Tadao Naito, 81, veteran of WWII, Korean War

Advertiser Staff

Tadao Naito, a retired carpenter, member of the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II and prisoner of war during the Korean War, died April 1. He was 81.

Naito was born in Pearl City and graduated from McKinley High School in 1940. He served two years with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Europe during World War II.

In 1948, Naito re-enlisted in the Army and was one of the first American soldiers to see battle in Korea. On Nov. 6, 1950, Naito was captured by the North Koreans, and his whereabouts remained unknown for nearly a year.

In October 1951, his parents received a letter from their son, who said he was being held in a prison camp in North Korea. He wrote that the only way he would return home would be for the war to end.

Naito spent nearly three years in the prison camp. He said he and the other prisoners had very little to eat, and that they were forced to hear lectures on the benefits of communism.

Naito later worked as a carpenter for J.M. Tanaka Construction Co.

Naito is survived by his wife, Eleanor; grandson, Chad; mother, Tsugi; brother, Setsuo; and sisters, Hanako Okazaki and Dorothy Tsutsumi.

Visitation at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Hosoi Garden Mortuary; service at 6 p.m.