Two decades before the American Red Cross formed its first Hawai'i chapters in Hilo and Honolulu 90 years ago (together becoming the "Hawaiian Chapter" in 1918), Hawai'i's beloved Princess Kaiulani was among some 300 Island women who blazed the trail by forming the territory's first Red Cross Society.

The society set the standard by selflessly aiding sick and wounded Spanish-American War soldiers coming through Hawai'i by transport from the Philippines.

And although Coralie Chun Matayoshi, chief executive officer of the Hawai'i Chapter of the American Red Cross, doesn't have photos commemorating that late-19th-century effort, she does maintain an impressive photo history of the nine decades since the Red Cross chapter began on O'ahu.

Recently Matayoshi sorted through Hawai'i's Red Cross memories via a pile of aging black-and-white photos atop her office desk in the organization's newly renovated facilities at 4155 Diamond Head Road. She pointed to a Sept. 14, 1917, photograph of Col. Curtis Laukea presenting a hand-sewn Red Cross flag to a Mrs. Henry Dawson on the steps of 'Iolani Palace.

That image holds special significance for Matayoshi. When she took over the Hawai'i chapter four years ago, she was startled to discover a large, old Red Cross flag with brown, tattered edges in the building's basement.

"And then I read the inscription with it which said, 'Sewn by Queen Liliuokalani,' and I thought, 'Oh, my gosh — no wonder it looks so old.' "

Ninety years old, in fact, and on permanent loan from the Hawai'i State Archives. The flag, which once flew over 'Iolani Palace, is the icon of the chapter's anniversary.

"The queen was an ardent supporter of the Red Cross," said Matayoshi. "She was about 69 years old at the time. And during the chapter's very first membership drive, seated on a wheelchair, she handed the Red Cross a $100 check to become a patron."

Another of Matayoshi's favorite photos is the one of seven stout-hearted Makiki Station firemen quietly knitting sweaters, scarves, gloves and socks for World War I servicemen.

"They were famous for their knitting at the Makiki Station," she said.

The picture legacy continues though the 1920s, '30s and '40s.

Then, on Dec. 7, 1941, immediately following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, local Red Cross volunteers were thrust into World War II as the nation's only chapter in a combat zone.

"I know that when Pearl Harbor was bombed, we fed 300 people that day, and we fed a thousand at 'Iolani Palace the next day," said Matayoshi.

In fact, on the Day of Infamy, dozens of Red Cross volunteers worked nonstop around the clock from the palace basement. While Canteen Corps crews were doing that, the Motor Corps was hurriedly evacuating people from Pearl Harbor and setting up area feeding stations.

Throughout the remainder of the war, local volunteers played a major role. The chapter's Surgical Dressing Corps alone produced many millions of dollars worth of dressings for the war effort. Some 2,300 women in the Knitting and Sewing Corps produced everything from operating gowns to surgical tent nets by the tens of thousands.

Nor was there time to relax after the war was over.

On April 1, 1946, an army of Red Cross volunteers went to work on the Big Island shortly after a major tsunami destroyed scores of homes and buildings, killed and hospitalized hundreds, and injured thousands. The following day, 260 tons of food and supplies arrived from the Honolulu Chapter.

And so the images and history continued throughout the decades. Through volcanoes, floods and tenement fires, to hurricanes, landslides and earthquakes, the Hawai'i Red Cross was there for Island families.

Hawai'i Red Cross volunteers also were among the first at the scene of the Sept. 11 disasters in New York and at the Pentagon. The local chapter collected millions of dollars for victims of the Southeast Asia tsunami in 2004, and provided millions more and direct family assistance to victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Matayoshi said there are no plans for a 90th-anniversary celebration. People assume the Red Cross is funded by the government, she explained. It's not. It depends on contributions. There's little time to celebrate.

"Our first step, now that we're back here in our building after two years, is to build the foundation as we march into our 100th anniversary," she said.

And will there be a party then? Maybe. If there's time. If there's no disaster to contend with.

"For that one, I hope so," she finally said with a laugh.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.