Truk 2 — My Hairdresser Thwarted the Invasion of the Garden Island when the US Army Couldn’t

Prince Amata’s father, the king, was promised by both presidents Johnson & Nixon the Garden Island would be returned to the islanders. Many years passed & the promise remained unfulfilled. Prince Amata was about to return the island to its rightful owners.

It was about 2:00 AM one morning when I heard a loud knocking; I got out of bed, made myself presentable & found my way to the door.

I found an Army person I didn’t know standing at my door. He told me I was needed at one of my off-island job sites. He would wait in his pick-up for me to get ready. I got dressed & packed my little flight bag with the usual stuff for off-island tasks. As he drove to the airport, he explained there was a problem at Garden Island; there was no electricity on the entire island. I asked if Toby, our new electrical engineer, would be joining us. He said Toby would be brought in if needed. Toby had been on the job only a few weeks so she was unfamiliar with the electrical systems; I knew much about every utility system on every island the Army occupied. It made sense that they came to me for assistance. At the airport was my boss, Pete, plus four more Army folk. We were waiting for two more people then we would take off. I knew one of the last two people, the local government official appointed by the US to govern the Garden Island. No natives lived on the Garden Island but it was regarded as a jewel by the native islanders.

The flight attendant escorted us from the lobby to the DC4 waiting on the tarmac. I grabbed a seat half way back with the intent of getting some sleep on the 45 minute flight; not a chance, Pete sat down next to me. Once in the air, Pete quietly explained to me that I was in trouble — big trouble. I wondered what I could have done now; so I asked. Pete indicated that he was not allowed to tell me. He broke the rules slightly when he advised me to say nothing more than to answer questions as briefly as I could. Pete told me we were not supposed to be talking to each other & we were being watched so let’s just sit quietly. Ten minutes prior to landing, an Army guy got on the PA system. He indicated there was a problem on the Garden Island & our assignment was to resolve it. Everything about this problem has been designated to have a TOP SECRET security level. I was so puzzled.

As we approached the Garden Island, I could see its outline with the moonlight reflecting off the water. Not an electric light anywhere. I wondered why the emergency generators weren’t powering the runway lights — a system that never failed. The pilot gently guided the plane in on the dark runway with only the plane’s lights. The plane taxied to the dark terminal & shut off all four engines. The engines are usually left running during deplaning. The flight attendant walked to the door but did not open it. An Army person over the PA asked if anyone had questions. Pete’s look at me reminded me that I should ask no questions, even though I had many. The flight attendant opened the door & stood at the bottom of the stairs as we deplaned. When I entered the terminal, I saw a familiar face, Prince Amata.

Amata had visited my trailer with some of his fellow native islanders several times. Amata’s father was the most powerful king in the entire chain of islands. Amata came to my trailer with my hairdresser. One of the problems I experienced when first arriving on the island was hair care facilities. There was a barbershop ran by a Philippine man who cut hair only in one style — ugly. I complained (officially) I was not allowed to utilize the women’s hair salon. My complaint was eventually recognized; many months after I complained, the salon was opened to men & closed to women on Wednesday nights. I thought excluding women from Wednesday night hours was weird; but, oh well — I could now get a decent hair cut at a real salon. Before men’s night at the salon was established, many people on the island got their hair done at their home by Charles. Charles was a waiter at the restaurant who had been a hairdresser in Waikiki. Charles wore lots of gold & pronounced his name with a heavy accent in the “l”. When Charles cut my hair, I invited several other bachelors to get their hair cut at the same time. That made haircut night at the trailer a several hour event. Amata and his islander friends, while at my trailer, often spoke of how white man had destroyed their culture, made them speak English & had stolen their land. One of the islands which Amata felt was most inappropriately taken by the US was the Garden Island. Amata’s father, the king, promised his people that he was going to get this island back. I participated in none of these discussions but listened with interest. Amata was not a friend of mine — only an acquaintance. Charles gave Amata the idea I was much higher in the facilities organization than I was. I was very knowledgeable but had little authority. I was doubtful those visits to my trailer had anything to do with the lights being out on the Garden Island — boy was I wrong.

Amata greete​d​ me by name as I entered the lobby. He told me the islanders had taken back the Garden Island from the US government & the new rulers of the Garden Island, his father, needed me to get the water & electricity back on. I looked at Pete; he looked back with a be-careful expression.

I said “There’s no water because the electricity is off to the pumps​; ​don’t worry about the water until we get electricity,”​ ​

Pete smiled.

An Army guy took my arm & rudely escorted me away from Amata. We went to a small office in the terminal I sometimes used for meetings when working on the Garden Island. The room was illuminated with battery lanterns. There were two other Army people; one a lieutenant & one a colonel.

The colonel spoke. “Do you know what is going on here?”

“No.” I responded.

“This is all your fault you know.”

I was silent — I knew not how to respond.

“Just let me tell you about the mess you have caused. There are armed islanders all over this facility; some in areas with SECRET ​clearance required. All missile missions have been suspended until this matter is resolved. Your friends you convinced to invade this island with their BB guns are costing millions of dollars & jeopardizing the safety of all Americans. The leader of this school yard invasion says you are a friend of his and he wanted you flown here to this island. Do you know anything about that?”

“No.”

“Is that all you have to say?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of…” Pete’s advice echoed in my head. “I have met Amata before but I barely know him. I have never spoken with him regarding an invasion of this facility.”

“We shut down the power plant to interrupt their plans to fly in hundreds of islanders standing by at the capital. The Prince says you are going to get everything back up & operational so the planes full of natives can take off from the capitol city. What are you going to do?”

“What do you want me to do?” (“Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up” I silently said to myself)

“Your friends came in here in 6 Boston Whalers about 4 hours ago carrying a few shotguns, mostly 22 rifles, & some air rifles. We could have just arrested them all at that point but the Consulate at the Capitol ordered that we do otherwise. The King has direct access to Nixon & Nixon would not be pleased if we put the Prince in custody. What do I want you to do ? I want you to talk to your friend that you barely know & tell him to gather all his islander buddies with their toy guns & leave. Leave quickly.”

“I need to chat with my boss.”

“Those friends of yours are basically unarmed & they have no backup plan for our causing the power to go down. The Pentagon has deployed a company of combat troops from Hickam to be stationed here until ordered back to Hawaii. Their military orders are to arrest any person, civilian or otherwise, who does not belong here & does not obey their orders to leave. Those troops will be here in about two hours. You have that long to do what ever you have to do to fix the mess you have caused. If you fail, there will be a major diplomatic crisis & the missile program will suffer a huge setback.

“I will see what I can do.”

“SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO!!! GET OUT Of MY SIGHT!”

I left to look for Pete. Pete & another Pete (the island manager) were having drinks at the terminal bar. I asked if Pete, my boss, knew what was going on. Pete said that Pete, the manager, had filled him in. I asked my boss if he realized that I had nothing to do with this “invasion”? Pete nodded. I suggested too my boss that we have another plane fly the people we need to the Garden Island as soon as possible & resolve this matter before the combat troops arrive. Pete laughed.

“Who sir, do you think are the people we need?”

“We need Toby & an electrician.”

“You know more than she does; but, OK, you’ve got them. Who else?”

“We need a mechanical tech to start up the water, steam, chillers, etc.”

“Good call”

“And the waiter from the restaurant named Charles”

Both Petes gave me the are-you-crazy look. Charles did not have sufficient security clearance & the Army hated him.

“Charles is a friend of the Prince & is likely the culprit that is responsible for this invasion. Let’s keep that to ourselves. He is the one person, though, who can talk Amata into leaving.”

“OK, you have the waiter — anyone else?”

“I think that’s it”

“We need them here fast; the combat troops will be here about 6:00 AM”

Manager Pete radioed the main office back on Paradise Island requesting they send another plane to the Garden Island with the four people I listed. Engineer Pete let me know that he disapproved of my placing his & my careers on the line with a waiter being our only hope. Manager Pete indicated the plane would be here in about an hour. So if those four got here in an hour, we would have one hour to get the islanders to leave before the combat troops were scheduled to arrive. I suggested if someone had let me know what was happening before we boarded the plane, we could have those people here now. Both Petes gave me a “don’t repeat that to anyone else” look.

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

“You seem to be doing OK — what do you suggest?” my boss inquired of me.

“I should talk with Amata & pretend we are trying to get the electricity back on.”

​The Petes talked in whispered tones excluding me from the conversation. I watched while Amata talked with the local government official who flew to the Garden Island on the same plane with me.

“Guess it can’t hurt.” my boss reluctantly said.

“Excuse me,” I interrupted ​Amata’s discussion, “let’s go talk outside.” We walked out where the moonlight was bright. We could hear the waves crashing in the background and the wind blowing through the palms. The roar of the generators at the electric plant were usually there round the clock — it was nice having them silenced. The two of us leaned on the railing looking across the tarmac where three planes were parked. “What’s this all about?”

“This island belongs to the islanders, my father never agreed the US could be here.”​

​”That doesn’t involve me.”

“We only brought you here because the electricity & everything went down & you are the only person who can make things work again.”

“I don’t know how to fix electricity — you need the electrical engineer.”

“Don’t try to mess with me now; you’re the dude who knows how to make everything work. Everyone always says that you know how.”

“I’m sorry I don’t know how to fix the electricity but a person name Toby is coming & she knows how to fix the electrical problem.”

“I want you to try to fix the problem because I know you are better at fixing the electricity than this Toby person.”

“Well then, let’s grab about four of your people, some tools & a bunch of flash lights; we’ll go find the problem.”

Amata & I went back inside. I asked Manager Pete to send for some basic tools plus a manhole lid lifter. I told my boss that I wanted Charles totally filled in on what was going on here so he wouldn’t hit this place cold turkey. Someone also needed to help Charles understand about the high security rating this problem had: Charles was a blabber mouth — couldn’t keep a secret if his life depended on it. The 4 native islanders found me with the tools Pete had given them; we wandered off down the street opening random electrical manholes pretending to look for electrical problems. Amata went back to his conversation with the islander government official.

Although lifting electrical manhole lids & pretending to look for problems was a waste, the activity got me out of the terminal where there was such high tension. The wind, the surf, the clanking of the manhole lids & tools — music to my ears after what I had experienced over the past two hours inside. It was 4:00 AM when I noticed the sky began to show sunlight although sunrise was not technically for another hour. We had opened six manholes and heading for a seventh when I thought I could hear the sound of the inbound DC4 with Toby, Charles & the two techs aboard. I suspended the search for the electrical problem & returned to the terminal. I needed to talk to Charles before the military got him. Charles was such a loose cannon & the colonel appeared to me as if he would be intolerant of people like Charles (overtly gay). Pete was at the gate to grab Toby & the techs dragging them off for a little chat. I said hello to Charles but we both were immediately escorted in to see the colonel.

“And what have we here?” Asked the colonel even thought he already knew.

I remained silent.

Charles spoke; I thought “Oh shit!”

“Good morning Sir” Charles extended his gold clad hand for a fingertip handshake with the colonel. “I am a friend of the prince & I think I can help him understand this action is not in his best interest.”

“Good start.” I thought. Then things went downhill.

“Amata has good reason to do what he did. This is the one island the king said he would not give up to the Army & you took it anyway.”

“Shut up!” I said silently. But Charles went on & on.

I was surprised when the colonel interrupted Charles with “You’ve got a point.”

“Thank you sir.” replied Charles.

“I would really appreciate it if you could help us out here. Please go & see what you can do.” Another fingertip handshake & the two of us left.

I went to find Pete & Toby while Charles & Amata wandered off through the bombed out Japanese ruins. Someone told me Pete went with Toby to the power house to restart the generators (I knew that wasn’t right). I started toward the power house but took a detour out on the pier — I stayed there a long time. One of Amata’s armed invaders was out on the pier with me — he spoke no English. The Boston Whalers used in the invasion were tied off just below the two if us at the furthest out berths. The armed guard appeared to be OK with my hanging out there & I really had no business in the powerhouse during the starting back up the electrical systems. I sat on the pier for more than half an hour — the sun would soon peek over the horizon. I ran through in my mind the three scenarios that may occur: 1) The islanders from the Capitol could land & escalate the situation on the diplomatic front, 2) The combat troops could land & take all unauthorized persons into custody — again a diplomatic nightmare & 3) Before the hundreds of islanders or the troops get here, Charles talks Amata into rounding up his invasion forces & leaves the island. I was hoping for #3 & I did get #3. It was almost 5:00 AM when about three dozen islanders headed toward me out on the pier — Charles was with them. Not an Army guy in sight. Amata stood with Charles at the top of the stairs leading down to the Whalers as the invaders climbed down & boarded their small crafts. Charles & Amata embraced in a long hug — Amata took his place on the first boat. The outboard engines came to life. The boats departed across the lagoon & disappeared behind First Island. I asked Charles if we needed to talk before heading to the air terminal.

Charles in true fashion sprang to life, “Would you like to sell me that little jar of gold nuggets I saw at your trailer?” Charles was so much wiser than I gave him credit. He had talked Amata into leaving and he knew not to talk with me about events of that night.

With a little tear in my eye I replied, “Charles, you are such a wise friend & a good friend; I would love for you to have that jar as a gift. No mention was ever made between the two of us regarding the events of that night. We returned to Paradise Island on the first plane heading that way. Charles cut my hair for several more months before I started going to the hair salon.

The runway lights at the Garden Island came back on before the troops arrived; water pressure was restored; steam was hissing through the traps & all was operational by 6:00 AM. The 120 troops from Hawaii were served a gourmet breakfast then given the country club treatment for two day before they returned to Oahu. The mass of islanders at the Capitol city never left the ground.

A few weeks later, I was called into a meeting with some Army folks. They scolded me for my careless conduct suggesting I should have notified the Army of the discussions in my trailer, even if I were not a participant. There was no disciplinary action associated with my misconduct; however, such misconduct was not to be tolerated in the future. There was reiteration of the fact that this whole matter was TOP SECRET & I was to discuss it with no one.

“Do you understand & do you have any questions?”

“Yes to the first, no to the second.”

“It’s not funny! You may leave.”

I walked out. During the rest of my stay on Paradise Island, those involved never spoke of the invasion. Once & awhile, someone would ask about the event; the response was always that it was just rumor — nothing like that ever happened.