Bernard Akamine keeps reminders of his World War II service on the walls of his St. Louis Heights home.

A framed silk handkerchief adorned with an image of his wife, Jeanette, and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team's insignia, hangs in his living room. He got the handkerchief in Italy in 1945.

There's also a plaster mold of his unit's insignia and motto, "Go For Broke"; a marble stone with that same image of his wife; and his collection of medals, pins and dog tags, mounted and framed.

"While everybody was looking for prostitutes after the war, I was looking for souvenirs to take home," he said, laughing.

He pointed to his 100th Infantry Battalion combat infantry badge and said he cherishes that the most.

"You can only get it when you go to combat," he said, proudly.

Akamine, now 84 and the grandfather of seven, joined the 100th Infantry Battalion in Italy in April 1945 as a replacement soldier.

"Most of the original 100th went home on rotation or they got killed or wounded," Akamine said. "We were just a bunch of rookies."

He remembers traveling across France in a boxcar that fit either 40 men or eight horses.

When he joined the unit, which had already been absorbed by the 442nd RCT, he had no idea what combat would be like.

"We did a lot of walking," Akamine said. "I remember we were on a forest march. We kept on walking, walking, walking. For five days we were walking. I had to keep up with the guy in front of me as if my life depended on it. I was getting chills."

OCCUPATION OF ITALY

In May 1945 the German Army surrendered and the war in Italy was over.

While many of the soldiers in the 100th Infantry Battalion returned home, Akamine stayed in Italy during the occupation.

Most of his stories are not of combat with the enemy or watching his buddies die on the battlefield.

He talks about using grenades to kill fish and frying their catch in butter. He has stories about mothers turning to prostitution to survive. And he remembers the food.

Once, the soldiers were approaching a village. He could hear the church bells ringing.

Akamine was leading the platoon, single-file, through the village.

The people came out of their homes and shops, clapping and cheering. They handed the American soldiers chestnut bread and goat cheese so fresh it melted in their hands.

Not wanting to be rude, Akamine held the smelly cheese in his hand until they left the village. He didn't want to eat it.

"That smell stayed with me for a long time," he said, laughing.

Seeing the aftermath of war really affected Akamine.

He remembers watching thousands of displaced people from the north heading back home, women carrying their babies and people pushing carts that held all their worldly possessions.

"There were innocent people who suffered because of the war," he said.

SERVICE CONTINUES

That feeling stayed with Akamine, even after he returned to Honolulu in October 1946 and was discharged two months later.

He joined the 100th Infantry Battalion veterans club and, in 1954, when the clubhouse on Kamoku Street was built, took their new motto — "For Continuing Service" — to heart.

He would share his stories about World War II with students, encouraging them to learn a foreign language and appreciate other cultures.

Right now he helps staff the visitor information center at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl on Saturdays. He coordinates the volunteers who help visitors locate gravesites, hand out printed information and answer questions about the cemetery.

He doesn't want to be remembered as a war hero, said his daughter, Drusilla Tanaka, because he's more than that.

He volunteers, builds koi ponds, invents his own recipes, bowls, fishes, fixes anything and dresses up as Santa Claus every Christmas.

"He's told us that he'd like to be remembered as a nice guy," she said. "And it's true. He's always doing something for others. ... For someone who has achieved as much as he has, he is very humble."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.