21

Edwards' now famous announcement: "Attention everybody --
Pearl Harbor is being bombed by the Japanese. This is not a war
game; this is not a workout; this is the real McCoy...all service
men and defense workers report for duty at once...civilians, go
home, get off the streets, keep calm." The lieutenant rushed off
to his duty. Mr. Coryell went home and found the campus people
either watching from Rocky Hill, standing around in troubled
groups, or glued to their radios hoping for further details. There
were calls for doctors and nurses and there were one-way reports
on the police band. Otherwise there was silence, and billowing
smoke in the west.

A little before noon, while the usual paper bag luncheons were
being distributed at Dole Hall, fires broke out on nearby McCully
Street. [Miss Gwenfread Allen in Hawaii's War Years reports:
"It was generally believed at the time that the three McCully
fires were caused by incendiary bombs; many persons even report-
ed seeing such bombs fall. But Honolulu fire department officials
reached the conclusion that no incendiaries were used in the raid.
Evidence indicated that a projectile started the first blaze, sparks
from which probably caused the other two. This contention is
strengthened by the fact that the Lunalilo roof did not burst into
flame until half an hour after the McCully Street fire was reported."]
For the first time the danger seemed real, and close. Teachers
and girls on the upper floors of Castle Hall packed their belong-
ings and came downstairs dragging mattresses for the night. The
Red Cross unit was established in the basement. A few refugees
from Hickam Field were being made comfortable in Rice Hall.
The radio announced orders from the Military Government for the
closing of al schools and for complete blackout at dusk.

Campus men and boys met and organized into a guard for the
night. ROTC rifles were without firing pins, but the officer in
charge authroized teachers to arm themselves if they could. Some
had only a stick, a length of pipe, or a plumber's hammer, but
each man and boy patrolled a portion of the campus on four-hour
watch. One teacher, with his two twelve-year old partners, held
up an armed "M.P." who proved to be searching for his wife among
the refugees. At nine o'clock a terrific explosion broke windows
in Montague Hall and Pauahi. An anti-aircraft shell had exploded
on the lawn between the buildings.

But it was at 1:10 a.m. that Punahou's war-time fate was
decided. Trucks of the Corps of Engineers rolled up to the main
gate and Mr. Berger, guard in that vicinity, was informed that the
Engineers were taking over the school equipment. Cooke Library,
containing the school switchboard, would serve as headquarters.
Before anyone could obtain the keys, impatient officers had
broken a door and were moving furniture about, while more trucks

13