(Kimo on his way to the office at Makalapa, eagles and wash khakis, black tie and garrison cap.)

I got out of the house for new adventures in Geezerhood yesterday. ENS Socotra provided the mobility quotient, and it was a glorious day, crisp and sunny and a bit like the days when he was knee-high to a grasshopper back in the Islands of his birth. I particularly liked the electric scooter at the Commissary- it changes the usual shopping experience into something quite exciting- like the artichoke aisle meeting the go-cart track.

It is interesting seeing the world from the height of a four-year-old. It was a little strange, but certainly preferable to the view from six feet below.

Like many of us, I started out watching the markets this morning.  They may go up on rumors of Fed intervention through a stealth Quantitative easing, or they may continue sinking, since Mr. Bernanke is really about at the end of his rope.

A Supreme Court ruling on the Administration’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) could drop from the Supremes sometime this week, and being protected and affordable are two neat ideas that don’t seem to have much to do with it. My current adventure in a single payer system shows the good, the bad and the ugly about what this system is liable to look like, if it meets the Constitutional muster.

There will be portents out of Wisconsin this week- Wednesday, voters to polls to determine the fate of Governor Scott Walker and the recall election, which will mean something or other.

Across the Pond, The Queen is celebrating her Diamond Anniversary, and the Thames is alive with river traffic in commemoration of a truly Great Briton. It is a commentary on the times to compare the Naval Review off Spithead that celebrated her Coronation to the one commemorating her sixty years on the throne:

Greek elections are two weeks out. I cannot bring myself to look at the 401K. Too depressing. I was going through the mail this morning as my pals in the mid-Pacific prepare to return to CONUS from the celebrations about the Battle of Midway. The actual anniversary of the events that determined the rest of that war will play out this afternoon and tomorrow, but Mac will be on the way home, and I am eager to great him on return.

My pal Kimo wrote yesterday from the scene to keep me current, and forgive me if I swelled a little in pride at the accomplishments of his generation of Americans, even as the memories of Midway morph into those of D-Day, the 6th of June, 1944, in the European Theater of Operations:

“Vic,

It is the day after and I am sitting here on the beach Henry Kaiser and Baron Hilton made so famous as the Hawaiian Hilton Village. It is 0700 the “morning after”.

I’ve just had a morning swim, as all true waterman do before breakfast, and am now contemplating all that this historic week with Mac had to offer.  It is still hard to believe we’ve had this once in a lifetime opportunity to be present as Mac has demonstrates in person why America is so great.

He and his family arrived on Tuesday and he has been going non-stop ever since.

On Friday, he was the keynote speaker at U.S. Pacific Fleet Headquarters, telling the assembled audience of Flags, Senior Executives and staff members from PACFLT, PACOM and JIOC PAC about the vitally important role Naval Intelligence played in the Battle of Midway.  In his morning speech he focused on explaining some of the common myths about the Battle, and he assured us that Hal Holbrook was the worst cast actor to play Joe Rochefort in movie history!

When he finished his prepared remarks in from the PACFLT HQ flag pole, he spent over an hour in the basement, home of the current day PACFLT N2/N39 team, shaking hands and talking to the crowd who filed into the basement to see the panels that display the history of OPINTEL in the Pacific.  Mac was back for the second time to see these panels which he dedicated eleven years ago when Admiral Tom Fargo was the PACFLT Commander and yours truly was a LCDR on the staff working for the then PACFLT N2 CAPT Barb Bowyer.

Eleven years ago, none of us would have ever dreamed that Mac would be back for the 70th Anniversary, which made the morning and day so much the sweeter.

(Bruce, Paul and Kimo, left to right. The “Wheels” of Makalapa, 2012.)

An interesting side note, was surreal scene of having Mac and VADM Mike down in the basement looking at the board that displays the previous CPF N2s going back to Eddie Layton and through Watashi-wa.  A more humbling moment I’ve never had in my life.

But this was not all for Mac, it was just the opening act, which was followed up by an early afternoon waterfront “Naval Heritage” event, what you and I know as an “All Hands Call”, where a hundred Sailors from around the Pearl Harbor waterfront listened to Mac tell the story of how Station Hypo contributed to informing Admiral Nimitz about the Imperial Japanese Navy’s designs on Midway.

Like the morning session Mac stayed for an extra hour to shake EVERY Sailors hand and sign autographs.  If there ever was a Naval Intelligence officer with “rock star” appeal it is Mac Showers!

Not content to just go back to the Bachelor Officer’s Quarters, Mac had his family drove by Building1, the location of Station Hypo where they were arriving just as the Joint Intelligence Operations Center (JIOC) Commanding Officer, Rear Admiral (Sel) Bruce, was concluding a ceremony in the basement that was home to Joe Rochefort’s Combat Intelligence Unit (Station Hypo) some 70 years ago.

While I wasn’t present, due to real world affairs in the South China Sea, Bruce relayed that as the group was leaving the basement and they saw Admiral Showers car a small crowd gathered around and he again spent time shaking hands and passing along the message about the value of OPINTEL.

In a poignant moment, Admiral Showers was introduced to the grand daughter of one of his former basement mates at station Station Hypo, Marine Corps Officer, Alva “Red” Lasswell, who was a Japanese linguist.  Truly a touching reunion, one that typifies this special weekend.

And the day wasn’t over for Mac, he was then the featured speaker for an evening cocktail reception hosted by the Pacific Command J2, Admiral Paul.  Mac followed retired three-star Admiral Jake, who had challenged Mac about whether or not it was possible for Ensign George Gay (“Sole Survivor of Torpedo EIGHT”) to have seen every Japanese carrier and ship go down to Davy Jones locker, with another unique rendition of the Battle.

Mac not only brilliantly wove into his remarks a witty and authoritative response to Jake’s question about Ensign Gay.  Mac and his family and close friends, the Purcillys, stayed at the reception held at the Pacific Aviation Museum for a long time ensuring everyone got a chance to talk to him.

Vic, I turn 50 this year and I am still amazed that a man nearly twice my age was able to conduct four separate speaking engagements.  Truly, it was one of the most amazing and delightful events that I have had the privilege to witness first hand.

The next morning I met Mac, bright-eyed and bush- tailed at the Q.  We drove over to the Pacific Aviation Museum (PAM) on Ford Island where yours truly was the opening speaker for the PAMs Battle of Midway two-day history symposium.  You can imagine my trepidation at speaking to such an audience about the role of intelligence at the Battle of Midway.  I could not have been more nervous, especially as Mac who was sitting in the front row!

Well, I’ll let Mac tell you how I did by his own account.  I just know he was gracious to me and asked for a copy of my “power point briefing” that I had to use as my crutch!  I may have been saved because of my attire – wash khakis with the old school black tie.  It is still the most comfortable and classy looking uniform the USN has ever had…one can only hope we go back to it.

Anyway, after graciously enduring my recounting of the tale of intelligence and the Battle of Midway, Mac and family shifted colors to the Hale Koa Hotel on Waikiki Beach in preparation for the big night and culminating point of this commemoration weekend – the Midway Intelligence Ball!

The J2 and the JIOC Commander could not have done a better job.

Over 450 guests from across all services and national intelligence agencies converged on the Hale Koa Luau gardens outdoor ball room.  Each table was beautifully arranged, thanks to Mrs. Loveless’ tender care.  As the guests arrived, they were greeted with sounds of the Pacific Fleet band playing tunes from yesteryear. There is nothing quite like the PACFLT Band playing tunes from the 1940s to get the crowd “In the Mood”.

The evening is still fresh in my minds eye and while there are a million memories what stood out to me was the incredible speeches given by Mike, former Director of National Intelligence, and Mac.

Mike didn’t give the audience any sugar coating, instead he told us why “warning” is so important and then he warned us about the threat to our nations national security via the Cyber domain. These were words that would cause a normal audience to grow faint, but for this crowd it was a call to arms, to dig a little deeper, to in effect follow in the footsteps of men like Mac Showers.

In between speakers the audience was treated to the finest hula dancing available on island, as former Miss Hawaii, Kanoe Miller, awed the crowd with lovely moves from the wind and seas of these Hawaiian Islands.  What made it most spectacular was seeing a full moon emerge from the passing clouds, a site that is simply to beautiful to describe in word.

Following the hula, I had the privilege to “roll” Mac out to center stage (he’s now a regular user of the wheel chair) for the presentation of his remarks to this inaugural crowd.

As he has done all week, Mac held the crowd in his hands as he told the story of what he and his teammates at Station Hypo did to give Admiral
Nimitz  the intelligence he needed to prove to Washington that the Japanese were indeed going to send not just the Kido Butai to Midway, an invasion force as well, all part of Yamamoto’s master plan to draw out the Pacific Fleet and defeat it in a single battle at sea.

It was a fitting culmination for the week and one that kept the near 500 people in attendance long into the evening.

One person who stayed the longest was the current U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander, four-star Admiral Cecil Haney.  The Admiral had not been expected to make any of the weekends activities due to required travel with some seniors from State Department, however, last minute cancellations allowed Admiral Haney and his family to attend the ball.  He remarked that it was his pleasure to be present at such an august gather of intelligence professionals and that he very much appreciated the dedication of men like Mac Showers and the traditions and dedication to providing warning to today’s generation of commanders.

What a remarkable evening and weekend, a privilege and honor that I will never forget. The picture below, while of poor quality, best exemplifies the weekend – Mac as the star of the show!

Warmest of aloha,
Kimo

Copyright Kimo and Vic, 2012
www.vicsocotra.com