Gas Masks & Palm Trees

About the Book

Gas Masks and Palm Trees: My Wartime Hawaii belongs on bookshelves next to books about the cause and effects of the December 7th attack. It paints a concise picture of changes that occurred on Oahu after the attack on Pearl Harbor. I continue the saga where others have left off. My personal chronological account of conditions and changes that took place have been recorded on paper for all to read.

I was attending high school before December 7th, 1941. In July of 1942 I left school temporarily to work in a U S Navy office at Pearl Harbor. My position was unique and rewarding. I was responsible for correcting Secret, Restricted and Confidential publications that were distributed to U S and British Pacific ships and stations; I was exposed to two worlds in a wartime atmosphere.

As a member of the USO Flying Squadron, I met and danced with servicemen from practically every state in the Union. One of the dances was held in a remote area for Carlson's Marine Raiders, where I met the famous Evans Carlson and Second in Command, Col. James Roosevelt, the President's son. Life was an adventure for a young girl growing up in wartime Hawaii. We were far outnumbered by young males.

I don't believe that there is anyone else who has written a chronological account of events that happened in wartime Hawaii without additional stories from others. This is my story alone and how conditions and changes affected my life. Though Hawaii was never the same after the War, there were some things that remained the same. That was the difference between gas masks and palm trees. I try to picture the Hawaii that will survive forever.

About the Author

Virginia Melville Cowart was born in Coronado, California on August 25th 1924, the daughter of a U S Navy World War I veteran, granddaughter of a Spanish-American Army veteran and ultimately the wife of a World War II Navy veteran.

She left California at age three and moved to Cavite, Philippines with her mother and sister. When she was seven, they joined her Navy father in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, where they lived until February, 1945.

She and her officer husband met at the U S Navy Registered Publications Issuing Office, Pearl Harbor and were married in Honolulu on July 19, 1944.

They moved to Oakland, California after the War and the birth of their daughter, Shirley Ann, in Chelsea, Massachusetts. James Allen Cowart was born in Berkeley, California on May 27, 1947.

Virginia worked as an Instructional Aide with Educationally Handicapped and Deaf children for almost ten years. She loved the written word from the time that she was a child and one of her poems was chosen for publication in a children's' book. She has had articles published in various magazines and newspapers and was Editor of her Homeowner's Association newsletter for two years. She is a featured author in Larry King's book, "Love Stories of World War II."

She and her beloved husband, Jim, were married for sixty-one years until his death on August 30th, 2005.