POW medal late but cherished
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
For decades, relatives of Sgt. Samuel Sadao Miyahira — reported missing in action during the Korean War — were told by other American prisoners of war that he had been captured in 1951 by the enemy.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Yesterday, the U.S. government symbolically acknowledged that, by awarding the POW medal to his family during a ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.
Recognition Day ceremonies at Punchbowl yesterday were in remembrance of Korean War POWs and MIAs. Their families were guests of honor.
Miyahira's 89-year-old mother, a teary-eyed Norma Higa, accepted the medal from U.S. Veterans Affairs deputy secretary Leo Mackay Jr. for her son's service.
Miyahira and other soldiers still missing in action from America's "Forgotten War" were remembered yesterday in ceremonies held across the nation to honor prisoners of war and those missing in action from previous wars.
Miyahira's name is on the Courts of the Missing at Punchbowl and is one of more than 8,100 listed as missing in action from the Korean War. About 175 people attended yesterday's event, many of them family members of Korean War MIAs.
"You are the most distinguished guests in the audience today and have endured a gamut of emotions: fear, confusion, doubt, anger," cemetery director Gene Castagnetti said.
It was only a couple years ago that the U.S. government finally acknowledged that Miyahira was a prisoner of war during the Korean War after testimony by other POWs showed that he had been captured alongside them, his younger brother Norman Higa said.
"For a while, the North Korean government wouldn't acknowledge that Sam was a POW," Higa said.
In the spring of 1951, the 19-year-old McKinley High graduate was a week away from returning home after a year of combat in Korea, according to his brother.
"He was supposedly all ready to come home, and the fighting started again somewhere in North Korea and he was sent back into action," Higa said.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Miyahira's aunt, Jeannette Ekimura, said: "Samuel would write to us weekly, saying how he was ready to come home."
For years, Norma Higa's son was listed as missing in action in the Korean War. Yesterday, she accepted his POW medal.
On April 23, 1951, Miyahira's unit, part of the 5th Regimental Combat Team, was reportedly overrun by Communist Chinese forces assisting the North Korean army, according to military records. The family never heard from him again.
Higa said it wasn't until a couple years after the Korean War ended that returning American POWs passing through Hawai'i said his older brother had been captured. Higa said the family heard from some POWs that Miyahira died as prisoners were transferred from one prison camp to another.
Former Korean War POW Tsuyoshi "Nick" Nishimoto, who helps run the American Ex-POW's Hawai'i chapter, said he has heard similar stories of Miyahira's fate. In addition to the POW medal, Miyahira had earlier been awarded the Silver Star for his combat service.
Johnie Webb, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base, said at yesterday's ceremony that joint U.S.-North Korea recovery missions have brought home about 100 sets of American remains. Thirteen have been positively identified.
Webb said his staff will continue to work to bring home the remains of other missing Americans, saying "as a country, we owe these men a ride back home."
But after the event, the tone of Norma Higa's voice suggested that for her, this chapter is closed.
"Who knows? My son may have been taken to China," Higa said, walking away with the help of a cane. "The medals I got for him help a little bit."
Reach Scott Ishikawa at sishikawa@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8110.
