While searching for my novels in Hawaii, I have the pleasure of finding unexpected nuggets of language, geography, or history. I call these discoveries “gems”. In the following paragraphs, I will describe two of these discoveries. The former plays an important role in The second betrayal, the fourth Koa Kāne puzzle (scheduled for publication January 2022). The second finds its way into Koa Kāne’s fifth novel, and is currently in draft form and untitled as of now.
(4 Advantages of Writing Novel in Multiple Narrative Forms)
In my wanderings around the Big Island of Hawaii, I explored the back roads near Pahala, a small former sugar town 20 miles south of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Around a bend in a country road, I found dozens of colorful flags hanging from ropes from trees. They fluttered in the breeze. Upon closer examination, they turned out to be Buddhist prayer flags. Driving a little further, you come across a Tibetan pagoda decorated in bright red, yellow, and green. Two very flowery shishi, Chinese lion dogs, guard the entrance, and a gong hangs from the rafters. Eucalyptus, palms, and bamboo lined the gardens around the temple, and jasmine smelled the air. The brilliantly polished peacock roamed the ground. In addition to the temple and residences for the monks, the 25-acre site contains a guesthouse for visitors and retreat participants. I found Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling, otherwise known as Wood Valley Temple, a world famous Buddhist monastery and sanctuary.
Fascinated by this unexpected discovery, I researched its history. In the early twentieth century, Cao, in the southeast corner of the Big Island, was a sugar-loving country like much of the island’s best farmland. The original Nichiren Buddhist temple built in 1902 supported Japanese immigrants who worked in the nearby sugarcane fields. Originally located in a low-lying area near Pāhala, the 1917 flood damaged the structure. Volunteers dismantled the building and reassembled it in its current location on higher ground, where it reopened in 1925. It continued to serve the local community until the decline of the Hawaiian sugar industry led to its abandonment in the 1960s.
Tibetan Buddhists rescued the vacant, decaying Nichiren Buddhist Temple in the 1970s in anticipation of a visit by Nichung Rinpoche, a fine Tibetan lama who was planning to start a center for Buddhist study and meditation in Hawaii. Restoration began in late 1973, culminating with the arrival of the Dali Lama to dedicate the rebuilt temple as Nechung Dorje Drayang Ling in 1980. To this day, it serves on Sundays and special occasions and has attracted many high lamas over the years. On a second visit to the temple in 1994, the Dalai Lama attracted a crowd of over 3,500 people.
The remote temple location and irresistible beauty inspired me to imagine many scenes around this gem The second betrayal.
Another surprising discovery emerged from my frequent travels to South Point, the southernmost tip of both Hawaii and the United States. Cliffs tower over the ocean, serving as a diving board for the adventurous (or maybe goofs) among us. The famous Green Sand Beach, a sandy bay within what was once a volcanic cone, lies east of South Point.
During excursions around the area, I came across a wide range of concrete ruins covered in drawings and photographs. After deciding to set a scene in a new book on South Point, I began delving into the history of those broken concrete walls and discovered a historical gem. Although there is no trace of it now, in 1926 the War Department began construction of an airfield called Ka Lea Military Reservation at South Point. Later named Morse Field after a decorated pilot in World War I, the site contained a 6,000-foot grated steel runway and refueling facilities. Its southernmost location in the United States has enabled propeller-powered aircraft to operate on the air ferry across the Pacific to Australia and other destinations in the South Pacific to provide 200 miles over alternative refueling on Oahu.
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In my research, I found old photos of Army Air Force B-18 bombers and P-26 “Peashooter” fighters parked in Moores Field before World War II. There are also reports of at least two other versions of the Peashooter (P-39 or P-40s) when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Alarmed that the Japanese might launch a further attack through Morse Field, the Army destroyed the landing strip until it reached to tear the surrounding surfaces. After the war, the army declared a surplus of airfields.
“Now,” as news anchor Paul Harvey used to say, “for the rest of the story.” In the post-war years, a local farmer surveyed the site and arranged for the airstrip to be reopened as the South Cape Airport for the export of beef from slaughtered cattle. But due to light traffic and little maintenance, the airport closed in the early 1950s. However, the military presence at South Point did not end there. In the 1960s, the Naval and Air Services Command operated part of the site as a tracking station for test missiles launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Morse Field also hosted the Ballistic Missile Test Program. But even that rebirth did not last long. The missile tracking function has been moved to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on Kauai, and the ballistic missile testing program has ended.
In the intervening years, nature has reclaimed the land, save for a few tattered remains of shredded steel mats and what have become the abandoned, graffiti-covered remains of the old Army Air Force barracks. Funny what “gems” you can find in dilapidated concrete walls if you just dig under the surface. South Point and Morse Field Archeology will have a role to play in the fifth Koa Kāne puzzle now in draft.
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