Wood Craft Ben Wood

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Visit rekindles memories of secret wartime love affair

Not even World War II and the U.S. Navy could stop newlyweds Marie Haug, now 87, and Lt. J. Stuart "Stu" Doyle, who died in 2003, from being together when he was sent to Hawaii during the war.

Marie is leaving Hawaii today after a vacation with her son and daughter-in-law, Geoff and Mary Ellen Doyle.

In 1944, Marie and Stu, a handsome young couple, wed in Nashua, N.H., after a year's courtship. He was a cryptologist based in Washington and was working on the team that broke the Japanese code. She was a schoolteacher. But two weeks after the wedding, they were heartbroken because he received orders to be transferred to Pearl Harbor. Wives were not permitted to accompany their husbands at that time.

After being apart for a year and a half, Stu learned that teachers were needed in Hawaii. Marie applied for a position and was hired. She was all set to head for Hawaii when she caught the flu and could not travel. But that turned out to be a blessing because that ship took teachers to work on Maui, not Oahu, where Stu was stationed.

Two months later she flew to California and boarded a Navy ship with six other female teachers and 5,000 sailors. This vessel went to Oahu. She was assigned to Kahuku School, teaching shorthand, typing and physical education to seventh- and eighth-graders.

Marie used her maiden name to protect her husband's career because she wasn't supposed to be in Hawaii.

Stu had told her that after she arrived she should go to the Naval Station gate and ask for Lt. Doyle. She did and when he appeared, instead of flying into each other's arms as they so desperately desired, they politely shook hands. That must have been tough.

But then they headed for the Moana Hotel. They could hardly wait to be alone together. The reservations clerk at the front desk confirmed the reservation and welcomed them. But when he asked for identification, his smiling face turned sour after seeing two different last names for the hand-holding pair. In a loud voice he said: "I'm sorry, we DON'T have reservations for you and WE DON'T CATER TO THAT KIND OF ACTIVITY." You had to be married to share a room in those days.

Marie says she can still hear his voice today and that walking out of the hotel to the stares of guests in the lobby was the longest walk of her life.

So the officer went back to the base and his wife went to the teachers' cottage to spend the night. The next morning Marie was off to her assignment in Kahuku.

Her husband visited her whenever he could. During summer break, Marie took an apartment in Waikiki. She and her lieutenant really got together there as the first of their eight children was conceived in that apartment.

Well, Marie Doyle returned to the Moana Nov. 4, legally, and was treated royally after general manager Erik Berger learned her story. Among other things, he had a cake made for her with one of her 1945 photos pictured on it. The inscription read, "Welcome Back to the Moana Surfrider" and "The First Lady of Waikiki." Heady stuff for a youngster of 87.

Marie loves the Moana's oceanfront lanai.

The Doyles have been doing things most tourists do and made a point to visit Kahuku, where Marie taught school. She has had a wonderful time, Mary Ellen said.