WWII soldiers posthumously receive Purple Heart medals 79 years after fatal plane crash

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — The families of five Hawaiian men who served in a unit of Japanese-language linguists during World War II posthumously received Purple Heart medals on behalf of their loved ones on Friday, nearly 80 decades after the soldiers died in a plane crash in the final days of World War II. the conflict.

“I have no words. I’m just overwhelmed,” Wilfred Ikemoto said, choking up as he spoke about the belated honor given to his older brother Haruyuki.

The elder Ikemoto was one of 31 men killed when their C-46 transport plane struck a cliff while attempting to land in Okinawa, Japan, on August 13, 1945.

“I’m just happy he was recognized,” Ikemoto said.

Army records show only two of the 31 ever received Purple Heart medals, which the military awards to those wounded or killed in action against an enemy.

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.

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.

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 this 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.

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.”