The 1981 Club Officers Are Installed by the Reverend Hiro Higuchi; and Members and Wives at the January 17 Installation Party
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B 100 * **** JANUARY - FEBRUARY, 1981 Vol. 35, No.1 THE 1981 CLUB OFFICERS ARE INSTALLED BY THE REVEREND HIRO HIGUCHI; AND MEMBERS AND WIVES AT THE JANUARY 17 INSTALLATION PARTY. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE By the time this issue of the Puka Puka Parade reaches you, we will have our foot well inside the 1981 door--actually the PUKA PUKA PARADE first year of the 1980 decade. Official Publication of Club 100, an Incorporated Associa tion of members of the lOath Infantry Battalion. Editorial At our January 17 install ation, we s eem and Business Office, 520 Kamoku Street, Honolulu, Hawaii to have started in the direc tion of more 96826. Published bimonthly and mailed to club members, active participation by the "100th group." honorary members, next of kin, Gold Star parents and As many of you who were there know, over special friends of the club. Phone 946-4286. 250 members, wives and guests got together. For some it was a reunion--not having seen PUKA PUKA PARADE STAFF each other for years. It was a good fellow ship night--topped by good food and a very Editor. Donald Kuwaye informative talk by O. A. "Ozzie" Bushnell, Assistant . .. .. .. .. ...... ....Charlotte Mitsutani author of "Water of Kane" and :'Stone of Kannon." REPORTING STAFF We have been told that the opening of the Able .... .................... Tom Fujise 100/442 Exhibit at Presidio Army Museum, Baker ......... ................ Richard Oguro San Francisco, will be on Saturday, Charlie . Ralph Ikeda March 7, 1981. All indications are that Dog ................... .. Mrs. Helen Nikaido it will be a gala affair to be carried by F Co ......... ...... ...... Kenneth Higa national press and T.V. media. Each of Headquarters .................... Kenichi Suehiro the c l ub members is invited to the banquet, Rural . .......... ..... .. .... Hakaru Taoka the t icket for which is being sold at Hawaii ...... .... .... ....... Walter Kadota Maui ... ..... .. ... ........... Tom Nagata $30 .00. We realize that transportation Kaui ............ .... ......... Ben Morimoto is a problem for us in Hawaii. Those who So. Calif........ .. .. .. .. Tad Hashimoto are on the mainland do not face the same Dance Club ..... .. .... .... Yasuo Takata situation. If we are able to attend, let's Bonsai Club . .... ... .....Mrs. Florence Matsumura do so and not just say "Let the other guys Special Writer .... ... ... ........Ben Tamashiro do it." We'd like to see maximum parti Special Writer .. ... ... Mrs. Gloria Tamashiro cipation in this once-in-a-lifetime project. Cooking Class . ... ....... Mrs. Rut h Kajikawa There may be some questions a s to why the BOARD OF DIRECTORS fuss? Several of the 100th men were inter viewed for the book "Go For Broke". Many CLUB 100 OFFICERS photos from personal col lections of the President ..... ... .. .. .... Hideo Kajikawa 100th members and some documentaries from 1st Vice President .. .. ........ .... Martin Tohara the Club 100 files are part of the pool 2nd Vice President.......... .... Stanley Nakamot o from which the book is being prepared. We Secretary . ... ... .. ...... .. Sonsei Nakamura understand that War Department and Signal Treasurer . .. ... ... .... Walter Iwasa Corps photos which had not heretofore been Assistant Treasurer . ... ... ...Mikio Takahashi made available to the public are also in this pool. CHAPTER PRESIDENTS We have been told that· both of our U.S. Able . ... ......... ...... Y oshiharu Nishida Senators are very enthused about this Baker . .. ....... .. ...... ... Robert Sakoki Charlie .. ... .. .. ................Warren Iwai project which is backed by the U.S. Army. Dog . Hiromi Urabe This project deserves our full support. Headquarters . .. .. ......... .. Kenichi Suehiro Medics . ....... .. ...... .. .. .. Kent Nakamura Our next club affair will be the Anniversary Rural . .. ... .. ......... ..... Stanley Hamai luau, scheduled for June 27, in Honolulu. Hawaii. .. Kazuma Taguchi Details will be announced later but for now Maui ... .... .... .. .. .. Nobuyoshi Furukawa reserve that date to get together again with Kauai . Ben Morimoto the 100th guys. Sout hern California . Y. B. Mamiya Hideo Kajikawa The second of a two-part interview with Mitsuyoshi Fukuda, Able Chapter; former commander, 100th Infantry Battalion In The Spirit Of The One-Puka-Puka by Ben Tamashiro Toward the close of the first interview, Mits Fukuda talked a bit about the bravery of guys like Young O. Kim; how, for example, he and his group of men would usually be the ones to volunteer to go out and capture some of the enemy whenever there was a need for information on enemy dispositions. Said Mi ts, "I can't picture myself volunteering for that kind of job." And as to what made the 100th the kind of outfit that it was, he credits it partly to the fact that "there was no such thing as shirking, refusing to do it. Why? Because the rest of us were doing it. We were all part of a team. And if we were told to go forward, we'd go forward." The interview continues .• "But I remember at one point we didn't go forward. This was at the battle of Cassino, at the Rapido River. We (Companies A and C) were told to attack at midnight. And from eleven to midnight, there was an artillery bombardment on the hillside and town of Cassino. It was spectacular fireworks and the whole hillside was just bursting in flames. Nobody could live through all that. When the bombardment lifted, we advanced through the fields on the flat lands and then got to the river wall. Soon as we got there we were hit by - I don't know - maybe, hundreds of guns. And we just couldn't get over the wall. A lot of guys got hit while still crawling through the flat lands. And at the river, at places where the line of fire of the machine guns could not reach, the Germans had those areas mined. So we had to call for mine-sweepers and guys like Calvin Shimogaki helped clear paths so we could go through. "We got to the wall and we couldn't move. The wall was about ten feet high, then the river, and another bank we had to go over. So we stayed there. We got orders to go over the bank the next morning and storm the hill. But every time a guy stuck his head out, he'd get hit. I remember Larry Hiraoka getting hit in the eye, just sticking his head out. To me, it was an impossible situation. So we just stayed put. Then the battalion commander sent Baker Company in broad daylight across the flat lands and they got hit. Some of the guys made it to the river wall but they, too, weren't able to get over the wall. "Looking back over the flat lands, some of our guys were already wounded. We could hear them moaning. But nobody could go out to rescue them till nightfall. "I went back to headquarters that night and reported the situation to them but I guess the higher ups in the (34th) division felt we could storm the hill. So they sent Major Jack Johnson with me so he could get to see the actual situation. And while we were crossing the mine field he got hit. Whether he was hit by a machine gun or a mine that had exploded, I'm not sure. We stayed at our position by the wall for two nights, then pulled back. "So there were occasions when in spite of orders, we were unable to go forward." 3 The main battle for Cassino began on the night of January 24, 1944, when the 141st and 143rd Regiments of the 36th (Texas) Division were thrown into the battle. Earlier, the enemy had dammed the Rapido River further up north and diverted its waters into the flat lands, flooding its ditches. The attacking regiments therefore had to not only make therr way through torturous mine fields covering every line of approach to the river but also struggle their way through a flooded land. Carrying lightweight boats with them, several companies managed to cross the river. But with daylight, men and equipment on both sides of the river became sitting ducks for enemy tanks and self-propelled guns. After a calamitous two days and nights at the river, the regiments had to withdraw. (The division lost over 1600 men in the effort, half of them missing. After the war, the 36th Division Association obtained a Congressional Enquiry into the battle with the intent of pinning responsibility for the debacle on 5th Army commander General Mark Clark but he was exonerated.) (In his book, "The Battle of Cassino," author Fred Majdalany says of this initial disaster: "The two regimental commanders who bore the burden of this operation could not help themselves. Their thinking had been done for them. They had merely to carry out an extremely difficult assignment, with little scope to influence the proceedings themselves , and i seems clear that their Divisional Staff had committed a number of elemental mistakes in planning the operation. For the Germans it was an easy thing. They knew ~ere the crossing would take place; they knew the lines of approach that were going to be used ; they knew when to expect the attack as they could see the final preparations in the assembly areas. ") Fukuda's recollection of the 100th oil is of an action which took pI two days after the 36th nightmare, to the ri ht of the 36th's position. And 100th had to slog its way through the S~ flooded lands and mine fields only be stopped at the river wall by an enemy rno long ago had made preparations for protracted stand at Cassino; a battle which lasted four months and ended on y ·th the taking of the Abbey of Monte Cas sino on But the lOath as pulle 0 during the middle of the battle and left ap rhor on March 5 for Anzio.