July 1943. Hawaii was still under martial law, which didn’t end until October 1944.

The beach in Waikiki was “protected” by rolls of barbed wire.

And the Outrigger Canoe Club was preparing for the first Walter J. MacFarlane Canoe races to be held on the 4th of July, in honor of the late club president who died the previous month. The event is still held every July 4 on Waikiki Beach.

This is a publicity photo shot in advance of the event and cleared by military censors. I believe the men standing with their surfboards are Duke Kahanamoku, beachboy Buddy Young, and famed paddler Gene “Tarzan” Smith. The women are Ann Morris, Wanda Grant, and Kathleen Patterson (identified in a Honolulu Advertiser photo published on July 3, 1943.)