U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii

By Dan Shea

Most people visit Hawaii for the weather and the beaches, or once a year they travel to the Pearl Harbor Day Memorial Service in Pearl. On a recent expedition to Waikiki, your roving correspondent got wind of two other museums that are less well known. The first is the U. S. Army Museum in Battery Randolf in the Waikiki area, and the second is the Tropic Lightning Museum at Schofield Barracks.

Located on the West end of Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu, by a quiet park where people can be seen strolling underneath the majestic Royal Palms, you will sometimes see military drills being performed. This park is located off to the seaward side of Kalakuau Avenue, just before you reach the hotel stretch. If you take a minute to drive around the park, it won’t take you long before you notice some oddities- a row of tanks and field guns. A Cobra Helicopter on a roof.

Japanese Light Tank: Operated by a crew of three protected by only 1/2 inch of armor and equipped with one 37mm gun and two 7.7mm machine guns, it was powered by a 6 cylinder, 110 hp air-cooled diesel engine with a range of 90-100 miles at speeds of up to 30mph

When you see these, take a moment to park and walk inside the U. S. Army Museum. It will be a trip well worth your time.

Monarchy Cannon: This cannon was one of a battery of twelve guns placed on Punchbowl Crater by the Hawaiian Monarchy, beginning in 1831, both to defend Honolulu Harbor and to fire salutes. The US Army moved the cannon to the Bishop Museum in 1920, where it remained until 1988 when the Army moved it again to this site.

Battery Randolf was one of the major pieces of the coastal defense system on Oahu. Built in 1908-11, there were two 14 inch rifles on disappearing mounts, and a complete internal system for feeding ammunition to the two pieces. This well made fort served for about 35 years, but was made obsolete by the knowledge of the new forms of attack illustrated with the December 7th Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

***Scaled model of an original Hawaiian War canoe- fitted with brass cannon.***

***The Colors of Courage” 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Infantry Regiment. These two primarily Hawaiian units served with Valor throughout World War II.***

***“BAR Man”. In the narrow corridors of Battery Randolf, a 1918A2 BAR is wielded “Coming at you”.***

There is a nice display of US WWII arms- 1919A4-A6 variant, 60mm Mortar, 1928A1 Thompson, 2.36 inch AT launcher, 1903A3, M1 Carbine, and M1 Garand rifles, as well as most of the grenades and projectiles- inert of course.

***Originally there were 14 inch “Disappearing” Rifles on Randolph Battery, but these were scrapped in 1946. In their place the museum installed 7 inch naval guns.***

***To the Victor…” go the spoils. Assorted War Trophies brought back from the WWII fighting. In this case, it is mostly Nazi memorabilia- from the MP-40 to the pistols and daggers.***

***A variety of other weapons brought back as trophies include Soviet, Chinese, and North Korean rifles and pistols, including a PPSH-41 with drum magazine and some US rifles shown here.***

***Jap 92 Lewis sets the scene for the WWII Japanese firearm display, with a Type 11 and various Knee mortars and Arisaka rifle variants.***

US Light Tank M24, sometimes referred to as the Chaffee Tank. It had a 75mm main gun and 3 browning machine guns behind one inch of armor. Two Cadillac V8’s drove this 19 ton tank and its crew of 4 at speeds up to 35mph.

***Model display of cold weather use of Japanese Type 92 7.7mm Hotchkiss tray type machine gun on its mount.***

***An assortment of tanks and light guns, including a Japanese 57mm.***

***A very nice static display of a 1917A1 water cooled Browning Machine Gun on tripod, set up for combat.***

***Cobra Helicopter on display on the roof of the Museum.***

***1960’s era Viet Cong soldier’s display***

***1960’s era Vietnam US soldier’s display.***

The museum is not devoted to that battle, as there are other displays on Oahu that have been dedicated to that. The U. S. Army Museum is meant to tell the story of the contributions that Hawaii made to its own defense and the stories of the sacrifices of the Hawaiians in battle around the world. The stories of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Infantry Regiment are thoroughly told in attractive displays.

***Captured weapons displayed from the Vietnam War***

Many accurate models are interspersed in with the real firearms (None are functional). As far as museums go, this one is an excellent place to visit. The timeline of service by Hawaiians started with the canoe battles and went through WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the peacetime service in between. Tied in with the very well choreographed photographic displays are memorabilia of the wars. The home front is represented as well as the service done far away.

***DSHK 12.7 mm machine gun on display***

Students of small arms can find many interesting firearms here, as well as proper layouts of the accessories that went with them. Of particular interest is the section with the WWII and Vietnam weaponry. As noted in the photos accompanying this article, the displays are very thorough.

Suffice it to say that I was impressed. Interspersed with all of the wonderful things to do on vacation, is an opportunity to broaden your knowledge of history, and to actually see many of the small arms used by our armed forces. Of particular note was the opportunity to take an “Up close” and personal look at the DShK 12.7mm machine gun.

SAR rates the U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii as “A good place to visit”. Take a kid, and drop a twenty in their donation jar. Keep passing it on.- Dan Shea

Hours of Operation: Closed Monday
Tuesday through Sunday: 10:00am to 4:30pm

Mailing address:
Director
U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii
Museum Division, DPTMSEC, USAG-HI
Schofield Barracks, HI 96857-5000
Telephone: 808-438-2821
Fax: 808-438-2819

The U.S. Army Museum is located in Historic Battery Randolf on the beach at Fort DeRussy, next to the Hale Koa Hotel- at the corner of Kalia and Saratoga Roads.

This article first appeared in Small Arms Review V1N10 (July 1998)
and was posted online on April 28, 2017