In 1917, a 1,531.71 acre parcel of land on the southeast coast of Oahu was acquired and established by Presidential Executive Order as the Waimanalo Military Reservation.  This installation was renamed Bellows Field in 1933 to honor 2nd Lt. Franklin B. Bellows, who was killed in action during World War I while on a reconnaissance flight near St. Mihiel, France, on 13 September 1918.

Bellows was a sub-post of Wheeler Field until 22 July 1941 when it became a separate permanent military post.  On 26 March 1948, Bellows Army Air Base was redesignated Bellows Air Force Base.  In 1958, it was redesignated again as Bellows Air Force Station when its runways were closed, terminating its status as a flying field.

During the 1930s, Bellows was used as a bombing and gunnery range by aircraft from Luke, Wheeler and Hickam Fields.  On 7 August 1941, a Casual Training Camp was established there to provide basic training for newly arrived casuals (recruits).

The original runway was completed January 11, 1933 at a cost of $3,550.07.   It was built of coral rock 10-inches deep, rolled to a hard smooth surface and oiled. The runway was 75 feet wide by 983 feet long.

During the 7 December 1941 Japanese attack on Oahu military installations, two military members were killed and six wounded at Bellows.  They included three pilots of the 44th Pursuit Squadron who were at Bellows for gunnery training and attempted to take off in their P-40s.

One was killed while climbing into his plane, the second was shot down immediately after getting in the air, and the third took off but had to swim to shore when his badly damaged aircraft crashed into the ocean.

Also swimming ashore the next day was the commander of a Japanese two-man midget submarine which grounded on the reef off of Bellows.  Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, captured by Lt. Paul S. Plybon and Cpt. David Akui of the 298th Infantry, was a the first prisoner of war taken by the United States in World War II.  His companion's remains later washed up on the shore.

Bellows Field remained active throughout World War II, then served as home of the Hawaiian Air National Guard's 199th Fighter Squadron from 1946 to 1947, before being placed in caretaker status on 15 December 1948.  In 1951, the U.S. Marines began using the Bellows runway for air-to-ground training; and in 1958 1st Marine Brigade personnel from nearby Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station used Bellows as a key amphibious, ground, and helicopter training area.

In 1960, the U.S. Army built two Nike-Hercules anti-aircraft missile sites at Bellows, which were operated full-time by the Hawaii Army National Guard for the aerial defense of Hawaii until inactivated in 1970.  The communications transmitter facility, constructed at a cost of $967,380 in 1956-1958, replaced the Kipapa area transmitter and receiver sites.

Later it was operated and maintained by members of the 15th Communications Squadron.  Its transmitters were the principal ground-to-air link with aircraft (particularly military aircraft) flying to and from Hawaii; and they provided communications for Presidential flights and others carrying high-level government officials.

In 1973, part of the Bellows beach area was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a site of archaelogical significance.  Artifacts found there determined the area to be one of the oldest places of human habitation in the Hawaiian Islands.

Detachment 1, 15th Support Group, operated Bellows AFS, which was located about 25 miles from Hickam AFB and 8 miles south of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay. 

Most of the 1,570-acre installation is on sandy lowland surrounded by wasteland, with the eastern perimeter bordering Waimanalo Bay and the southwest boundary along Kalanianaole Highway, which separates it from the town of Waimanalo.

In addition to serving as a training area for the marines and a communications transmitter site, Bellows also housed the Hawaii Army National Guard's Military Academy and provided an all-service beach-front recreational area for active-duty and retired military personnel, civilian employees of the Department of Defense, dependents and guests.