Trouble in Paradise: American GIs, Rest and Relaxation Programs, and Hawaiian Antiwar Activism During the Vietnam War

Between 1965 and 1973, nearly 2.5 million American servicemen participated in the U.S. military’s rest & recreation (R&R) programs. These programs, which were aimed at improving troop morale, granted any soldier serving a one-year tour in South Vietnam a brief reprieve from the war. For five days, GIs could escape the war zone by traveling to any one of a number of exciting locations, including Sydney, Taipei, Manila, Tokyo, and Singapore. The most popular destination, however, was Honolulu, Hawaii. In April 1970 alone, 10,000 American GIs cycled in and out of Honolulu on their R&R trips. On the island of Oahu, they reunited with their wives, indulged in shopping sprees, sampled the nightlife, and tried to forget the ongoing war. But for many, this proved impossible – by the late 1960s, Honolulu, particularly the University of Hawaii, had become a hotbed of antiwar activism.

This paper examines the R&R experiences of American servicemen in Honolulu and their interactions with the growing Hawaiian antiwar movement. Of the various R&R destinations available to the troops, Honolulu represents a uniquely liminal space—one where GIs were simultaneously far removed from the war zone yet directly confronted by antiwarriors who drew their attention to the realities of U.S. imperialism. Drawing on a variety of sources, including oral histories, underground GI newspapers, military publications, and memoirs, this paper considers how the troops’ R&R experiences in Hawaii shaped their understandings of the Vietnam War, U.S. militarism, and the connections between decolonization movements abroad and ones at home.