LIHU’E — Author and World War II historian Edwin M. Nakasone spun war stories Monday to Kaua’i veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team—the Army’s most decorated combat unit. During a presentation at the Kaua’i Veterans Council, Nakasone, 72, explained
LIHU’E — Author and World War II historian Edwin M. Nakasone spun war stories
Monday to Kaua’i veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team—the Army’s most
decorated combat unit.
During a presentation at the Kaua’i Veterans
Council, Nakasone, 72, explained that Japan launched the attack on Pearl
Harbor and other military installations on O’ahu on Dec. 7, 1941, to end
America’s economic stranglehold over that nation.
To turn back time and to
add drama, Nakasone wore a Japanese officer’s naval aviator flight suit, circa
1941, strutted around the floor and periodically yelled out in Japanese.
An
audience of more than 100 listened as Nakasone read from his new book, “The
Nisei Soldier,” a compilation of essays that attempts to bring to life a part
of American history he says has been neglected — the experiences of the
Japanese-American soldier, the Nisei.
The Nisei, or second-generation
Japanese Americans, fought for America in World War II in the face of
discrimination generated by the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Nakasone said he
was compelled to write the story.
“Growing up over here (on O’ahu) and
teaching World War II history in college, I felt the people in general don’t
know about the contributions of Niseis to the war,” he said.
“My purpose
is to spread the word, to be a missionary, to tell America.”
The attack on
Pearl Harbor shaped his life.
He served in the United States Army as an
interpreter during the occupation of Japan in 1947-48.
A retired colonel,
he has taught World War II history, Asian history and Asian Pacific American
history.
A University of Minnesota graduate and a recently retired faculty
member of Century College in Minnesota, Nakasone has been a recipient of two
Fulbright grants.
Since the 1980s, his “Pearl Harbor Remembered”
dramatization has been presented to hundreds of schools, colleges, clubs ,
veteran groups, community groups and business organizations throughout the
country.
America’s expanding world presence prevented Japan from expanding
its empire in the Pacific, Nakasone said.
Military leaders in Japan had no
plans to invade O’ahu after the attack on Pearl Harbor, only to cripple the
U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet , he said.
Japanese Navy Admiral Isoroku
Yamamoto developed the idea for the attack and consulted Admiral Takijiro
Ohnishi and other key members of his staff.
Japanese Ensign Takeo
Yoshikawa, a military intelligence officer, was selected to fly to Hawaii to
help determine how to best mount attacks on U.S. military ships in Pearl
Harbor and military installations on O’ahu.
Once in Honolulu, he changed
his name and operated under the name of Takeo Morimura, conducting a
reconnaissance of U.S. military operations on O’ahu, Nakasone said.
At
times, Morimura visited the shoreline at Barbers Point, posing as fishermen to
measure the depth of the harbor.
The information would help guide midget
submarines to battleships, cruisers and destroyers and other military vessels
within Pearl Harbor.
Yoshikawa also visited Hickam Air Force Base,
Schofield Barracks, Bellows Field and other military installations.
“He
never took notes. He always had a photographic memory,” Nakasone said.
Yoshikawa then sent the information back to Japan by code.
On Nov.
25, 1941, a Japanese battle group consisting of 31 ships, including six
carriers that carried 432 planes, launched from Kurile Islands.
On Dec.
6, the battle group waited more than 250 miles north of O’ahu.
At 7:55
a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 183 planes attacked military and naval facilities on
Oahu.
For 30 minutes, Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes pounded the
ships and airfields.
Nakasone lived through the attack on Pearl
Harbor.
From his home in Wahiawa on O’ahu, Nakasone, a man at the time,
saw Japanese planes bomb Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Army Airfield
After a 15-minute lull, a second wave of planes launched another attack
that lasted one hour.
The attack left 2,343 U.S. service personnel dead,
1,272 wounded and 960 missing.
In addition, 151 U.S. planes were
destroyed on the ground.
Of the 100 U.S.. ships present in Pearl Harbor
that day, eight U.S. battleships in the harbor were either sunk or
destroyed.
The U.S.S. Arizona was dealt the worst blow. Nearly a
2,000-pound bomb struck the ship, and the ammunition on board that ship
exploded, killing 1,177 serviceman.
By comparison, Japanese losses were
slight.
The attack force lost 55 flyers, 9 crew personnel, possibly 100
submarine crew members, 29 planes, a submarine and five midget submarines.
The attack did not bode well for Japanese Americans in Hawaii and in
California, Nakasone, said.
As a result of an executive order signed by
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry,
70,000 of whom were native-born United States citizens, were moved from their
homes and placed in internment camps in California and elsewhere on the
Mainland.
The 100th Battalion was formed after the attack.
The Army
unit was initially comprised of 1,300 soldiers of Japanese American ethnicity
from Hawaii.
The 100th was later integrated with the 442nd, which was
activated in 1943. At full strength, it boasted 4,500 troops.
The 442nd
distinguished itself in battle in Europe, suffered huge casualties and received
19,000 personal military decorations for bravery in combat, Nakasone
said.
Some audience members were confused by the author’s integration of
the Pearl Harbor attack with his readings from his book.
“I came here to
find out about the Nisei.” said one woman audience member.
Nakasone said
he mixed the two subjects as a way to let audience members “have an historical
background, as far explaining how the discrimination against Japanese Americans
started.”
Members of the 442nd were cognizant of the discrimination their
family members received back home in Hawaii and California, but they fought and
many died to prove they were good Americans, Nakasone said.
“They are in
their golden years now, and if the things they did aren’t publicized, it is
going to die with them,” he said of the surviving 442nd members.
Future
generations of Japanese Americans won’t know anything about their achievements,
Nakasone said.
“The grandchildren of these men really owe whatever freedoms
they have right now, whatever benefits they have as far as assimilation, being
middle class to the sacrifices of the Nisei soldier,” Nakasone said.
Bill
Honjiyo, a U.S. Army major who served in the Vietnam War, Robby Lear, a World
War II Army veteran who was stationed in Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attack,
and Turk Tokita, a wounded 442d veteran and a leading force in the Kauai
Democratic Party for 50 years, said Nakasone’s presentation opened their eyes
to new information about Pearl Harbor and the Nisei soldier.
“I think we
proved our loyalty,” Tokita said. “That we were willing to fight for America,
and die if necessary.”
