Amphibious landing

POLIHALE STATE PARK — After World War II, decommissioned military troop transport amphibious vehicles were often used as ferries to carry supplies between the islands. The Hinson family, who reside in Lihue, got a surprise they will never forget when they happened upon an old one the sand has washed up again, near Queens Pond in Polihale State Park.

Travis Hinson and his 13-year-old daughter decided to go down to the beach after four-wheeling on the sand dunes nearby when they made the discovery.

“We were just on a four-wheel drive adventure in the sand dunes and me and my oldest daughter decided to go down to the beach,” Hinson said. “She was just like, ‘wow, what is that?’”

Hinson said that his wife and youngest daughter didn’t get a chance to see it because they remained on the sand dunes as he and his eldest daughter made their way down to the beach.

“You can’t see it from afar,” Hinson said, who is an aircraft mechanic. “It just looks like a little spec out there.”

Hinson captured the moment on video and shared it on the Facebook group, “Kauai Life,” and “Kauai Community.”

The responses the postings have brought about has even surprised him, most of which were given to him personally.

“We’ve had all kinds of people comment on it,” Hinson said.

It’s unclear exactly how the landing craft came to be on the shores of Polihale, but it’s sure to raise some eyebrows as it beckons back to the not so distant past.

According to local historian Hank Soboleski, one possible explanation is more than 10,000 U.S. Marines and sailors, 18 Navy ships, 100 Fury and Crusader jet aircraft and numerous helicopters from Pearl Harbor and Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Oahu took part in a three-day exercise code named “Clear Ridge” on West Kauai between Sept. 20 and Sept. 23, 1959.

Soboleski said the Army used to practice amphibious beach assaults on Kauai during World War II, before they went to war in the Pacific. There was also a large Marine base next to the Wailua Golf Course during World War II.

“Maybe this was one of theirs that washed up,” Soboleski said.

Hinson said there has been some talk amongst his friends in the Kauai Jeep Club about pulling the old transport vehicle up on the beach so it can have a permanent home.

“It would be a great icon out there that could stay forever,” he said with a laugh. “We’ve talked about getting some winches out there and pulling it up the beach.”

Hinson believes the troop carrier is a LVT-4, or as it is commonly called, “Buffalo Amphibious Boats,” which were designed for transport in swamp-land by Roebling in the 1930s. The LVT-1 through the LVT-5 were built by FMC until 1942 and were powered by a Continental, seven-cylinder, air-cooled, radial engine mounted immediately behind the control cabin. The vehicle could carry up to 28 soldiers at a time and weighed 28,000 pounds.

“Yes the landing craft has been there for many years,” AJ McWhorter, a Communications Specialist with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources said. “It is usually completely covered in sand. Periodically it gets uncovered in the winter then gets covered back up again in the summer. The location is in Polihale State Park near Queens Pond.”