MARS = Military Auxiliary Radio SystemIn the early 70s, I was working at Hawaiian Telephone as a long distance operator. This was before satellite communications and all calls went from Hawaii to the Mainland through undersea cables.
I remember one Mother's Day, I was scheduled to get off about 10:00 PM. Then I was going to meet friends in Waikiki for a party.
About two hours before I was to get off, I picked up a call that I wish I hadn't. The first words I heard were "Hello Hawaii. This is MARS calling." I knew what that meant. . . it was a radio call from Vietnam. That meant that at that moment, there were approximately 200 GIs standing in line waiting for a three-minute call -- via Hawaii -- to someone they loved.
As the operator in Hawaii, I was to connect each soldier to the number they wanted, and while they were speaking, I'd get the next number on the line, then notify the previous caller that their three minutes were up, connect the next one and on and on . . . .
They called mothers and wives, aunts and grandmothers. And a few hadn't reached anyone, and I became that voice that they wanted to hear.
I got off at 10:00 PM. Needless to say, I went straight home. I didn't feel like a party.
Nancy K.
Sno-Isle Libraries
Photograph courtesy of Joseph A. Carr
