Camp Maui, Hawaii
by Col Thomas L. Constantino, USMCR(Ret)
The 4th Marine Division, heroes of World War II in the Pacific, has its own memorial park.
Most travelers to Maui today are on vacation and seek out its world famous beaches, Kaanapali hotels, golf courses, winter whale watching, and funky Lahaina. Of interest to Marines is a quaint memorial park on the slopes of Haleakala. The park designates the site where 62 years ago, during World War II, the 4th Marine Division (4th MarDiv) reequipped, was brought up to strength, and trained for future operations in the Pacific. The 4th MarDiv Memorial Park is located some 10 miles east of Maui’s Kahului Airport, 4 miles above the road to Hana at the Haiki turnoff. It is situated on upland plantation land about 1,500 feet above sea level on one of the world’s largest extinct volcanoes.
The division sailed from San Diego in early January 1944, just 5 months after its activation at Camp Pendleton. Navy transports carrying the 4th MarDiv stopped at Lahaina before heading to its initial combat in the Marshall Islands. Three times over the next 15 months the division returned to Maui. This island’s terrain and beaches provided excellent rugged training ground. Camp Maui was home to over 15,000 Marines and sailors and possessed the only 100-target rifle range in the Pacific.
I observed that little physical evidence remains of the camp 6 decades later. Today it is largely sugar cane fields and farmland. Several warehouse buildings and concrete motor transport maintenance facilities barely survive down the hill by the abandoned railhead. Where today wind surfers skim across the warm blue waters off windy Kihei, the Navy practiced in-shore demolitions. All of the division’s amphibious maneuvers for the Marianas and Iwo Jima campaigns were held at Camp Maui.
The 4th MarDiv Memorial Park is a well-tended picnic area with water, sheltered tables, barbecues, and restroom facilities. Back in 1944 Leathernecks disparagingly described Camp Maui as simply “mud, wind, and rain.” Later in the war, flashlights, lanterns, generators, and candles were gradually replaced by electricity. Following their return from Iwo Jima, the division spruced up the camp—a few wood frame buildings took the place of tents. A plaque in the park now memorializes the Marines and sailors who fought and died at Nai Namur, Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands, 31 January to 8 February 1944; Saipan, Marianas, 15 June to 9 July 1944; Tinian, Marianas, 24 July to 1 August 1944; and Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 20 February to 16 March 1945.
History reveals that at Roi Namur, 4th MarDiv Marines and sailors established several new records. It was the first division to go directly into combat from the United States. The 4th captured the first Japanese mandated territory of World War 1. Just 4 months later the Marines of the 2d and 4th Divisions and infantry from the 27th Army Division overcame stubborn resistance on Saipan after 25 days of grueling combat. Saipan was the strongest of the Japanese positions in the Marianas. On 24 July 1944, the 4th assaulted Tinian, an island adjacent to Saipan. The 2d MarDiv made an amphibious landing the following day. Tinian was secured in 9 days. These islands provided key bases for strategic B–29 bombing attacks on the Japanese home islands. The historic seizure of Iwo Jima commenced on 19 February 1945. The Fifth Amphibious Corps, including the 2d, 4th, and 5th MarDivs required 26 days of intense fighting for victory. Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer prize-winning photograph of the flag raising atop Mount Suribachi on 23 February 1945 immortalized the resolve and the fighting spirit of the Navy-Marine Team. RADM Chester Nimitz declared that “uncommon valor was a common virtue” on Iwo. The 4th MarDiv alone suffered over 9,000 casualties. Even before the island was secure a crippled B–29 made an emergency landing. Before the division left Iwo for Maui, Army B–51 Mustangs were already based there to provide crucial fighter support for the bombers.
Camp Maui was the division’s rest camp and staging area between combat engagements. After Iwo Jima the division trained for the expected invasion of Japan. The beginning of the nuclear age changed that. The 4th was selected as the first Marine division to return to the states after peace was declared. The citizens of Maui proved that aloha was more than a word. In November 1945 nearly Maui’s entire population lined the streets adjacent to Kahului’s docks to say goodbye to the 4th MarDiv—“Maui’s Own.” The division was deactivated at Camp Pendleton on 28 November 1945.
Before retiring from the Marine Corps several years ago, my family and I enjoyed vacationing in Maui. We learned that our next door neighbor, Betty Young, arrived by steamship in the Territory of Hawaii from her native Minnesota in 1938 to marry. Betty was well into her 80s. Upon leaving the Army her late husband Charles was editor of the Maui daily newspaper. It was Betty who told me about Camp Maui and the 4th MarDiv’s Commanding General, MajGen Clifton B Cates. Cates would later become the Corps’ 19th Commandant.
Betty said that it was due to the efforts of former Marines like Jack Crouse (24th Marines) and Joe Pueschel (4th Tanks) that a memorial park exists today. Like many veterans after the war, both returned to Maui for work and eventual retirement. In the meantime the leased land of Camp Maui was returned to its original farmland owners. Betty and I spent an afternoon at the park. She was a fascinating storyteller. On the way back we stopped for groceries at the local Food Land, and whom should we meet? Marine Jack Crouse. Crouse filled in a few more details.
The 4th MarDiv Memorial Park is now part of the Maui County park system. Maui is proud of the park and remains grateful for the sacrifices of the Marines and sailors of the 4th MarDiv during World War II.
>Col Constantino is a historian and Trustee Emeritus, San Mateo County California Community College District.
