Five Hawaiian men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II were posthumously awarded Purple Heart medals, nearly 80 years after their plane crashed in the final days of the conflict.
The men – Joseph Kuwada, Haruyuki Ikemoto, Kazuyoshi Inouye, Wilfred Motokane and Masaru Sogi – were among the 31 killed when their C-46 transport plane struck a cliff on August 13, 1945 while attempting to land in Okinawa, Japan. indicate just two of the 31 Purple Heart medals received, which are awarded to service members wounded or killed in action against an enemy.
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The Purple heart is the nation’s oldest military medal, dating back to the time of George Washington. The prize has been awarded almost two million times.
Researchers in Hawaii and Minnesota recently discovered this omission, prompting the Army to agree to award medals to the families of the 29 men who were never recognized. Investigators have located the families of the five from Hawaii and now the military is asking relatives of the other 24 men to contact them so their loved ones can finally receive recognition.
“I have no words. I’m just overwhelmed,” Wilfred Ikemoto said, choking up as he spoke about the belated honor bestowed on his older brother Haruyuki during a ceremony in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Friday.
“I’m just happy he was recognized,” Ikemoto said.
The elder Ikemoto was the fourth of ten children and the first in his family to attend college when he enrolled at the University of Hawaii. He was a photographer and developed film in a makeshift darkroom in a bedroom at home.
“I remember him as probably the smartest and most talented in our family,” said Wilfred Ikemoto, who was 10 years old when his brother died.
On board the plane were 12 paratroopers from the 11th Airborne Division, five soldiers from a counterintelligence detachment assigned to the paratroopers, 10 Japanese-American linguists from Military Intelligence and four crew members.
They had all flown from the Philippines to lead the occupation of Japan after the surrender of Tokyo, said Daniel Matthews, who watched the fateful flight while researching his father’s postwar service with the 11th Airborne.
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Matthews attributed the Army’s inability to recognize all 31 soldiers with medals to administrative oversight in the final hours of the war. The US had prepared for an invasion of Japan’s main islands, but formulated alternative plans after receiving indications that Japan was about to surrender. To complicate matters further, there were four different units on the plane.
Wilfred Motokane Jr. said he had mixed feelings after receiving his father’s medal.
“I’m very happy that we are finally recognizing some people,” he said. “I think it took a long time for it to happen. That’s the only part I don’t feel so good about, if you will.’
The five from Hawaii were all part of the Military Intelligence Service, or MIS, a U.S. Army unit composed primarily of Japanese Americans who interrogated prisoners, translated intercepted messages and traveled behind enemy lines to gather intelligence.
The five had been inducted in January 1944 after the MIS, desperate for more recruits, sent a team to Hawaii to find more linguists, historian Mark Matsunaga said.
In total, some 6,000 served in the Military Intelligence Service. But much of their work has remained relatively unknown because it was kept secret until the 1970s.
During the American occupation of Japan, they served a crucial role as a liaison between American and Japanese officials and as a supervisor of regional governments.
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Retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone, who recently resigned as head of the U.S. Cyber Command and National Security Agency, presented the medals to the families during the ceremony on the shores of Pearl Harbor. Nakasone’s Hawaiian-born father served in the MIS after the war, giving him a personal connection to the event.
“What these Military Intelligence soldiers brought with them during the occupation of Japan was an understanding of culture that the conquered could take with them to work with the victor,” Nakasone said. “I am very proud of all MID soldiers, not only during battles, but also during the occupation.”
During his investigation, Matthews also located the niece of the senior officer aboard the plane, Captain John H. Norton, of Marion, South Carolina. She will soon be awarded the Purple Heart in honor of her uncle, a 1943 West Point graduate who led the 11th Airborne Division’s counterintelligence team.
He hopes the ceremony in Hawaii and the other in South Carolina will help other families pursue the Purple Hearts their loved ones have earned through their service.
