Survivors of 100th Infantry gather
By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer
They gathered, white club shirts glowing in the sunlight, many leaning on canes or an aging wife's arm, many shouting into each other's hearing aids, to remember more comrades brought down, not by bullets now but by time.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Members of Club 100, veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, yesterday went to Punchbowl to honor 41 of their number who died in the past year.
Warren Iwai who fought in the 100th Infantry Battalion looks for the grave of a comrade who died in Italy 1945. At left is Mana Hongo, also from the 100th. The two attended a memorial for the men of the 100th at Punchbowl.
Those still alive are among 5.5 million surviving U.S. World War II veterans who are dying across the country at the rate of 1,500 a day.
While the World War II GIs were members of America's "greatest generation," the most-decorated American heroes of World War II were those whose group gathered at Punchbowl yesterday, all men of Japanese ancestry.
And they were, some suggested yesterday, such good Americans because they were such good Japanese.
"Our parents at that time were all born in Japan," said Arthur Komiyama, 81, of Liliha, who was assigned to Headquarters Company of the 100th Infantry Battalion when the 100th rolled into Salerno, Italy, more than 50 years ago.
"And the way we were brought up was different. They were very strict: We were brought up to be honest, and they told us, 'Don't make shame for the parents.'"
It was a culture whose values are still displayed on markers at the Japanese Cultural Center in Honolulu: KoKo (filial piety), On (debt of gratitude), Gaman (quiet endurance), Ganbari (perseverance), Shikata Ga Nai (acceptance with resignation), Kansha (gratitude), Chigi (loyalty), Sekinin (responsibility), Haji/Hokori (shame/pride), Meiyo (honor), Giri (sense of duty), and Gisei (sacrifice).
"So in that sense we were brought up differently," said Komiyama, mingling with the other men at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific services yesterday.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Jason Kamiya noted the strong influence of family heritage in a speech delivered for him here yesterday by his brother, Clayton.
Kamiya, who is assistant division commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said he had been looking forward to giving the speech in person, "but the tragic events of September 11th on the United States homeland, much like the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, changed the world.
"As I write you today, the men and women of our great Army and the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell, like you men of the 100th many decades ago, stand ready to answer our nation's call."
Kamiya noted that when U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye recently received the medal of honor, Inouye gave much of the credit not only to the men of his platoon but also to "my parents and grandparents."
Kamiya also thanked his parents, Larry and Regina Kamiya, "for their many years of sacrifice and forbearance in molding me into the person I am today.
"They come from modest backgrounds, worked hard to raise two sons, and gave them love, compassion and moral values, commodities that money cannot buy.
"Soldiers often ask me," Kamiya said, "if my father was a retired general officer or colonel. I proudly tell them that Dad served in World War II as a private first class — a radio operator and rifleman in Charlie Company, 100th Infantry Battalion who came home with a Combat Infantryman's Badge made of sterling silver, a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two rows of ribbons.
"I am reminded not only of him, but of all of you," he told the veterans, of "your youthful energy and charm, your determination and valor, faith and ideals, your families, all that you stood for, and all that you were willing to sacrifice in America's greatest hour of need."
Correction: Arthur Komiyama's last name was misspelled in a previous version of this story.
