Church of the Crossroads Sanctuary Crisis

The Church of the Crossroads — a progressive Congregational church at 1212 University Ave., close to the UH campus — had formally offered sanctuary in February 1969. The first AWOL serviceman arrived on August 6; within two weeks, 22 men were sheltering there, some having flown from the mainland, all stating opposition to the Vietnam War. Lauren Ekroth, as chairman of the church’s Ad Hoc Committee for Sanctuary, was the operational leader of the effort.

On August 18, a dispute flared between the church executive board and the broader group of supporters on the property. Church moderator Rev. Mitsuo Aoki issued a policy statement limiting those permitted on the grounds to the servicemen, their families, and five members of The Resistance — the antiwar organization backing the movement. Ekroth was quoted in the Honolulu Advertiser on August 19 calling the statement “very unclear” and “ambiguous” and said it had created “rampant misunderstanding.” He clarified that the board was not challenging The Resistance’s leadership, only ensuring that regular church functions could continue. The Advertiser ran his comments on pages 1 and 3. The following day, it ran him again on the front page: the City of Honolulu, citing building and health code violations, had ordered all occupants to vacate within ten days. Ekroth said it would be “up to church authorities to respond” and did not speculate on what form that response would take.

The situation Ekroth was managing was extraordinary in its complexity: 22 AWOL servicemen, roughly as many civilian supporters, a 250-member congregation, the church executive board, The Resistance, a city evacuation deadline, and a military desertion clock (authorities had said they would seek arrests after the men had been absent 30 days). A 34-year-old assistant professor of speech was the named spokesman — the person reporters called for comment — on the most prominent antiwar sanctuary action in Hawaii in 1969.

The day after the city’s evacuation order, August 21, the Advertiser ran a lengthy profile of Carey Hooser, a 67-year-old retired Pearl Harbor machinist and longtime Crossroads congregant who sat daily on a bench outside the church to condemn the AWOL men as “gutless” and to denounce the church’s current direction (“Now it’s not a church anymore”). Ekroth, again quoted, was measured: if the city’s regulations could not be met, the church would “consider other options — such as moving to another place.” He added that the city’s order had not hurt morale: “There seems to be a lot of cohesion and mutual understanding among the men here. They know they’re in this together.” The ACLU of Hawaii publicly endorsed the sanctuary the same day.

By the end of August the count had dropped. On August 29 the Star-Bulletin reported that Arthur D. Parker, 17, of Holland, Michigan — the first serviceman to quit sanctuary voluntarily — had been placed in “corrective custody” at Pearl Harbor for 15 days after turning himself in on August 22. Ekroth, still identified as chairman of the sanctuary committee, told the Star-Bulletin that 19 AWOL servicemen were now at the Crossroads.