Richard Sakakida
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Richard Motoso Sakakida (, November 19, 1920 – January 23, 1996) was a
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
intelligence agent stationed in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
at the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He was captured and tortured for months after the fall of the country to
Imperial Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...
, but managed to convince the Japanese that he was a civilian and was released. Employed by the Japanese Fourteenth Army (though still under suspicion), he gathered and passed along valuable information to the Philippine resistance. He also planned and participated in the mass escape of about 500 Filipino prisoners.


Early life

Sakakida was born and raised in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
. He was a
Nisei is a Japanese language, Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the nikkeijin, ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants, or . The , or Second generation imm ...
, the youngest of four children of Japanese immigrant parents. He was recruited into the U.S. Army in March 1941, while America was still neutral in World War II. Fluent in Japanese, he was sworn in as a sergeant and was one of the first two Japanese Americans to be assigned to the Corps of Intelligence Police (the other being fellow Nisei Arthur Komori), which became the
Counterintelligence Corps The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and ...
shortly after America's entry in the war. After intensive training, on April 7, 1941, he and Komori set sail for the Philippines, then an American possession, aboard the . Upon their arrival in
Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...
, they were assigned to spy on the Japanese community in the city, posing as merchant sailors who had jumped ship.


World War II

After the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, Sakakida was rounded up by the
Philippine Constabulary The Philippine Constabulary (PC; , ''HPP''; ) was a gendarmerie-type military police force of the Philippines from 1901 to 1991, and the predecessor to the Philippine National Police. It was created by the Insular Government, American occupat ...
and eventually ended up in Bilibid Prison, still maintaining his cover as a civilian, but he was recognized and released. He joined the American retreat, first to
Bataan Bataan (, , , ; ) , officially the Province of Bataan, is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entire Bataan Peninsula ...
, then to
Corregidor Corregidor (, , ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in the southwestern part of Luzon in the Philippines, and is considered part of Cavite City and thus the province of Cavite. It is located west of Manila, the nation's capi ...
. His duties involved translating documents and interrogating Japanese prisoners of war. The situation on Corregidor being hopeless, Sakakida and Komori were eventually ordered to fly out on one of the last evacuation aircraft. Sakakida persuaded his superiors to let attorney Clarence Yamagata take his seat; Sakakida was unmarried, while Yamagata had a wife and children living in Japan and his pro-American activities had been more public. The airplane left on April 13, 1942, and managed to avoid Japanese interception. Sakakida accompanied General Jonathan Wainwright as his interpreter during the surrender negotiations. After the surrender of Corregidor in early May, "Sakakida became the only Japanese-American to be captured by the Japanese forces in the Philippines." By Japanese law, he was considered to be a Japanese citizen because of his ancestry, and was charged with treason. The ''
Kempeitai The , , was the military police of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The organization also shared civilian secret police that specialized in clandestine and covert operation, counterinsurgency, counterintelligence, HUMINT, interrogated suspects ...
'' (military police) interrogated and tortured him for two months, but were unable to shake his story that he was a civilian who had worked for the U.S. Army under duress. Sakakida's mother had taken the precaution of voiding his Japanese citizenship at the Japanese consulate in Hawaii in August 1941, and the charge of treason was dropped. He spent nearly a year in one prison after another, before his case was reviewed in February 1943 by Colonel Nishiharu, Chief Judge Advocate of Fourteenth Army Headquarters. Nishiharu concluded Sakakida was most likely innocent, and hired him in March as a staff translator''Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II'', James C. McNaughton. p. 458 and personal houseboy. However, he periodically faced devious attempts to trick him into betraying himself. Despite this, security was lax, and Sakakida was often left alone with sensitive military documents, some of which he proceeded to memorize or steal. When a woman showed up at the Judge Advocate General's office to obtain a pass to visit her imprisoned guerrilla leader husband, Ernest Tupas, Sakakida took the risk of revealing his true identity to her. Mrs. Tupas put him in touch with the Philippine resistance, to whom he passed information. He also devised a plan for a mass escape for Tupas and other Filipino prisoners. On a night in October 1943, it was set in motion. Sakakida posed as a Japanese officer and led a band of guerrillas into the prison at Muntinglupa. After knocking out or overpowering the unsuspecting guards, the rescuers freed nearly 500 inmates. Sakakida returned to his quarters with no one the wiser. According to the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
1996 obituary of Sakakida, three former guerrillas, including a Roman Catholic priest, claimed that he "fabricated his role in the escape." Senator
Daniel Akaka Daniel Kahikina Akaka (; September 11, 1924 – April 6, 2018) was an American educator and politician who served as a United States Senator from Hawaii from 1990 to 2013. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Born in Honolulu, he served in ...
of Hawaii responded that "Sakakida's story has 'been confirmed time and time again.'" In December 1944, Sakakida decided that the time had finally come to flee. He hid in the jungle, cut off from any news. The war had been over for weeks when he made contact with American soldiers in September 1945.''Nisei Linguists'', James C. McNaughton. p. 459


Post-war

Sakakida returned to the Counterintelligence Corps and was promoted to master sergeant. He testified at the
war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...
s trial of General
Tomoyuki Yamashita was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Yamashita led Japanese forces during the invasion of Malaya and Battle of Singapore. His conquest of Malaya and Singapore in 70 days earned him the sobriquet "The Tig ...
, as he had been an interpreter in the office of the general's Judge Advocate. He remained in Manila for eighteen months, working on war crime investigations; he encountered some of his former torturers, whom he forgave. He was commissioned in 1947. He married Cherry M. Kiyosaki of Maui on September 25, 1948. He transferred to the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After retiring in 1975, he lived in
Fremont, California Fremont () is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San F ...
. He died of
lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...
on January 23, 1996. He was survived by his wife.


Awards and honors

For his accomplishments, he was awarded the
Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...
,
Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...
and two
Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fift ...
s, and was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. He also received four medals from the Philippine government, including the
Philippine Legion of Honor The Philippine Legion of Honor (; ) was established by President Manuel Roxas, through Philippine Army Circular No. 60 dated July 3, 1947. The Philippine Legion of Honour, Honor was patterned after the Legion of Merit of the United States of Amer ...
(degree of Legionnaire), presented to him by Ambassador Raul Rabe at a ceremony at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 1994. Despite efforts to have Sakakida awarded the
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
, the Army refused to consider it on the grounds that a statute required that a recommendation be filed by 1951 at the latest. Senator Akaka introduced legislation to waive this condition. On February 17, 1999, the senator announced that Sakakida had been posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.


Bibliography

*''A Spy in Their Midst: The World War II Struggle of a Japanese-American Hero'', Richard Sakakida, as told to Wayne S. Kiyosaki. Madison Books, 1995. *''Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II'', James C. McNaughton. U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2007.
full text


References


See also



an account in Sakakida's own words of his espionage career, Japanese American Veterans Association website {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakakida, Richard Motoso 1920 births 1996 deaths Hawaii people of Japanese descent Interwar-period spies World War II spies for the United States United States Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army officers United States Air Force officers American military personnel of Japanese descent American expatriates in the Philippines