By Craig T. Kojima, Star-Bulletin
This tower is part of a two-pronged guidance system for ships.
Which is a roundabout way of explaining this modest and mysterious tower on Ala Moana Boulevard near Fisherman's Wharf. It's part of a passive navigation system for ships and boats entering Kewalo Basin.
The other part is closer to the water and has a light on it, explains Coast Guard Chief Tom Dutton, the officer in charge of navigation. This tower has a plywood board with red and white vertical stripes. When the light is centered on the stripes, you're sailing in straight and true. At night, a row of lights atop the tower do the same thing. It's similar to the "ball-centering" system used to guide aircraft onto aircraft carrier decks.
If you've ever hung a tennis ball from the ceiling in the garage to indicate how far in to park the car, you're hip to this system.
Our item last week on the insignia of the 442nd Infantry Regiment -- sorry, not battalion -- drew some further information from Alan Kubota of the Sons and Daughters of the 442nd. The replacement insignia was designed by Sgt. Mitch Miyamoto while in training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and was later adapted by the Army.
