Nobuaki's odyssey

At left is Nobuaki Iwatake's senior photo from the 1941 Maui High School yearbook. On the day of his graduation, Iwatake boarded a ship and headed for Japan. That's him in the middle photo as a student at Meiji University in Japan, and today, right.

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

In 1937, eighth-grade valedictorian Nobuaki Iwatake, age 14, made a speech to his Maui classmates that ended with a thought about his country:

"I am an American," Iwatake, a second-generation Japanese American who was born and raised on Maui, said in conclusion. Although he had dual United States-Japan citizenship because his parents were natural born Japanese citizens, there was no doubt where his loyalty belonged.

Little could he have known at the time that within a few years he would embark on a life-and-death adventure that would test his loyalty in the extreme. In the process he would witness history, suffer mistreatment by the Japanese, survive two torpedo attacks by Americans, be branded a traitor, and lose his U.S. citizenship.

Iwatake's odyssey is the stuff of which movies are made. By a quirk of fate following a family tragedy, he was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army in the early 1940s and forced to wage war against his fellow Americans.

Nobuaki Iwatake looks over a display at the USS Bowfin Museum that chronicles the World War II crash and rescue of a bomber pilot who would become U.S. president, George H.W. Bush. Iwatake, who witnessed the rescue while serving as a soldier in the Japanese Imperial Army, says he often wonders about the consequences of war. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

On Friday, Iwatake, who lives in Japan with his wife, Emiko, traveled to the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum at Pearl Harbor, where education specialist Charles Hinman will help Iwatake track down the name of the submarine's captain.

"If he didn't sink our ship, I would have been killed at Iwo Jima," said Iwatake, who celebrated his 80th birthday yesterday.

On the day Iwatake graduated from Maui High School in June 1941, he boarded a ship to Japan, where his mother, four brothers and sister had moved after his father was lost at sea in a Maui fishing disaster the year before. Because his mother couldn't afford to care for the family on Maui, she accepted an invitation from her brother, a physician, to come live in Hiroshima.

Before leaving, Iwatake's favorite teacher warned him not to join the Japanese military if he ever wanted to come home. He told her he had no intention of doing so.

"I tried to avoid the draft by entering a major university because they don't draft anyone if they are enrolled," he said.

But that rule didn't apply to war time. Because of his dual citizenship, Iwatake was forced into the army, where, to break his will, he says he was frequently beaten.

During his 14 months on Chichi Jima, Iwatake saw several American pilots shot down by anti-aircraft artillery. Those who survived were captured, interrogated and killed by the Japanese. But in early September 1944, Iwatake said he witnessed a startling incident. A downed bomber pilot in a life raft was miraculously rescued by a U.S. submarine before the Japanese could reach him.

Five months later a less fortunate pilot was plucked out of the water and brought to Chichi Jima. Iwatake was told to avoid becoming friendly with the prisoner. But on the sly he formed a close bond with the pilot, a tall Texan named Warren Vaughn, who was ordered to monitor American broadcasts coming from Iwo Jima along with Iwatake.

"If (the American submarine captain) didn't sink our ship, I would have been killed at Iwo Jima," said Nobuaki Iwatake, pictured in front of the WWII submarine USS Bowfin. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Iwatake recalls the moment when Japanese officers came and led Vaughn away, several days after the Marines were victorious at Iwo Jima.

"He said, 'They've come to get me.' " Iwatake said. "We stood up and shook hands, and he said goodbye. And as he was leaving, he turned and gave me a sad look. I think he knew what was about to happen. They took him to the shore and decapitated him.

"I was shocked when I learned that they had done such a horrible thing."

Iwatake was still on Chichi Jima the day the United States dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. His youngest brother, Takashi, 13, who was attending a school 500 yards from ground zero, was never seen again. The rest of his family was spared because they were farther away, a fact Iwatake didn't know for some time.

Following the war, Iwatake adopted the first name Warren in memory of his friend. He was also stripped of his American citizenship, and, at one point, chased out of the U.S. Consulate in Tokyo after being called a traitor.

In 1948 he was denied an American passport on the grounds that he had fought for the enemy. Oddly enough, for 35 years Iwatake worked as a reporter and media relations specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo.

Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that those with dual citizenship who were conscripted into the Japanese Army could not lose their U.S. citizenship. The first time Iwatake returned to Maui was more than two decades after he had left. He has been home for every class reunion since.

Over the years Iwatake says he has wondered many times about the consequences of war. What might have happened if Warren Vaughn had lived, or if a submarine had not surfaced to save the other downed pilot?

Iwatake was startled to learn decades after the war that that rescued pilot was former President George H.W. Bush. Last year he and Bush finally met. The meeting place was Chichi Jima.

The two exchanged pleasantries and swapped recollections about the day Bush's Avenger bomber splashed down.

"He was very interested in Warren Vaughn, who was Texan," said Iwatake. "He just talked to me like a friend."

Shortly after their visit, the former president sent Iwatake a photograph of himself with an inscription that holds profound significance.

"He signed it, 'To Warren Iwatake — A true friend to America, a man who lived through hell, but remains a kinder, gentler person,' " said Iwatake with obvious pride.