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Liberty Award Luncheon Series
The first Liberty Award was given to Barbara Kono, representing the Downtown Honolulu Exchange Club. Photo by Research Institute for Hawaii.USA.
The first Research Institute for Hawaii.USA Liberty Award was presented to the Downtown Honolulu Exchange Club for installing Freedom Shrines at the
Hawaii State Library and also on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri. Each Exchange Club Freedom Shrine contains replicas of important American historical
documents, including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
Officer Eddie Croom, Curator of the Law Enforcement Museum of the Honolulu Police Department holding his Liberty Award. Photo by Research Institute for Hawaii.USA.
Our second Liberty Award honored Officer Eddie Croom, Curator of the Law Enforcement Museum located in the Honolulu Police Department.
Officer Croom took over the Museum in 1997, at a time when the "museum" consisted only of an extensive gun collection. After a tour by
a class from the KalihiUka Elementary School, the teacher took Officer Croom aside and, while thanking him for his time, asked, " Are you
sure that this is the way you want these children to remember policemen? Do you want them to associate police with a wall of guns?" Croom
said that the question hit him "like a brick," and he immediately set out to overhaul the museum. With no budget, he dug through old police
storerooms and eventually put together a museum that highlights the history of law enforcement in Honolulu, from the days of the monarchy
through the territorial government, to our present police department. Croom joined the Honolulu Police Department 17 years ago, after spending
22 years in the Air Force, including a tour in Viet Nam.
Front Row L to R: Lt. Robert Imoto, Lt. Baron Lee, Officer Eddie Croom.
Back Row L to R: Major Alan Fujimoto and Chief of Police Boisse P. Correa.
Photo by Research Institute for Hawaii.USA.
Alice and Sefton "Bee" Clark holding their Liberty Award. Photo by Research Institute for Hawaii.USA.
Our final Liberty Award went to Alice and Sefton "Bee" Clark, the founding members of The Pacific War Memorial Association.
During the Second World War the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions all trained in Hawaii before deploying to the Pacific where they fought and took
Iwo Jima in a fierce battle in February and March of 1945. During the battle, on February 23, 1945, the Marines took Mount Suribachi, the highest
point on the island. The Marines raised the U.S. flag at the top of the mountain and the moment was immortalized by photographer Joe Rosenthal, who
won the Pulitzer Prize for the photo. The image was later made into a stamp and the National Iwo Jima monument, which is located in Arlington,
Virginia, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. (Gilbert 1989, 642)
Alice and "Bee" spearheaded the effort to erect a replica of the National Iwo Jima at the entrance of the Kaneohe Marine Base in Hawaii. Memorials
sculpted in rock and granite dedicated to the 2nd and 5th Divisions also stand at the Parker Ranch on the Big Island, where they trained.
Sefton "Bee" and Alice Clark with Lloyd "Joe" Vasey (Rear Admiral USN, Ret., Senior Foreign Policy Advisor at the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic
and International Studies). Photo by Research Institute for Hawaii.USA.
Sources
Gilbert, Martin. The Second World War: A Complete History. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1989.
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