Kaneohe Naval Air Station

KANEOHE NAVAL AIR STATION CASUALTIES

Headquarters, Naval Air Station

US Military first acquired the land that would be Naval Air Station (NAS) Kaneohe Bay during WWI when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing the 322-acre Kuwaahoe military reservation on the Mokapu peninsula. The land was leased for ranching after WWI as it was no longer needed. In 1939, the Federal Government reactivated the Kuwaahoe military reservation and established Fort Hase there. Fort Hase was a major Coastal Artillery Installation. The US Navy was also interested in the peninsula as a base for seaplanes. The Navy acquired 464 acres of the Mokapu Peninsula to establish a base for 36 PBY Catalina Long Range Patrol Aircraft. Eventually, they would acquire the entire peninsula except for the Army installation. The base was not fully completed by the time of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. Japanese aircraft attacked the base a few minutes before the attack on Pearl Harbor began. Bombing and strafing the base, 27 of the 36 PBY Catalina Flying Boats stationed there were destroyed. The attack left 18 sailors dead. The first medal of Honor awarded that day would go to Chief Petty Officer John William Finn. In the wake of the Japanese attack, the Navy would repair the base and complete construction. The task of completing the base was assigned to the Naval Construction Battalions or Seabees. Construction was completed in 1943. The base would be used as a major flight training facility for the duration of the war. The Naval Air Station would be decommissioned in 1949. The US Marine Corps would later reactivate the base in 1952. Please view the list to learn the names of those who lost their lives on that day.

Aircraft wreckage and a badly damaged hangar at Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, shortly after the Japanese air attack. The plane in the foreground is a consolidated PBY Catalina of Patrol Squadron 12, marked "12-P-3". Date 7 December 1941, U.S. Navy, Official U.S. Navy photograph NH 97430, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center., PD-USGov

Aerial view of the hangar area of the U.S. Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii on 9 December 1941, two days after the Japanese air attack destroyed nearly all of the station's patrol planes. Note the wrecked hangar in center. There are at least six Consolidated PBY "Catalina" flying boats on the ramp and around the hangars. In the right foreground is a pile of PBY´s wrecked during the attack., USN, National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 306530, PD-USGov

S. No.	Name, Rank
1	Stanley D. Dosick, Sea1c

Patrol Squadron 11

S. No.	Name, Rank	S. No.	Name, Rank
2	John D. Buckley, AOM3c	12	Clarence M. Formoe, AMM1c
3	Rodney S. Foss, Ens	13	Milburn A. Manning, AMM3c
4	James H. Robinson, Sea2c	14	Joseph G. Smartt, Ens
5	Luther D. Weaver, Sea1c

Patrol Squadron 12

S. No.	Name, Rank	S. No.	Name, Rank
6	Walter S. Brown, AMM2c	15	Lee Fox, Jr., Ens
7	Daniel T. Griffin, AMM1c	16	George W. Ingram, Sea2c
8	Charles Lawrence, AMM2c	17	Carl W. Otterstetter, Sea2c
9	Robert K. Porterfield, AMM3c	18	Robert W. Uhlmann, Ens
10	Raphael A. Watson, AMM1c