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>> Home >> Collections >> B.N. Farden >> Memoirs

>> Unpublished memoirs [edited]

[1903, January 28.]...That is where I was born. Puukolii and Kaanapali part of the town of Lahaina, the county of Maui located in west Maui. Puukolii at the time had about 500 families & single individuals employed by the Pioneer Sugar Plantation.

CHILDHOOD

Our family, now in the 8th year...have grown and brought Annie, Carl, me, Emma, and Maude. Well it was time for Daddy to be looking for a new and bigger home. Fortunately, Daddy was transferred and given a job in Lahaina. We children were especially happy because for us it was like going to Honolulu with all the excitement and crowds of people.

We moved into a huge house with a big yard situated along the main road going up to the Lahainaluna HIgh School. In our yard there were mango trees and three coconut trees in the front yard. In the back and side...were tangerines, common cherry and pomegranate trees all bearing fruit. I say this because in Puukolii there was one mango tree. On the mauka side next to our home there was the home of the Manager, Mr. Weinzlerim of the Pioneer Sugar Plantation...we had a middle sized frisky billy goat...

During the summer Daddy decided that ...it was time for us children...to learn to work...doing weeding, cleaning of undesirable grass...in the furrows where...young sugar cane is growing. Margaret, Annie, Carl and I awaken dressed at 4 o'clock each morning. We eat our breakfast that Mama always had prepared for us. Cup of milk, hot mush, fruit and a piece of toast. Then we gather our lunch bags and walk down to the train station. ..Daddy is waiting to see we're all safe and ready to go to work.

After the signal is heard to board the cars, we and 30 other working children and our luna board 3 or 4 empty sugar cane cars...attached to the train...We travel for about one half hour...in the direction of Puukolii...Upon arrival at our place of work we disembark, place our lunch bags in a certain area, get our assignments from the luna, and then get to work. Usually the day is cool and comfortable. When the sun is up about 8 o'clock we can feel heat pouring on our back. The name "Lahaina" really lives up to its name, "the land of sun." After our lunch in the field and back to work...[we]...board the train at 8:30 o'clock and head for home. When we get home we know we have had it--tired and hungry. When schools were open Emma and I started going to kindergarten...

Soon after we moved to another home on the beach. It was a large house comprising of 3 large bedrooms, a huge living room...the huge veranda ran half-way around the house..There was a yard proper and 2 corrals, the smaller was use for Daddy's horse and the other where we kept our 2 milking cows...Carl and I were responsible to maintain and keep the area clean. Beside feeding the chickens and collecting eggs daily. There was a big cement type Portuguese oven where Annie was responsible to bake 15 to 20 round crusted Portuguese bread to supply the family each week...

.Carl and I had the job of milking the 2 cows and getting feed for them from some distance where there is plenty of feed growing. We usually keep one or two pigs and we took...[care]...of those animals, too. Milking time was not much fun for us. Daily about 4:30 we enter the corral and wait at the point where we normally tie the cow to prevent her from leaving before we are through milking. On many occasions either one of us call to one of the cows. Her name is Kalakoa. "Kalakoa, come on. Time for milking." She is standing on the far end of the corral chewing on her cud. Either lying down or standing. Until we have to raise our voices on the second or third call...she would turn and look in our direction, then finally decides to move taking her good time to where she is suppose to be and we tie her up.

Before we had anything to say about the long distances that we had to walk to and from school and shopping, we were on our way preparing to move to our new home. That home was our own Puamana. It was located on the beach front and about a mile to the middle of the town of Lahaina. A story and a half building and very ideal size yard. I attended the Holy Innocent Church School....Carl left...to attend the Saint Louis College through the recommendation of Father Bruno. After one year at Kamehameha III school, I began to learn what I had missed in my education. Not only did I learn something in arithmetic, but learned to do some carpentry, painting...sewing...there were no sports...I joined the Boy Scout...Teacher Werner was a highly emotional person. One day from across the room, he raced to a student at the blackboard who had made a mistake in math...closed fist, attempted to land into the student's stomach. The student...moved to avoid the blow and the fist landed in the blackboard and wall. He left a fist size hole in the wall.

KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS

The following year, I entered Kamehameha Mechanical Boys School in Honolulu. I took the Electrical Course and am very happy today because I have some idea of the basic in electricity and has become very handy in the repairs of fixtures and other small items. I became interested in football and track. I never heard or saw a football game played before entering Kamehameha. So I choose to play the end position.... In the practice scrimmages those big Hawaiians as tackles and guards with their weights and heights were too much for me to face if playing against one of those positions. Some of the players then were the Clarke brothers, Herman and Bill, Buck Aarona, the Hohu brothers, Edmund and Clarence and others.

In track, I ran the short distance. In my last year our half mile relay team...met at the Punahou Alexander field set a new record. The members of the team that ran in this order first: John Nahale, Clarence Hohu, myself, and Milton Beamer, our anchor man. I also ran the 100 yard dash and set a new record for that event: 10 seconds flat. My biggest achievement being captain of the team and the honor of setting a new record in the 100 yard dash.

WORK [Editor's note: In 1921, Kamehameha Schools ended at the 9th grade.]

From Kamehameha Schools, I went to work with the Honolulu Advertiser on some odd job and I stayed at the Kamehameha Alumni boarding apartment then located on Fort Street opposite where the parking area is located to the...[Central]...intermediate school.

One day I was approached by a person who was employed by the Punahou School asked me if I wanted to go to Punahou. I told him with no uncertain terms that it was an unthinkable idea for me...for may reasons. I had not planned on further education in the first place because I took a trade course. Secondly, I did not have money for tuition and expenses. I would not call upon my parents. They had their own to take care of. Furthermore, I felt I could not fit in with such society of all haoles and well to do, wealthy people, missionaries and you name it. The individual saw me another time and insisted that I attend Punahou.

After consulting with Mama and after receiving such a great offer from Louis Muscovy Goeas to stay with him and his family, I decided to attend Punahou and have never regretted for that good fortune.

PUNAHOU SCHOOL

The Goeas family though a big family itself was willing to have me live with them and treated me as part of the family until I graduated from Punahou. I found out very quickly that Punahou School was not bad after my foolish ideas of the kind of society that I was going to deal with. I found a few friends from Kamehameha, outstanding athletes who were there already on a transfer and I was put at ease when I met the Gay family from Lanai. They were kind enough to have met many of the haole students and they accepted me as one of them. I was involved in Boys Hi-Y club, ROTC, track and football and the Ka Punahou, school paper. My second year and after my ineligibility (transfer) I turned out with the football team. I was always playing right end at Kamehameha. At Punahou, the coach decided that he could use me to greater advantage in the back field. After 3 or 4 weeks of practice I dislocated my left shoulder. The...[harness]...I had to wear were very bad. I was never able to perform as well after that. In track, the team as a whole did fairly well.

I enjoyed continuing my training in the ROTC. My early training and experience at Kamehameha gave me a head start of earning the officer rank early. In my senior year, I held the rank of Cadet Colonel and commanding officer of the Regiment. Captain McNeill, or PMS&T and a graduate of West Point and who I always admired... instilled in me about making the Army as a career. But...at the time, I did not take it seriously. I took the commercial course because I was anxious to get into the business world and start getting some money...

Before I graduated from Punahou I was offered a job to work at the Amfac stores. Mr. Arthur Hauck then President of Punahou was directly responsible for getting the job for me. Upon graduation, I reported to Mr. Weight, then Manager of the Grocery department of Amfac, father of Red Weight a football and classmate of mine.

NATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD MEET

Through the kindess of Mr. Weight, I took leave before going to work because I was scheduled to go to San Francisco to participate in the National Track and Field meet in the Kezar Memorial Park. I was chosen to go to the nationals because prior to this I had run a race in the AAU meet here at the Kamehameha School FIeld against the fastest human who ran in the 100 meters at 9.3 seconds. His name was Charlie Paddock and a graduate of UC Los Angeles. Beside that I ran in another meet at the Kamehameha Field and ran the 100 yds in 9.4 seconds and setting a new Island record...

At Kezar Memorial Park in San Francisco one day, while I was taking a few running starts and also warming up there were others doing the same thing. After taking this one start and leaving my holes and running about 25 yards I began returning to the starting point again when one of 2 runners returning to the starting holds was running backwards and through his stupidity his spike caught in the back of my leg and ripped a deep slash in the main rear muscle. I tried desperately to recover but to no avail. I just could not compete.

AMFAC [American Factors] and the UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I

After returning home, I went to work at Amfac as an auditor. After about 2 years at Amfac, I was encouraged to go to the University of Hawaii by Eddie Fernandes then captain of the football team...I decided that maybe I could use a bit more education. To take care of my tuition and other expenses, I worked in the chemistry department in Gartley Hall washing beakers and other glass items and assisted in the football locker to get the football uniforms laundered. I was active in football, track, ROTC and the University band. I stayed with Annie and Tommy at Kapahulu and later moved to the Men's Dormitory on the University grounds. Carl and I played the trombone in the band.

WORK

I worked at the Hawaiian Pineapple Experiment Station and then to Libby McNeil Pineapple Cannery in the chemistry department. Mr. Ai was the head chemist. This was the year, 1930 when the whole nation and Hawai'i was going through the depression...I lost my job...Fortunately, Major Gordon Rose of the Hawaii National Guard was newly appointed administrator and warden of the O'ahu Prison offered me to accept the guard position at the prison. Through my connection as an officer in the guard I was able to get a job. Before leaving the prison job, I was the turnkey and later Assistant Deputy Warden to Mr. Bill Holt, the warden....only in Hawaii in those days. Prisoners with a guard or luna were allowed to work in State offices and Parks as janitorial services and gardeners...

WORLD WAR II

At the call of the President...Roosevelt and Congress directing that all National GUards of the United States to report for active duty. Hawai'i National Guard went in service October 14, 1920. I was an officer...and had to resign my job at the prison...December 7struck Pearl Harbor and the 25th Inf Division readying for Guadalcanal. General Collins decided that the 85 percent Japanese American officers and enlisted men be released from the National Guard unit, 298 Infantry..[and be sent to the mainland putting our unit in a bind to be combat ready with new recruits]...

The 298th Infantry were dispatched as port labor force...[to Guadalcanal already captured by the Americans]...The local Hawaiians enjoyed the surrounded fish netting because fish was plentiful and without effort to haul a full net. Just before the end of the war, the regiment was brought home to set up defense force for each island. I commanded a battalion and was assigned to the island of Maui. That suited me fine. I was able to go home some of the weekends. I had my headquarters in Kahalui.

After the war, I was assigned to the University of Hawai'i as assistant PMS&T and in charge of the McKinley High School ROTC. I had a staff of 3 officers and 4 enlisted men...We had 900 cadet students... April 15, 1948 The McKinley ROTC was inspected by Major General Ira T. Weye(sic) and his staff officers which is an honor...The general...later commanded the 8th Army Corps...During the Korean War former students wounded in battle and in the hospital found out that I was also stationed in Tokyo called...[to thank me for their training]...to strip and assemble their M-I rifle blindfolded...April 15, 1948.

JAPAN

I received my orders to report to the 8th Army HDQs in Yokohama, Japan. We traveled by ship; Lieutenant Sam Keale, John Simmonsen and I were reassigned to 3 different sectors of Japan...I was given my orders...to Camp Drake in northern Japan. I became commander of a battalion of nearly 6 months after receiving another assignment in Tokyo as Tokyo Labor Liaison Officer handling...Japanese working for the U.S....people working the hotels occupied by Americans, in family homes...truck drivers, men working at our air field, etc...primarily interpreting the law and regulations provided by GEneral McArthur's HDQs. Being uneasy personally with the new assignment because I felt that it was degrading and secondly I had been seeking a different job at headquarters. The officer in charge asked if I was from Hawaii. I said, "Yes." He said, "That is why you have been given that job. You understand the Japanese people. " I was satisfied and returned to my office in Tokyo happy and contented. I learned much and it was a very good experience to understanding their way of thinking, their customs, etc. were no mystery for me. I felt the assignment officer made the right choice. After, I was in Japan, Moku and Bernardette joined me.

CALIFORNIA

After serving 5 years in Japan, I reported to Headquarters at Fort Shafter and then took leave for a month. My next assignment was to a training division at Camp Roberts located between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Here I ran into brother, Captain Buddy, the plans and training officer S-3 of the regiment. Buddy was going through the process of discharge so we did not have much time together. I was assigned as Assistant Commander of the training regiment under Colonel Blanchard, a very capable officer. After Col. Blanchard was transferred to Fort Ord, he had me transferred to Fort Ord as Ex-Officer to the Commander of the first Infantry regiment. From Fort Ord, I went to San Francisco Presidio for less than a year before I was transferred to Frankfurt, Germany.

GERMANY

I had a job in the S-2 section of the Frankfort Headquarters. It was after the war and things were moving slowly, I mean activities in the service. Moku joined me in Germany. After being in Japan and now in another foreign country, it proved very interesting in comparing the customs, etc. and also the types of building and living conditions.

NEW YORK

In June of 1960, I was transferred to Fort Hamilton, New York where I received my discharge and retirement with the rank of Colonel. Serving in the Army was a very interesting career for me. Educational wise, I was sent to a 4 month course at Fort Benning, Georgia, the Battalion Staff Course. ATtended many Court Martial short courses. Spent considerable amount of time of assignment by the courts of inquiry for investigation of matters referred by such courts by competent authority. I served as a member of general and special courts and also served as President of both General and Special Courts.

FAMILY

I met a young girl, Moku, when I was attending Punahou School and we became good friends. We kept in touch occasionally until I attended the University, then we became more friendly and seeing each other more often. On May 29, 1933 we were married in Central Union Church. Brother Carl and cousin of Moku, Lei Kenney, were witnesses. On October 18, 1935, Bernardette, our daughter was born.

[Edited from Bernard Nahonoopi'ilani Farden's typewritten unpublished 1990 memoirs. The original is in the possession of his grandnephew, Hailama Farden.]

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