at 0900 prior

to the EXCOM meeting at 1000 at the same location. The primary item on the agenda is get-ting a report from the Nominating Committee, headed by MG Kelly Lau, USA, Ret., on select-ing four Directors to the Aloha Chapter Board of Directors, replacing the four Directors whose terms are expiring at the end of this year, and all of the Trustees of the Aloha Chapter Scholar-ship Fund; all of their terms have expired.

My predecessor as Chairman of the Board, LTG Allen Ono, USA, Retired, started a tradi-tion of profiling various members of our chapter so we could learn more about each other. I’d like to continue that terrific tradition by initially profiling an auxiliary member, one of our Merrie Ladies, who greatly contribute to our chapter’s enjoyment and success.

Frances “Taffy” Wells

has indeed had quite an ex-citing life!

Frances Whitemarsh, born on 25 July just a few years ago in Newport, RI, was a Navy “brat.” Because of her father’s assignments, she went to 11 different schools before high school. In the early 1940s her fam-ily landed on Aukai Avenue, one block mauka of Kahala Avenue, when Kahala was mostly pig farms. She remembers one time after a heavy rainfall that pig kukai was all over her yard.

Frances was a student at Punahou when WWII started. The next day, December 8th, she saw three planes with big red meatballs fly so low over her home that the planes’ wheels almost hit the palm trees in her yard. They were on a mission to assess their success the previous day, greatly alarming the civilians and military on Oahu.

One time during the war she had to accom-pany her parents on a formal courtesy call, a military protocol, to a home on Ford Island. She didn’t want to go, but, nevertheless, ended up sitting at a table in an officer’s home, all prim and proper, and obviously quite bored. The host noticed this and graciously asked her if she would like to see his bees. He took her to his back yard, dressed her in an apiarist’s protective attire, and showed her the honey-combs and the queen bee in his hives. She was thrilled; he was so genial to a no longer bored young lady. She later learned he was Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz.

See Taffy Page 3

Notice This newsletter, my 93rd issue of Nā Leo O Nā Koa, is promulgated electronically monthly as an official pub-lication of Aloha Chapter, Military Officers’ Association of America, P.O. Box 201441, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96820.

Views expressed herein are not necessarily chapter policy.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

15 Sept. 2013 1300, Bridge Party, Fahrni Realty Class-(Sunday) room, Aiea. Host: Dan Matthews

19 Sept. 2013 0900, Aloha Chapter Board of Directors (Thursday) Meeting, Kalihi Union Church, 2214 N. King

19 Sept. 2013 1000, Aloha Chapter EXCOM Meeting, (Thursday) Kalihi Union Church, 2214 N. King Street

25 Sept. 2013 1000, Group Tour of John A. Burns School (Wednesday) of Medicine, Kakaako, followed by buy-your- own Lunch at School’s Kulia Grill Cafeteria

27 Sept. 2013 0900, Golf Outing, Navy/Marine Golf Course, (Friday) 943 Valkenburgh Street, Pearl Harbor

23 Oct 2013 1100, Luncheon, Hale Ikena, Ft. Shafter; (Wednesday) Speaker: Daniel Martinez, Arizona Me- morial and NPS Historian, Pearl Harbor; Topic: Oahu’s Historic Battlefield Sites

6 Nov. 2013 1130, Luncheon, Palms Bar & Grill; Com-Wednesday) munity Affairs Volunteers followed by process- ing inspirational cards for patients at TAMC

21 Nov 2013 1000, Patriotic Songfest at Center for Aging, (Thursday) TAMC, followed by Annual General Membership Meeting at Hale Ikena

11 Dec 2013 1100, Christmas Party Luncheon, Sunset(Wednesday) Lanai, Camp H. M. Smith, Halawa Heights.

14 Dec 2013 1730, MOAA’s Annual Christmas Party, (Saturday) Hickam Officers’ Club

No 14, September 2013 Nā Leo O Nā Koa

Taffy continued from Page 2

Because the Army appropriated the Punahou campus for a base of operations during martial law in the Islands, and her dad was deployed in forward explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) operations (he cleared the beaches before the Marines heroically landed) and her mom worked long hours as a military censor, Fran-ces was sent to live with a family friend, a guardian, in Coronado, CA, where she finished high school.

In Hawaii and California, she loved the ocean. She was quite adventurous and very much a tomboy. Because of constantly being in the sun and surf, her hair became streaked various shades of light brown. Someone mentioned that it looked like pulled salt-water taffy, and the name stuck. Right away she preferred Taffy to Frances, a family name, yet it took her dad many years to accept it.

When her dad retired, he taught mathematics at the U. S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD. He was a math whiz. Taffy went east to work in Pennsylvania near her dad. She didn’t like her job, so she asked her dad if she could man-age their home they had in Coronado. She moved back to Coronado and got a job with San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

Taffy and her girl friends often went to the Sunday evening “Tea Dances” at the Marine Corps Depot Officers’ Club in San Diego. They were fun outings and great opportunities to meet new friends. Leaving the club with a new acquaintance was not permitted, but telephone numbers were often surreptitiously exchanged.

Larry Wells and Taffy became increasingly good friends at these mixers. He was a quiet and handsome Navy lieutenant pilot. Also, he was a good dancer. They started dating and then he was deployed for 9 months, so they continued their ardent dating in almost daily letters. He chased her until she caught him. They married in 1956.

Their marriage—like joining the Navy—was the beginning of an adventure. They were as-signed to Miramar, Alameda, Lemoore and Jack-sonville Naval Air Stations. During the Vietnam War Larry served as a Landing Signal Officer (LSO) aboard an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam. One particularly sad experience was when his best friend ignored Larry’s wave-off, go-around signal and crashed and was killed.

Larry was due to be assigned to the Pentagon, but half-heartedly asked his detailer if he could be sent to Pearl Harbor instead. Surprisingly, he was sent to CINCPAC (now PACOM) at Camp Smith, where he eventually retired as a commander.

Taffy’s love of everything about the ocean was shared by Larry. One time, when they were SCUBA diving far into a narrowing lava tube off the south Kona coast, they heard a

rumbling sound. They thought that a large boat was overhead, ignoring their diver-down flag. They cautiously surfaced, looking out for a passing boat, and then learned from their charter boat captain that there had been a ma-jor earthquake on the Big Island

(which could have collapsed the lava tube).

After retiring from the Navy, Larry taught fly-ing at Hickam and Wheeler airfields. One of his students was from St. Thomas in the Brit-ish Virgin Islands, who said she was going to Europe for a month and invited Taffy and Larry to house sit for her. They eagerly ac-cepted and spent a glorious month sightseeing, snorkeling and SCUBA diving at St. Thomas and also St. Croix and St. John in the U.S. Vir-gin Islands and nearby Sint Maarten.

They SCUBA dove in many more exotic sites all over the world, such as in the Florida Keys; in Bermuda, where they explored the sunken ship that was used for the 1977 movie The Deep staring Jacqueline Bisset and Nick Nolte; and

See Taffy concluded on Page 4

WARNING Diver Down


Taffy from Page 3

with whales in the Gulf of California at La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Sadly, Larry died of stomach cancer in 1990.

Taffy joined the Hickam Diving Club to con-tinue the pursuit of her life’s adventures.

Once, she kept her distance watching rays mat-ing at the North Shore of Oahu (who were un-derstandably oblivious to her presence) and did likewise another time watching pirouetting, giant mantas at Palau. It was at Palau that she ardu-ously climbed up the side of a ring-shaped island to dive in the island’s central lake with millions of jellyfish that no longer sting after they had be-came isolated from the ocean many, many millen-nia ago. In that vicinity of the Pacific, she also went SCUBA diving at Guam (where, inciden-tally, I obtained my PADI SCUBA Certificate) and at Truk Lagoon (now Chuuk), where there is an astounding sunken Japanese fleet from WWII.

A couple of the best dive sites Taffy liked in Hawaii were at Niihau and Molokini Islands. The latter one is that small, crescent-shaped is-land between Maui and Kahoolawe. She has of-ten been accompanied by barracuda and sharks.

Since she once had been deprived of diving on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef because of a typhoon, she readily accepted an invitation from three fellow diving club members to ac-company them to Brisbane and Cairns. That was a very memorable trip aboard the Undersea Explorer, an Australian research ship. The world’s largest reef was spectacularly beautiful. While there, she got close and personal frolick-ing with inquisitive minke whales.

Taffy has only slightly slowed down now. She is active in the Aloha and Hawaii State Chap-ters, MOAA, and the Society of Military Wid-ows. She likes to go to California to visit her son, Dan, who lives in Los Angeles and works as an engineer for NASA, and her daughter, Beth, who lives in San Diego and worked in education.

Merrie Ladies Answer Call Last month’s newsletter had a plea from Wes Fong for assistance on two Community Af-fairs projects during the Christmas season.

Marion Von spoke up, saying that the Merrie Ladies would be glad to help him purchase ap-proximately $250 of baby stuff—such as dia-pers, clothing, wipes and lotions—for donation in December to Tripler Fisher House which helps deserving young military mothers. This one-day project would involve shopping at the NEX in the morning, taking the purchases to Tripler Fisher House, taking photos, and then having a leisurely lunch. If any Merrie Ladies or member’s spouse would like to help selecting the baby items or even pushing the shopping cart(s), please let Marion know.

Marion has reserved the Palms Bar and Grill (fka Sam Snead’s) at the Navy/Marine Golf Course at 1130, Wednesday, 6 November, for a luncheon (separate checks) for the group of no more than 20 people who will then make inspira-tional cards for the patients at Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC). There are approxi-mately 200 patients at TAMC. Any member or spouse interested in volunteering for this project to cheer those that have to be hospitalized over the holidays, please contact Wes at [email protected] not later than 25 October; the cut off may be long before that date if 20 volunteers have already signed up.

MOAA Picnic from Front Page

ber of the MOAA Board of Directors in Alexandria, VA, and his personable wife, Katie. Matt is in charge of the Behav-ioral Science Depart-ment at the U.S. Mili-tary Academy, West Point, NY, a required course for all cadets.

No 14, September 2013 Nā Leo O Nā Koa

The August party bridge session was held in the Fahrni Realty Classroom again on Sunday the 18th. It was hosted by Joan White. At the end of the regular 5 rounds of play, Lenny Vine ended up as the highest scorer with 4,810 points. She was followed closely by Les Ihara, Shirley Ihara, Jean Wilkinson, and our new-est member, Jane Amaki. There was no slam made during this session.

Other players were: Mitzi Austin, Bill & Trudi Ernst, Sam Heard, Dan Matthews, and Coralie Vellis, and hostess Joan White.

The next bridge session will be held on Sunday, 15 September in the Fahrni Realty Classroom, hosted by Dan Matthews. Those who have not signed up but would like to play on that date must contact Dan by telephone at 351-2114 or e-mail to [email protected], or call Shirley Ihara at 239-7947 not later than Wednesday, 11 September. Shirley

Thank You Letter from Aloha

Chapter Scholarship Recipient Aloha Chapter, thank you so very much for selecting me as a recipient of the 2013-2014 Aloha Chapter, MOAA, scholarship fund grant. I am extremely grateful for your sup-port of my progress in the UH-Manoa Nurs-ing program. I will be working at the Pali Momi ICU as an intern for the remainder of the summer, and look forward to returning to school this fall. Many, many thanks and best wishes. Sincerely, /s/ Jessica Niles

Aloha Chapter Party Bridge

Add these Websites to your “Favorites”

http://www.aloha-moaa.org http://www.moaa.org

AUGUST CHAMPIONS Seated, left to right: Jean Wilkinson, Lenny

Vine, & Shirley Ihara Standing: Les Ihara, hostess Joan White, &

Jane Amaki

Arcadia Follies Nine years ago legendary showman Jack Cione moved into Arcadia Retirement Resi-dence, home to six of our fellow Aloha Chap-ter members. Jack owned 12 night clubs in Honolulu, and for the past 30 years he has pro-duced and directed the Mardi Gras Follies at the Banyan Club at Pearl Harbor, then at the Hawaii Theater and now the Arcadia Follies at Arcadia for the last 8 years.

The 8th Annual Arcadia Follies were pre-sented by Arcadia’s Programs & Wellness De-partment to large, enthusiastic crowds in the Arcadia Auditorium from 11 July thru 27 July. It was a patriotic theme this year: “This is a Great Country.” The performances were ex-cellent and the costumes were spectacular.

Our Chapter’s terrific thespian, Mazie Kozuki, gave another polished performance this year. She appeared in Scene Seven and then the Finale, ap-

propriately repre-senting the U. S. Army as their songs were sung for each service.

Mazie Kozuki, looking the wrong way, representing

the Army


August Golf Report There was no golf outing in August. Our September out-ing will be at 0900, Friday, 27 September, at the Navy/Marine Golf Course on Val-kenburgh Street, Pearl Harbor.

Even though there is no golf report for August, you are still

subjected to an erudite thought of the day: “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”

Norm Fujiwara

our flooding/damage zones dramatically. Dr, Fryer also discussed a fascinating series of charts, graphs and photos illustrating the world-wide international network of earthquake/tsunami monitoring devices and sensors, on land and sea, that help predict the formation, strength and direc-tion of a tsunami.

Bringing it close to home, he also spoke from charts and graphs that illustrate local earthquakes and the potential of "home grown" tsunami within our island chain. He showed a series of photos of a large sink hole on Kauai that has been scientifically excavated and studied, yielding proof of a very large tsunami that occurred along that shore line around 800 years ago, after human habitation had been established there. He also mentioned that a recent study of records and accounts of tsunami found in Hawaiian his-torical documentation/news sources from 1861 to 2007 indicates that we are currently "overdue" for another significant tsunami event.

He cautioned us to take all tsunami warnings very seriously. As the Senior Geophysicist at NOAA's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, he is responsible for the broadcast warnings that we all see and hear We need to know where the inundation zones are and to be prepared to move to higher ground im-mediately following a warning. He described how there is usually more than one wave associated with a tsunami, and the first one may not be the largest or most dangerous. In 1960, during the Hilo tsu-nami, there were 3 waves, each one building on the previous one so that the third wave was the largest and most devastating of all.

There were also a good question and answer pe-riod following his presentation. ` Jack

August Luncheon from Front Page

He followed this with several excellent ani-mated charts and graphs showing the basic me-chanics of tectonic plate subduction, which cause earthquakes and the resulting tsunami, a “harbor wave,” not a tidal wave, and explained the phenomenon of water displacement and wave mechanics in a very clear and understand-able way. He also showed a couple of videos of the rise and fall of sea levels and damage caused here in Hawaii by the recent Japanese event.

He moved on to Hawaiian earthquake/tsunami history using computer generated illustrations of how and where the disastrous 1946 and 1960 tsu-nami originated in the Aleutian Chain and off the coast of Chile, respectively, and what the prob-abilities are of similar events occurring in the fu-ture. His 2500-year projections of the probabili-ties of magnitude 9+ quakes across the Aleutian Islands, that would originate mega-tsunamis target-ing Hawaii, are sobering. These projections, plus the data from the 2011 Japan tsunami, have led engineers and disaster planners world wide to re-vise their damage estimates and establish new en-gineering standards of construction. This has also led to changes that are being made in projected inundation zone maps and evacuation routes, here in Honolulu and elsewhere. Our current inunda-tion zones are based on a 100 year event, caused by an 8+ earthquake that generates a tsunami that would hit Hawaii. The new 2500 year event stan-dard, associated with a Pacific Rim 9+ earthquake-generated tsunami targeting Hawaii, will change

Dr. Gerard Fryer, left, expressing appre-ciation for the koa

bowl presented to him by Curtis Lee, President, Aloha Chapter, after his informative talk. Roger Kobayashi photos

No. 14, September 2013 Nā Leo O Nā Koa

JABSOM continued from Front Page

facility. We will start in the Center for Clinical Skills, move on through the Medical Educa-tion Building, continue with an explanation of the architectural features of the complex which emphasize the “Hawaiian Sense of Place”, and conclude with a discussion on “Healthy Aging” led by a senior faculty member; this should be of great interest to us all! JABSOM is located at 651 Ilao Street. From Ala Moana Boulevard, turn makai on the new Ward Avenue extension near Fisherman's Wharf. You are now traveling on Ilao Street. After two stop signs you will see the Medical School campus on your left. A word about parking! Parking on Coral and Keawe Streets between Ala Moana and Ilao is free, but fills up early. There is also metered parking on Ilao Street ($.75 per hour, bring quarters). Another option is at the adjacent Children's Discovery Center lot ($2 for 2 hours, $3 for over 2 hours). Parking Lot C is past the college, on the left, on Ilao St. The Lot C contractor changed 1 September; the new rates are not yet available (current rate is $5). IMPORTANT! DO NOT PARK IN THE LOT FOR KAKA'AKO WATERFRONT PARK! CARS ARE TOWED OF PERSONS WHO DO NOT STAY IN THE PARK! After parking, walk down Ilao Street to the Medical Education Building, which is located on the Diamond Head end of the Medical School campus. Enter through the large glass doors into the lobby, where a guard/info desk (808-692-0911) is located; we will assemble in this lobby, near the architect’s model of the campus. The Tour will start at 10 AM and finish around 11:15. PLEASE BE ON TIME! Following our tour, we will enjoy lunch in the public cafeteria of the school, the “Kulia Grill.” You are in for a treat! The Kulia Grill is operated by the Kapi'olani Community College Culinary program and (based on my personal experience) the food is great, the portions are generous, and the prices are reasonable. In addition to soups, salads and sandwiches, etc., there is always a choice of four different and delicious plate lunches ($10) served daily. Kulia Grill operates on a cash only basis; no credit cards are accepted.

There is no Aloha Chapter fixed charge for this meeting; there is no Reservation Form to mail in. Your personal expenses for the tour will be dependent on your parking choices and your selections and appetite at the Kulia Grill. Please e-mail me at [email protected] or call 808-235-8078 not later than Friday, 20 September; I need the names of all attendees. Let me know if you need to cancel. I'm looking forward to seeing you all at JABSOM! Jack

Hau'oli lā hānau! Partial List of

September Babies Kirk Durante 9/01 Kenneth Okazaki 9/01 Cedric Chong 9/03 Shirley Ihara 9/04 Ira Tagawa 9/05 Rodney Kimura 9/06 Robert Frye 9/08 Leroy Perry 9/11 Lisa Seward 9/11 Robert Lee 9/14 Stanley Tanaka 9/19 Sunny Young 9/19 Michael Fricano 9/25 Tony Bamer 9/27 Gordon Cho 9/27 Norman Fujiwara 9/29

Best Wishes for many, many more Birthdays!

Aloha Chapter

Military Officers Association

Of America

P.O. Box 201441

Honolulu HI 96820-1356

* 2002 5-Star Chapter


* 2004 Winner Best Website

* 2004 2nd Runner-Up Electronic Newsletter


* 2005 Winner-Cat VII "Give Me 10" Recruitment Campaign



* 2007 2nd Runner-Up Print Newsletter


* 2008 2nd Runner-Up Print Newsletter

Aloha Chapter Awards

2013 Aloha Chapter Leadership

Directors

Effective 1 January 2013

(Term in years indicated in parenthesis)

(2) Mark Webster, USN Chairman

734-5994 [email protected]

(2) Lawrence Enomoto, USAF Parliamentarian

685-1521 [email protected]

(1) Gordon Cho, USA 484-2400 [email protected]

(1) Norman Fujiwara, USA 626-4630 [email protected]

(2) Robert Kozuki, USA 942-4047 [email protected]

(1) Curtis Lee, USA 836-6733 [email protected]

(1) Vernon Von, USAF 732-3908 [email protected]

Executive Committee & Committee Chairs President: Curtis D. Lee, USA 836-6733 [email protected]

Vice President: Vernon Von, USAF 732-3908 [email protected]

Secretary: Ira Tagawa, USA 487-5448 [email protected]

Treasurer: Arthur Yamamoto, USA 833-3111 [email protected]

Community Affairs: Wesley F. Fong, USA 595-6127 [email protected]

Membership: Lawrence Enomoto, USAF 685-1521 [email protected]

Personal Affairs: Harold Okita (Windward), 262-0882; & John Jefferis (Leeward) 372-6601

Programs: Jack Bohman, Ira Tagawa, Melvin Soong & Helene Webster

Publications/PR: Mark Webster, USN 734-5994 [email protected]

ROTC/Veteran Affairs: Harold Kuwahara, USA 944-4010 [email protected]

Bridge: Shirley Ihara 239-7947 [email protected]

Fundraising: Herb Nakagawa, USAF 271-1172 [email protected]

Golf: Norman Fujiwara, USA 626-4630 [email protected]

Scholarships: Allen Ono, USA 536-6043 [email protected]

Na Leo O Na Koa - MOAA Hawaii€¦ · and Dr. Fryer's presentation was very well received. Dr....

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