Sixty five years ago, an electric clock at radio station KIMO, perched at the edge of Hilo Bay, froze at precisely 1:06 a.m. when disaster struck. On May 23, 1960, at that fateful moment a towering seismic wave — born from a devastating earthquake in Chile — slammed into Hilo, Hawaii.

In mere moments, over 57 lives were lost amid the twisted wreckage of homes, shops, and businesses. Power and telephone lines snapped, leaving the city isolated and frantic. Before dawn broke, citizen-soldiers of the Hawaii National Guard answered the call.

Hilo’s Guardsmen needed no orders to know their city needed them. Many rushed voluntarily to the Keaukaha Armory, reporting for duty even before Gov. William F. Quinn officially activated the Guard at 3:00 a.m. By 9:00 a.m., 103 enlisted and seven officers were hard at work across the devastated city.

With telephone communications down, many Guardsmen had to be summoned door-to-door. Guard teams formed quickly: one group to reestablish communications, another to patrol and prevent looting, and a third tasked with rescuing survivors and recovering the dead.

A City in Need — and Guardsmen on Duty

Even as Guardsmen, lost their own homes and possessions to the tsunami, they chose to stay on duty, putting service above personal loss.

Guardsmen quickly took up posts directing traffic, manning roadblocks, searching for victims along the battered shoreline from Wailuku Bridge to the Naniloa Hotel, and patrolling neighborhoods to deter crime. They enforced night watches at pitch-dark intersections, with doughnuts and coffee brought by roving Red Cross and Salvation Army trucks.

Five radio jeeps, five jeep ambulances, and seven trucks worked nonstop, ferrying residents’ salvaged belongings to safety. Heavy vehicles, including wrecker trucks from the 284th Transportation Company, pulled buried safes from the rubble, sending them to the police station to later return to their owners.

The most difficult tasks fell to the Hawaiʻi National Guard’s medics, who answered call after call to recover the bodies of friends and neighbors from the wreckage.

The Hawaii Air National Guard’s trusty C-47 “Gooney Bird” and Army Guard L-23 aircraft were a common sight at the Hilo airport, transporting state officials and dignitaries back and forth from Honolulu to coordinate relief efforts.

In total, Hawaii National Guardsmen expended approximately 981 man-days on State Active Duty during the disaster response. Their efforts were not unnoticed. Overheard at the Hilo Police Station, a grateful officer declared, “These guys (Guardsmen) have worked very hard. They deserve a lot of credit.”

Indeed, they did. They guarded the living, mourned the dead and helped rebuild the heart of an exhausted community.

References: 1960 Annual Report, 1960 June The Hawaii Guardsman, HANG 25 History of Hawaii Air National Guard

Learn more: https://dod.hawaii.gov/blog/hing-history/1960s/1960-hilo-tsunami-response/