Hawaiian Pillboxes


I have included several photos of pillbox types found on the Island of Oahu, Hawaii. It is a WW2 mass-produced variant built of reinforced concrete and built either at Army engineer base yards, then transported to the site, or poured in place on site depending on the location. It includes four firing embrasures, one to each wall, and is located on the west coast of Oahu on the coastline at Makua.

The other photos represent an a typical design of a reinforced concrete pillbox with one example located at Nimitz Beach at the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point (NASBP), Oahu. Two other examples are found at Midway Atoll and Palmyra Island, respectively, both sites of former WW2 US Navy airfields.

Another Pillbox is located at Nimitz Beach at the former NASBP, Oahu. It is found only at Nimitz Beach at the former NASBP and is unique in that two sections of a reinforced concrete structure are joined together, one able to fire towards the sea and the other towards land.

The following photographs are of the same WW2 Pillbox, one of four, built during the early months of the war by the 27th Infantry Regiment at the northwest outer slope of Makapuu Headland at the southeast corner of the Island of Oahu in the Hawaiian Islands.

This is another variant found at the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Oahu.  It is entered from the rear below ground level and appears to have housed at least two men.

This is another variant found at the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Oahu.
It is entered from the rear below ground level and appears to have housed at least two men.

John D. Bennett,

Member of the Coast Defense Study Group
Kaneohe, Hawaii, U.S.A.