REMEMBERING THOSE WHO SERVED
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Ernie Enos was working as a civilian for the Coast Guard on Dec. 7, 1941, when he was ordered to extinguish a navigational light believed to have been used by the Japanese to find Pearl Harbor. He posed at Punchbowl on Saturday.
Isle veteran saw Ernie Enos recalls the flood of emotions that engulfed him when as a young soldier he witnessed the aftermath of war and the atomic bomb destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki more than six decades ago.
atomic bomb horror
of Hiroshima, Nagasaki
Permanent honors
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com"My God," said Enos, 81, "it was quite an experience for me. I was just a young fellow then. When you see something like that, you wonder why. What did we do?"
However, the Punchbowl resident says it was a privilege to wear his country's uniform and to serve under its flag.
"I am defiantly proud that I was in the service, although I hope to never see such an incident as World War II. It was devastating for the world."
Enos' tributes are made this Veterans Day when communities gather to honor the sacrifices of the 25 million veterans who served in earlier wars. This year's ceremonies take on added significance because of the possibility that more than 250,000 reserve and National Guard personnel could be mobilized to join the 1.35 million military personnel already on active duty for a potential war in Iraq.
Although Enos had enlisted in the Coast Guard days after the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, he served most of his time in the Navy and was even on hand when the Pacific war ended in Tokyo Bay four years later.
He had spent most of the war serving as the driver for Navy Rear Adm. Harry W. Hill, commander of the 5th Fleet. On Sept. 2, 1945, while Hill was on the battleship USS Missouri where the Japanese would sign the surrender documents, Enos decided to visit Hiroshima.
To this day, Enos has a hard time describing what he saw. "There was nothing left there."
He also had a chance to witness the destruction at Nagasaki when he accompanied Hill on another trip. "It was just as bad."
Enos had been pressed into military service moments after the bombs started falling on Pearl Harbor, Hickam Field and Kaneohe Naval Air Station four years earlier when he was working as a civilian for the Coast Guard.
"I was attending the 6 a.m. Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Church in Pauoa," he recalled. "One of my fellow workers came up to me and told me that I was needed to go to work. I only remember telling him that today was Sunday and we don't work on Sundays."
Nevertheless, Enos reported to the Lighthouse Service Building on Pier 4 and was ordered by the local Coast Guard commander to drive to Ohua Point Light Station at Hickam Field to extinguish a navigational aide on a 7-foot tower.
"They thought the Japanese would use it, since it was located right at the entrance to Pearl Harbor," Enos said.
"When I got to Hickam, the main gate was closed," Enos said, "so I had to use a back road and even had to drive across the runway even as explosions were going off around me."
At the light station, Enos realized he had forgotten to get the keys to the building needed to get into the basement to turn off the gas. Instead, he was forced to climb the tower and used a 7-inch crescent wrench to knock out the pilot light.
With black smoke billowing around him and despite the numerous explosions, Enos said he knew the job had to be done. "I was scared, but I just focused on my job."
Enos spent the next four days running various errands for the Coast Guard, ranging from hauling ammunition from Lualualei Naval Magazine to standing guard at Pier 4.
"My grandparents didn't know what happened to me. They didn't have a phone, and I couldn't get word to them. They were really worried."
Enos had signed up to work for the Lighthouse Service a year after graduating from McKinley High School in 1938. At that time, maintenance of Oahu's four lighthouses and stations was not part of the Coast Guard's operations.
Facing the possibility of being drafted into the Army, Enos said he decided to enlist in the Coast Guard on March 2, 1942. He became one of the 241,093 Coasties who served in World War II.
Initially, he was assigned as the driver for the Coast Guard commander in Hawaii. He was later reassigned to the Navy as Hill's driver.
In that capacity Enos accompanied the Navy admiral throughout the Pacific, Japan, Korea and China until he was discharged four years later. At the end of the war, he returned to his civilian job at the Lighthouse Service, which had become part of the Coast Guard, and remained there for 34 years until he retired in 1972.
