We were a group of employees
who, during non-duty hours, trained to handle and fire a rifle, pistol, and
aircraft machine gun. We patrolled base storage areas at night where
high security was needed, armed with '03 Enfield rifles, also aircraft
maintenance hangers, warehouses, bombsight repair shops, and an
engine repair line underground at Wheeler Field, near Wahiawa in the
Oahu highlands.
As armed civilians, we were each given an identification card to carry in
our wallets. The card stated, in fine print, that if captured by the enemy
while carrying a weapon, we were entitled to treatment as 'prisoners of
war.' The Army Air Corps military officer who commanded our unit
said that, since we did not wear military uniforms, nor carry formal
military identification tags, the card would certify us as 'combatants.'
The statement on the card was supposed to keep us from being shot as
spies in the event Hawaii was invaded by the enemy.
During the war years, I repaired and packed thousands of personnel and
cargo parachutes, and serviced many other types of emergency survival
gear.
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