ABOUT
Camp H. M. Smith is a United States Marine Corps installation in the Hawaiian town of Aiea on the island of Oahu, near the community of Halawa (ha-la-va) Heights. It is the headquarters of the United States Pacific Command (PACOM), Special Operations Command Pacific, andMarine Forces Pacific, the Marine service component command of PACOM.
History
An Act of Congress on 17 March 1941 had approved purchase of the site, then a sugar cane field, for a Navy Hospital. In 1941, the investment for the 220½ acres of Camp Smith land, in "fee simple" (a Hawaiian real estate term for owning both the land and the buildings), was $912,000, and improvements cost an additional $14 million. Work commenced in July and progressed slowly. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, construction of the planned 1,650-bed facility was rushed to completion. With Admiral Chester W. Nimitz in attendance, the hospital was commissioned on November 11, 1942, but continued expansion was necessary.