Mrs. Merrit A. Trease

If I could meet one woman that I read about during all this research, it is Mrs. Merrit A. Trease. She wasn't a grand hero. I haven't been able to find out anything about her except what I've posted here. I'm guessing that she is Esther P. Trease, who died on died January 19, 1992 because the obituary listed her husband as Merritt.


If anyone knows about her, could you please send me an email.

So what did Mrs. Trease do?

Well, she carved out a unique contribution--she tracked down photos of service men who had their photos taken with "hula girls" and were subsequently killed in action.

Why would she do that? you ask. Because their families wanted that one last photo of their son.

During the war, photographers thrived on taking pictures of sailors, soldiers and marines. Most of these photo studios were shoe box-size operations in Chinatown. Along with getting a tattoo, liquor, visit a prostitute or buy a velvet pillow embroidered with "I Love You, Mom," the men could have their pictures taken with a sweet little island girl in a cellophane grass skirt.

It's interesting to note that the Office of Price Management set the cost of everything sold in the Territory of Hawaii during the war--including “portrait with hula girl." The cost was set at seventy-five cents for two photos.

(If you are interested in a complete list of OPM prices you can find them in the Hawaii State Archives under the Office of Price Management. It's intriguing, everything and I do mean everything is listed.)

OK, back to Mrs. Trease. Many of these servicemen wrote home about their Waikiki adventures (well, maybe not all of them) and wrote about getting their photos taken. Unfortunately, many of them shipped out before picking up their photos, and of them, many died.

Letters from their family asking if that last photo of their loved one could be found were addressed simply to "The Army in Hawaii" or "The Navy in Hawaii." They letters had a similar feel to them--they wanted to see that last picture of their loved one having fun.

The military forwarded these letters to the Chamber of Commerce. Well, given the nature of these fly-by-night places, and the lack of any databases at the time, it was essentially an impossible task. At first, efforts were made, but you must picture Chinatown and the incredible flow of servicemen in and out of Honolulu. Think about going to a flea market months after a friend of yours bought something there, and trying to get information from the vendor. Now, add World War II.

Mrs. Trease, "hearing about these requests, volunteered her services to the Retail Board" to track down the photographs. (Honolulu Advertiser) She called on proper professional studios, and roamed the shops on the streets of Waikiki and Chinatown, urging photographers to index all “portraits” with basic identification.

Against incredible odds,Mrs. Trease was able to locate about half the photos. If you know anything about her, email me: dee.buckingham@gmail.com

NOTE: On March 21, 2011, I received an email from a descendant of Mrs. Trease. She claims that Mrs. Trease never mentioned any such volunteer activity during World War II. I greatly respect that opinion, but I will add, many family members were not aware of the services of these women until it came out during research and interviews. HOWEVER, I do not doubt the error of this post, I am stating that I have no contrary or positive proof since all my research is currently in storage. I do have a citation to the newspaper, with no date---that citation does no one any good.
When I dig out my notes I'll get back to this question.

Women of World War II Hawaii