#130: Tales from Punchbowl, Part VI

We recently lost another pioneer of the space race so the episode begins with a eulogy for astronaut Bill Anders, who took one of the most famous photographs in history, and ends with the life of Isaac Akinawa, arguably the most respected medic in the 100th Infantry Battalion.

This week's Ghosts of the Pacific are:

1. Ambassador & Air Force Major General William Anders - burial information TBD
2. Army Technician Fourth Grade Isaac Akinaka - Section E, Grave 133-A
3. Yaiko Gwen Yamaki Akinawa - Section E, Grave 133-A

The Ghosts of the Pacific Theme is Ukulele and Love Birds by emjaydabayou, with a few Waves of Hawaii added for ambiance.

The Ghosts of the Pacific Transition music are some Uke Chords by turkitron.

As always, a very special thanks to Mountain Up Cap Company for its continued help to spread the word about the podcast on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/MountainUpCapCompany Climb to Glory!

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Transcript

Welcome back to another Ghosts of the Pacific edition of Ghosts of Arlington, and thank you for joining me for Episode 130: Tales from Punchbowl, Pat IV.

This week we are continuing the profile of a few select Nisei soldiers who fought in World War II with the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, or the Military Intelligence Service - though to be fair, last week’s tale from Punchbowl centered on Korean American Young Oak Kim who was of Korean, not Japanese descent.

Before I jump into the Ghosts of the Pacific portion of today’s episode, another pioneer of the space race has left us so as has become a tradition on the podcast, I wanted to take some time to eulogize the astronaut who took one of the most famous pictures in the history of photography. Now, let’s queue the space race intro -

William Anders was born on October 17, 1933 in Hong Kong where his father, Arthur, a US Navy lieutenant, was stationed. The family moved from Hong Kong to Anapolis, Maryland so his father could teach mathematics to the midshipmen before returning to China on new orders, this time to Nanjing. Shortly after the family moved to Nanjing, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out and Japan invaded China. 

In December of that year, Anders’s father was serving as the executive officer of the river gunboat USS Panay patrolling the Yangtze river, when it was struck by Japanese bombers. The Japanese government later said the attack on the US ship was unintentional and accepted full responsibility. Four people were killed and 43 - including Arthur Anders - were wounded.

From the porch of the Guangzhou hotel where young Bill and his mother Muriel were staying at the time, they could see Japanese aircraft bombing ships on the Pearl River some 200 yards (or 180 m) away. The river was their only means of escape so despite the threat of Japanese aircraft, the fact that the river was mined, and the constant danger of being boarded by bandits, Muriel, Bill, and many others fled Nanjing via this dangerous escape route. If you know the history of the Rape of Nanjing you will agree that running these risks was well worth it. 

Bill and his mother eventually reached the Philippines, where they awaited news of Arthur. After the sinking of the Panay, Arthur Anders was rescued by the British and sent to San Diego Naval Hospital to recover from his wounds and a staphylococcal infection. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Navy Cross but was medically discharged from the Navy. Though he would be recalled during World War II.

Following this harrowing event, the family stayed in Southern California, where Anders was active in the Boy Scouts, achieving the organization's second-highest rank, Life Scout. As a teenager, to improve his grades so that he could be accepted at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Anders attended a military academy prep school in downtown San Diego. The school lay under the flight path into Lindbergh Field - today known as San Diego International Airport - and aircraft such as the huge Convair B-36 Peacemaker would fly low over the school. Anders was fascinated with flight and built model aircraft. 

He graduated from Boyden in 1951 and, following in the footsteps of his father, was accepted into the Naval Academy. Though his dream was to become a pilot, during his time in Annapolis, he realized that he did not want to fly off of aircraft carriers. In his mind, Naval aviators had too many fatal accidents; so when he graduated in 1955 with a degree in electrical engineering, chose to be commissioned an Air Force second lieutenant.

After receiving his pilot wings in 1956 he became a fighter pilot with the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, an all-weather interceptor squadron of the Air Defense Command based at Hamilton Air Force Base in California, flying F-89 Scorpions equipped with nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles. He then served with the 57th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron in Iceland, where he participated in intercepts of Soviet heavy bombers, which were challenging America's air defense borders. After a year he returned to the 84th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Hamilton, which was now flying the F-101 Voodoo.

During these flying assignments, Anders set his sights on becoming a test pilot. He spoke to US test pilot legend and future Ghosts of Arlington Chuck Yeager, who recommended that he first obtain an advanced degree. Anders submitted an application to the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, hoping to study aeronautical engineering, but the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program was ongoing at the time, and the AFIT had him study nuclear engineering instead. Undeterred, while studying nuclear engineering by day, he took a course in aeronautical engineering at nearby Ohio State University. He graduated from the Air Force Institute of Technology with a Master’s of Science in nuclear engineering in 1962. By that time the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program had been canceled so he was assigned to the Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where he was responsible for the technical management of the nuclear power reactor programs.

In 1963, Anders applied to become an Air Force test pilot, but before hearing back, NASA announced it would be recruiting ten to fifteen new astronaut candidates for Projects Gemini and Apollo. Unlike the previous two, this third group of astronauts would not be required to be test pilots, so Anders applied to the NASA program as well and on October 17, 1963 was accepted as a member of the astronaut class that was nicknamed The Next Fourteen. Three days later, Yeager informed Anders that he was not accepted into the test pilot program but encouraged him to apply again the next year.

As you may recall from Episode 59, Anders was chosen to be part of the Apollo 8 mission, the first crewed spacecraft to leave Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the moon. The crew - also consisting of Frank Borman and Jim Lovell - became the first three humans to orbit the moon and as such, the see and photograph the far side of the moon.

During the Apollo 8 mission, on December 24, 1968, after the crew’s third orbit of the moon, they witnessed a sight that blew them all away - the illuminated Earth, like a bright blue marble, appearing above the gray barren lunar landscape below them. Anders quickly asked Lovell to hand him a roll of color film and snapped the first color photograph of Earth taken from space. The photo was dubbed Earthrise and quickly circulated around the world. I can almost guarantee that you have seen it and will post a copy on the website - www.ghostsofarlingtonpodcast.com - so you can see for yourself.

Reflecting on the lasting impact of the Earthrise photo - later picked by Life magazine as one of the most iconic of the century - Anders noted that it gained iconic status over time and helped people realize the need to take care of our fragile planet. He remarked on the photograph's message for humanity, highlighting the contrast between our only home and the conflicts, including nuclear threats and terrorism, that we face. "It amazes me. We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.

On conservation of the planet, he said:

If you can imagine yourself in a darkened room with only one clearly visible object, a small blue-green sphere about the size of a Christmas-tree ornament, then you can begin to grasp what the Earth looks like from space. I think that all of us subconsciously think that the Earth is flat ... Let me assure you that, rather than a massive giant, it should be thought of as the fragile Christmas-tree ball which we should handle with considerable care.

After astronauts began landing on the moon in 1969, Anders felt that his chances of commanding a Moon mission were slim. On 16 May 1969, President Richard Nixon nominated him to become the executive secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council. This was the highest government post ever offered to an astronaut up to that time. The Space Council consisted of the Administrator of NASA, the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Transportation, and was chaired by the Vice President. He accepted the appointment and was confirmed by the Senate.

In his new role, Anders was responsible for developing aeronautical and space policy. He worked closely with the Office of Science and Technology and the Office of Management and Budget, but this led him to become increasingly pessimistic about the future of the Space Council specifically and the space program generally. He opposed the development of the Space Shuttle, urging instead that NASA concentrate on developing the Skylab space station. He argued that a small Space Shuttle would be a better option than a large one, but the large one was approved because it would involve more jobs in California. Frustrated with the Space Council’s lack of influence, he recommended in 1972 that it be abolished and it was June 30, 1973

But Nixon was impressed by Anders and wanted to keep him in the administration. On August 6, 1973, he appointed Anders to the five-member Atomic Energy Council. Nixon felt that the commission was dominated by lawyers and he wanted an engineer on it. The chairman of the Atomic Energy Council, Dixy Lee Ray, appointed Anders to be the lead commissioner for nuclear and non-nuclear power research and development. He also served as the U.S. chairman of the joint US-Soviet Union nuclear fission and fusion power technology exchange program. On January 19, 1975, President Gerald Ford appointed Anders as the first chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

After his term as Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair, Anders was asked if he would be interested in an ambassadorship. He wasn’t too keen on the idea but his wife Valerie convinced him to consider Norway, if it was available, based on their trip to that Scandinavian country during their post-Apollo 8 world publicity tour. So Anders asked about Norway. It was, and he served as a US Ambassador to Norway from April 13, 1976 to June 18, 1977.

After returning from Norway, Anders retired from public life and served as an executive for General Electric and its vice president and general manager of its Nuclear Products Division. He left GE in 1984 to join Textron as its executive vice president for aerospace.

When he left NASA in 1969, Anders transitioned from the active duty Air Force to the Air Force Reserve, in 1988, he retired from the Air Force reserve as a major general, one of only a handful of astronauts to achieve general officer or flag rank. 

In January 1990 he became vice chair of General Dynamics. On January 1, 1991 he became its Chairman and CEO. The quarter before he became the CEO the company lost $858 million - the worst quarter in the company’s history. By the time he retired as CEO in 1993 and Chairman in 1994, General Dynamics was on solid financial footing and its share prices had quadrupled, netting Anders a cool $40 million - more than $86 million in 2024 dollars!

Following retirement, Anders and his wife purchased a house in Anacortes, Washington, overlooking Puget Sound and Burrows Island. After realizing he disliked the winters in northwest Washington, he purchased a second home in the Point Loma community of San Diego, California.

Anders later established the William A. Anders Foundation, a philanthropic organization for the benefit of educational and environmental issues. He also founded the Heritage Flight Museum in 1996 in Bellingham, Washington, which moved to Skagit Regional Airport in Burlington, Washington, in 2014. This is run by his family, with Anders as president until 2008, his wife Valerie as secretary, son Greg as vice president, executive director and webmaster, and son Alan as vice president and director of maintenance.

Ambassador and Air Force Major General William Anders died on 7 June 2024, at the age of 90, while flying the vintage T-34 Mentor registered to him. The aircraft crashed into the waters of north Puget Sound between Jones Island and Orcas Island and was seen by witnesses as going down into a small channel between the two islands, then sinking after catching fire. After witnesses reported seeing the plane take a nosedive and crash in the water, a search was launched by the U.S. Coast Guard and the San Juan County Sheriff's Department. Later that day, Anders' son, Greg, confirmed the death of his father and that his body had been recovered. Beginning with his Air Force career, Anders had logged over 8,000 flight hours. He was survived by his wife, Valerie, six children, and thirteen grandchildren. 

A few of his many awards and accolades include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Nuclear Regulatory Commission Distinguished Service Medal, National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal for Exploration, the US Air Force Collier, Harmon, Dr. Robert H. Goddard, and General Thomas D. White USAF Trophies, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, American Astronautical Society's Flight Achievement Award, and the American Defense Preparedness Association's Industry Leadership Award.

In 1970, along with his Apollo 8 crewmembers, Anders received the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’s Haley Astronautics Award. In October 2018, the International Astronomical Union named a crater seen in the Earthrise photo as "Anders' Earthrise". In March 2023, Bill Anders was awarded the 2023 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement; by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Anders was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1983, the International Air & Space Hall of Fame in 1990, the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1997, and the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2004.

He was a member of Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society, American Nuclear Society, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Academy of Engineering, and Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

In 2018, while appearing on the C-SPAN channel brook review with Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, Anders confirmed that he was so relaxed after he was strapped into the Apollo 8 Capsule, while his crewmates were pumped up with adrenaline, he fell asleep waiting for the launch.

Only time will tell if he will be interred with the many other astronauts at Arlington National Cemetery, or if his remains will be delivered elsewhere.

[TRANSITION MUSIC]

Today’s regularly scheduled portion of the podcast is about Isaac Fukuo Akinaka, who we initially met back in Episode 124 when he had some very nice things to say about Lieutenant Colonel Farrant Turner, the 100th Battalion’s first commander, when the old man was relieved of command and medically discharged.

Akinaka's father, Kenjiro Akinaka, immigrated from Japan to Hawaii in the late 1890s to work in the pineapple fields of Maui. After his plantation contract expired, Kenjiro moved to Oahu where he became a successful cement layer and stone mason in Honolulu. His success allowed him to send for a picture bride. The term picture bride refers to an early 20th century practice where immigrant workers would marry women on the recommendation of a matchmaker who exchanged photographs between prospective brides and grooms.

Arranged marriages were not unusual in Japan and originated in the warrior class of the late Tokugawa period. Men and women had different motivations for Marrying or becoming  a picture bride and despite these differences, these picture brides, or shashin hanayome, were critical to the establishment of the Japanese community in both Hawai'i and America.

After Fusa Akagi arrived in Hawaii from Kenjiro’s hometown of Hiroshima, the two were married. They lived in a small house in Honolulu’s Kaimuki district which they were eventually able to buy.

Kenjiro was 40 years old when he and Fusa had their second of six eventual children, a son, on May 15, 1911. They named him Fukuo - meaning “lucky boy” in Japanese. To better assimilate into the local culture, Fukuo would later change his name to Isaac. Kenjiro’s business continued to thrive until the Great Depression in late 1929. Isaac Akinaka graduated from McKinley High School in 1930 but the family was struck by a series of tragedies in 1933. 

Kenjiro died unexpectedly of a heart attack. In her despair, Fusa committed suicide, and as a result of losing both parents in quick succession, two younger siblings suffered nervous breakdowns, leaving both emotionally unable to cope and disabled. The responsibility for keeping the family together in the house during this difficult time fell on the oldest sister before Beatrice and Isaac, who was 22.

For two years, Isaac struggled to find any kind of job. He was a caddy at the Waialae Country club, delivered newspapers, tarred roofs, and traveled to Molokai to work as a farm laborer in an effort to earn money. In 1935 he finally found regular work as a boilerman’s assistant at a Honolulu hotel.

When his younger sister Jessie became interested in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who had had a strong presence on Oahu since the 1850s, Issac made the acquaintance of two Latter-day Saint missionaries. One day after studying the Book of Mormon, which – along with the Old and New Testament – is the holy book of the LDS faith, he felt a great trembling through his body. To him this was a sign that he had been called to God and from that day forward, he became, in his words, “a devout Mormon.”

One day, a few years later, he had a strong feeling that he should  join the army, which he acted on. On December 9, 1940, he enlisted in the 298th Hawaii National Guard for one year. 

Coincidentally, Akinaka’s National Guard obligation officially ended December 8, 1941. He signed his discharge papers on Saturday, December 6th. But on Sunday December 7, Pearl Harbor was attacked and he voluntarily reenlisted. He went straight to camp and recorded his thoughts in a journal, something he did regularly. He wrote: “This whole thing seems like a bad dream but as the news comes off the radio… this horrible catastrophe became a reality.”

In late May 1942, the 298th Japanese American soldiers were transferred to a separate unit called the Hawaii Provisional Battalion, and on June 5th, transported on the U.S. Army transport ship, USAT Maui, to Oakland, California.  At this point, the battalion was renamed the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) and put on trains and taken to Camp MCoy, Wisconsin (Episode 123). At 31-years-old, Akinaka was one of the oldest Soldiers in the battalion.

One of his first acts upon arriving in Wisconsin was to reach out to the local Latter-day Saint congregation so he could worship with them, though he was unsure how he would be received. To his relief and joy, the welcomed him with open arms and made sure he had a ride to their services in nearby Lacrosse every week for the duration of his training at McCoy.

Though some of his fellow soldiers during training teased Akinaka because he never swore, smoked or drank and spent his free time studying the Book of Mormon. He soon became respected for his steadfast devotion to his faith.

In his diary he describes his training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi as a time of: great heat, ticks, staying up all night learning to operate a radio, red dust that covered the men, and eight hour marches in the hot sun with little water. He wrote of feeling like “a dried prune…. so hot I can’t even seem to think.”

Before shipping off the battlefields of Europe he received a blessing from one of the church leaders in Wisconsin. He recorded that in the blessing he was told that he need not fear when he went into battle because God would protect him. He wrote: “In my blessing, I was promised that I [would] return safely back to Hawaii…… despite the many close calls in the war…, I was brought back safely with hardly any mark on me except for a small knick on my left knee, which was caused by an exploding grenade mine.” 

Although Akinaka initially trained as a radio operator in the Headquarters company, shortly after the battalion entered combat in Italy he volunteered to become a medic as casualties mounted. He had no medical training, but tended to the wounded, carrying many to safety. Whenever he jumped out of a foxhole to save men, he would repeat the 23rd Psalm over and over in his head: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…..” 

He took so many risks he wrote that at one point a Protestant chaplain cautioned him “not to tempt the Lord.” For his actions at the Battle of Monte Cassino he was awarded a Silver Star to go along with the Bronze Star he had already earned. There, on the 8th of February 1944, he braved machine gun and artillery fire to save several severely wounded men caught in a fire fight. 

Akinaka’s Silver Star citation reads in part, “The company to which… Akinaka was attached was attacking under cover of a smoke screen. The wind suddenly changed direction, exposing the attacking company to the full view of the enemy, and immediately terrific machine gun and artillery fire was directed upon them.  …Akinaka unhesitatingly left his defiladed position, went forward, and moving swiftly from one wounded man to another during the firefight, administered first-aid to the several wounded.  Finding two of his comrades in a particularly exposed position, …Akinaka carried them from the field of battle. Although exploding shells showered him with dirt and rocks and any movement brought intense enemy machine pistol and machine gun fire upon him, he did not stop until he had cared for all the wounded…”

In that article, fellow medic Ken Otagaki singled out Akinaka as being an extraordinarily dedicated and brave litter bearer. He said, Akinaka always volunteered to carry the front of the litter and would constantly drag Otagaki back and forth from the front lines to the medical aid station. <<QUOTE>> “And during the night, he was so devoted to his job, I could see the tracers whizzing by. Oh, it was thick, but he would say, ‘We got to go; those guys are hurt. They need our help,'”

It was Akinaka’s sad task during the battle of Monte Cassino to retrieve Major Jack Johnson from the minefield where he was mortally wounded. At the end of the battle he would write: “ When we were relieved and pulled off the line, I was the only frontline medic left, walking back.”

Isaac was shipped back to the US shortly after the US Army took Monte Cassino in June 1944. Initially, he spent a short furlough in Salt Lake City where he was able to visit many of his church’s religious and historic sites there. After the furlough, he spent some time at Madigan General Hospital at Fort Lewis, Washington where he started a more formal medic training regime which he completed at Fitzsimmons General Hospital in Dever, Colorado. During his time in Colorado he met Gwen Yaiko Yamaki  and the two were married on April 17, 1945. After the wedding, the newlyweds moved back to Fort Lewis where Akinaka was made the wardenmaster of Madigan’s prisoner of war psychiatric ward.  

After the end of the war, Akinaka was discharged from the Army and he and Gwen moved to the small family home in Hawaii. Upon returning to the island, Akinaka and Gwen had two sons, Ken and Vance, and he went on to receive a business degree from the University of Hawaii. Unable to find work to support his young family, the Akinakas moved to Chicago for a short time and then to Los Angeles in 1952 where Isaac was employed as a prison guard in the California Department of Corrections and the couple had another son, Bruce. While a guard, he initiated the first psychology classes for prisoners in California, teaching them how they could live meaningful lives.

Life for the Akinaka family was not easy in California. Growing up as one of the only Japanese families in the blue collar, white prison guard community during a time when anti-Japanese prejudice still existed was difficult, especially for Ken and Vance. Neither felt at home outside of Hawaii. To make matters worse, Isaac and Gwen were often so busy trying to provide for their family that the boys were often left alone to deal with their situation. Vance found an outlet through surfing but Ken dealt with the isolation and loneliness by drifting into heroin addiction. 

Ken knew that his heroin use caused his parents great emotional pain. He was eventually able to overcome his addiction and become a highly respected addiction counselor in California and Hawaii. One of Ken’s happiest memories is the final reconciliation he had with his father in the hospital before he died. 

Technician Fourth Grade Isaac Fukuo Akinaka died from unexpected complications following a surgery on June 25, 1984. He was 73 years old. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section E, Grave 133-A. His wife Gwen was laid to rest  beside him when she passed away on October 10, 2001 at age 83.

On October 5, 2010, Akinaka was posthumously awarded the Nisei Congressional Gold Medal.

I hope you enjoyed this look at an unsung hero of the 100th Infantry Battalion. Next week we’ll hear the story of Ken Otagaki, another one of the 100th’s amazing combat medics.