My partner Arthur yelled, “Right down the pee-pee-lee-nee!” Editor’s note: Stories of Kauai is a column submitted by the Kauai Historical Society that will be published every other Saturday in The Garden Island. My partner Arthur yelled, “Right down the
My partner Arthur yelled, “Right down the pee-pee-lee-nee!”
Editor’s note: Stories of Kauai is a column submitted by the Kauai Historical Society that will be published every other Saturday in The Garden Island.
My partner Arthur yelled, “Right down the pee-pee-lee-nee!”
“Straight as a pipeline,” I said.
It was hard to believe that my genial golfing companion had been a spy for America before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A McKinley High School and University of Hawaii graduate, Arthur had a deep love of his country.
In February of 1941 the United States military authorized the recruitment of two Nisei to serve as spies against Japan. Komori was one of those chosen.
Arriving in the Philippines in April, without training in counter-intelligence, Komori was ordered to infiltrate the Japanese community in Manila. After several months, Arthur had established himself as a discontented Nisei and accepted as such by the Japanese Consulate.
Despite the danger Komori, passed on useful information to General McArthur, especially about the coming hostilities between Japan and America. Arrested and bayonetted by the Filipino Constabulary after December 7, Komori was rescued from prison by American Counter-Intelligence-Service (CIS) officers.
Komori was put to work interrogating captured Japanese airmen. He developed techniques for wringing useful information from captives.
Because he spoke Japanese and could be trusted, he was sent to Bataan to question prisoners, translate radio interceptions, and identify infiltrating Japanese soldiers posing as Filipinos. Doing this work he was in constant danger of being killed by “friendly fire.”
By early April, Bataan would fall to the Japanese. Komori was ordered out of the peninsula and to Corregidor.
By a few scant hours he missed capture and the infamous “Bataan Death March.” The island fortress could not hold out as the Japanese conquered the Philippines. General McArthur had fled to Australia where he needed counter-intelligence help. Komori was ordered to leave the Philippines.
In a harrowing trip similar to an Indiana Jones adventure, Komori flew from Corregidor to Australia.
There he worked in counter-intelligence, created a manual for interrogating prisoners, and began a school for Nisei to learn intelligence work. This new American espionage group would be called the Military Intelligence Service.
Eventually, 6,000 Japanese-Americans would join into clandestine operations against Japan.
None of this could be reported upon. General MacArthur wanted this information kept secret.
It would take until the year 2000 before these undercover Nisei soldiers of America would be recognized for their service.
It would be 2011 before Congress authorized the Congressional Gold Medal. It is men like my friend, Arthur Komori, who proved their love for our country long before war came.
This despite the anti-Japanese attitude prevalent in the United States that caused the internment of 120,000 American citizens.
In his poetry Arthur expressed how Nisei should respond to America.
What has passed we must forget,
It is the future sweetness,
Calling us to do our best,
We can live by unity,
By devotion, leadership,
And all the noble treasures.
Bill Fernandez is a resident of Kapaa and president of the Kauai Historical Society. Info: www.kauaihistoricalsociety.org
