On December 7, 2025, my novel CODE NAME RASCAL, inspired by the secret radar unit, Women’s Air Raid Defense will be launched. This is my ninth book, but this is my life’s labor of love; it’s taken me over twenty years.

While I was a librarian at Windward Community College, Nanette Purnell gave a presentation on the civilian dead of Pearl Harbor Day. She told the story of Gussie Ornellas whose two daughters were killed by shrapnel from a faulty anti-aircraft shell falling on their house. Being a mother myself I couldn’t imagine a more tragic story and I wondered how Gussie got up the next morning?

Because of that lecture, I started reading about the civilian dead and I lost my breath when I read the story of the Cherry Blossom Saimin Stand where eleven people died. Among the dead were Jitsuo Hirasaki, age 48, the shopkeeper, Mr. Hirasaki’s eight-year-old son Jackie, his three-year-old son Robert and his two-year-old daughter Shirley. Mrs. Hirasaki was seriously injured but she survived. Again, I had the same question: How did Mrs. Hirasaki go on with life?

I became obsessed with stories of civilians during the war and this research resulted in a column I had in a local (now defunct) newspaper. I focused on the stories of women of the war. I wanted to know what happened and more importantly what happened after the event? What were the aftershocks?

I started to interview women of World War 2 Hawaii. It was an amazing journey and I met incredibly strong women like Shim Kanazawa, Sister Gertrude, Alice Sorenson. One of them, Kathy Cooper, was a member of the Women’s Air Raid Defense. I was fascinated by this secret radar unit very few people heard of. Kathy Cooper introduced me to Ruth Cope, and so it went until I spoke with eight WARDs.

I had a story! I probably had a book! did publish a few article, but I couldn’t get a handle on a book. My problem was hero worship.

I could not write these women as flawed characters. I was in awe of them—and not only them, but tens of women I interviewed and read about.

Fast forward twenty years, and I finally felt my writing skills were solid enough to give the story its due, and I began to see the characters of this book—not the real women—flawed human beings.

I invented four women who would show Hawai’i through very distinct eyes. One would be a privileged Caucasian society “bachelorette” who is the example of life of the affluent during the war, one was a newcomer from the mainland who observes the islands with a journalist’s scrutiny, another is a third-generation Navy officer’s wife who gives the reader an understanding of life of a military family, and one is a talented aviator who is forbidden by the times from becoming a military pilot.

There they are—my four ladies. Eve, CJ, Ruth, and Jane—and I want to tell you the story of how the book was written.

I’ll publish a short newsletter twice a week giving you behind the scenes snippets, visits to actual sites in the book, tell you who are the real-life characters, how I did the research, and just “talk story” about the journey. I’d love for you to follow me.

WRITING CODE NAME RASCAL will be a less formal companion piece to Beaches, Brothels, and Barbed Wire. It’s free. Please subscribe to receive new posts and to support my work.

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By Dorothea N. Buckingham