Fort Armstrong, Hawaii

From Wikipedia

This was a follow up on my October 2, 2013, entry on the death of Pearl Harbor survivor Gordy Caza.

Coast Artillery fort built in 1907 and named after General Samuel C. Armstrong..  Built in Honolulu in fill over a reef to protect the harbor..  It had one named battery and spread out over 64 acres.

Battery Tienon had two pedestal mounted 3-inch guns from 1911 to 1943.

The 1st Coast Artillery Company and then the 104th Mine Company was based there, the latter operating the Honolulu Harbor mine defenses.

The 185th Coast Artillery Company later was there.

Operations continued at the site until 1950, when it was abandoned.  It is now part of the container port facility.

One person commented, "During that fateful morning, I was tending to my newly planted grass at my new house at Lime Street.  Suddenly O heard 'boom, boom' sounds and saw puffs of smoke appearing in the sky.  This must have been artillery firing from Fort Armstrong attempting to shoot down the Japanese warplanes."

--GreGen

Cloquet's Last Pearl Harbor Survivor Dies

From the September 19, 2013 Pine (Minnesota) Journal by Wendy Johnson and Jane Peterson.

Gordon "Gordy" Caza made his last public appearance at Cloquet's 4th of July parade this past summer. He died Sunday, September 15th.

Mr. Caza enlisted in the Army at age 17 and was sworn in at Fort Snelling and shipped to California then to Hawaii where he was assigned to a truck company.

In September 1941, he was stationed at Fort Armstrong in downtown Honolulu, about five miles from Pearl Harbor.

He was going to breakfast when an alert went off. He thought it was part of a routine maneuver. Once they knew it was an attack, they grabbed rifles and ammunition and headed for the parade ground.

Two Japanese planes flew over them strafing as they went.

The next day, he went to the Punch Bowl, site of an ammunition depot and hauled ammunition to Pearl Harbor where he saw the incredible damage and destruction.

--GreGen