Na Mana'o Aloha O Kaho'olawe: Hawai'i Warriors-Love for Land and Culture

Aloha 'Aina O Na Kupuna, Inc, Honolulu, 1978. Covers are yellowed with some soiling and creasing. Bumping and chipping to corners and edges. Contents are tightly bound. Signature on title page. Scarce publication.

Written in 1977, the diaries of Richard Sawyer and Walter Ritte Jr are a day-to-day record of their thoughts and reflections when the two men occupied the island of Kaho'olawe for thirty-five days, using their bodies as shields to stop the bombing and desecration of the island by the US military. One of the catalysts of the Hawaiian Renaissance, the Kaho'olawe movement was a vibrant time with the awakening of a long-buried spirit of identity rising to its rightful place of prominence in Hawai'i's history. It was not, however, without sacrifice and struggle-the biggest of these being the tragic loss of George Helm and Kimo Mitchell. Walter and Richard are both 1963 Kamehameha School graduates, groomed at a time when there was little, if any, attention paid to Hawaiian history, consciousness, identity, or culture. Most of their learning and experience was military-based and of a Western perspective, yet they heard the call of Kanaloa and joined with others to protect Kaho'olawe.