Coast Guard ship named after renowned Native Hawaiian veteran

The crest of the newly inaugurated U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Melvin Bell bears a motto —“Signal of Hope” — that encapsulates the legacy of its Hawaii-born namesake who transmitted the first alarms following the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Melvin Kealoha Bell, a descendant of Kihaapiilani and the ruling chiefs of Maui who served as the first person of color to achieve the rank of Master Chief in the combined sea services, was honored at the Coast Guard Academy at the ship’s commissioning on March 28.

“He was an unknowing trailblazer,” Robert Bell, Melvin’s son and historian, said Wednesday in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “He joined the service knowing that he would have to really work hard and have some things go his way in order to achieve his goal of becoming a radioman.”

Melvin Bell died in 2018 at the age of 98.

Born and raised on Hawaii island, Melvin Bell graduated from Hilo High School in 1938 before joining the U.S. Coast Guard at age 18, despite knowledge of systemic discrimination within the military’s structure. At the time, minority groups including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders were being denied technical positions — instead often working in the mess branch as stewards or attendants.

Bell worked as a mess attendant when he enlisted, but in his off hours spent time around the radio room. Bell had previous experience in radio electronics, working under his father at the Hawaiian Telephone Company and at a small radio repair shop in Hilo. He had also taken vocational classes in school.

“He knowingly joined the service with a plan. He had prepared himself well, going into the field of electronics, that if an opportunity presented itself, he would take full advantage of that, and then it would be up to those who had the power and influence to make a decision,” Robert said of his father.

The next year, the opportunity presented itself — a radio transmitter aboard Bell’s ship wasn’t working properly, and no one could diagnose the problem. Bell asked if he could troubleshoot the problem and was able to repair the transmitter.

“Part of the procedure was the radioman had to call in to the district to report that the ship was back on the air. The individual on the other end was the chief radio electrician, and he said, ‘Who fixed the transmitter?,’ and the radioman said, ‘Seaman Bell,’” Robert said. “Since he didn’t know who that was, the chief radio electrician said, ‘Well, I want to meet this Bell.’ Those words essentially changed my father’s life.”

Bell would meet with Chief Henry Mumford Anthony the next day, where he was given the opportunity to test for the rate of radioman — exams he later “passed with flying colors.”

Bell would go on to work in numerous other positions, including at the Primary Radio Station Diamond Head, where he transmitted the first radio alarms of the Pearl Harbor attack. He also worked in Naval Intelligence with Fleet Radio Unit Pacific, and was part of the section that broke the JN25 code, supporting the victory at Midway in 1942. In 1958, Bell was promoted to the rank of Master Chief after a 20-year active duty career, becoming the first person of color to achieve the rank in combined sea services history.

In 1959, Bell took a civil service position with the Coast Guard in Honolulu, and worked for a combined 65 years of military and civil service until his retirement in 2004. He was honored by then-President George W. Bush for his “unprecedented 65-year federal career.”

“He was a diehard, fierce American patriot who loved this country and the United States Coast Guard,” Robert said. “This is a man who began (working) prior to World War II, and ended doing work on munitions for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.”