Kokokahi

This is the bridge at the Kokokahi YWCA. According to Gwen Allen (Hawaii War Years) it was used as a convalescent home for Marines. The note on the photo (from the Hawaii War Records Depository collection) has an "n.d." on it--meaning "no date." I strongly suspect that it was taken about 1942-1943 time frame.

The current bridge is a modern pedestrian bridge, and that narrow road you see in the above photo is now Kaneohe Bay Drive. At the point where the current bridge is, the road narrows from a six lane to a two lane road.


Kokokahi YWCA is still at the same location. It's on the windward side, in Kaneohe, overlooking the Kaneohe Bay.

One of the main missions of the YWCA is to foster interracial communication and understanding. That particular YWCA was used after the war as a weekend recreational retreat for the many Japanese women who volunteered with the USO, Red Cross, and several other social service agencies during the war. For some of those women, it was the first time they slept outside their own homes.

The photo below is taken from Kokokahi. The mountain range you see on the other side of Kaneohe Bay are the Koolau.