Mauian who had unique role in war tells story to Hanashi Oral History Program “Serving in the Army Medical Corps, First Lieutenant Seiya Ohata is the only Japanese American who is known to have served in Operation Overlord: the D-Day invasion of the European continent that began on June 6, 1944,” Terry Shima of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA) wrote in a preface to the Maui physician’s story about wartime experiences. Although not involved in the initial invasion and battle at Normandy, Dr. Ohata’s duties as a field medical officer were critical in the care of the heavy casualties from this major battle in American history. “D-Day started on June 6th when General (Dwight) Eisenhower unleashed the mightiest onslaught imaginable and the Allies invaded Normandy,” Dr. Ohata wrote in the account, which was condensed for a presentation at the JAVA annual luncheon in Virginia last year. “We waited, and when the Allies established a beachhead, we were ordered to proceed. I think it was around midnight on June 7th when our landing craft brought us to the shores of Omaha Beach in Normandy. The tide was low and the landing craft could go only so much — we had about 50 yards to go — it seemed like a mile. We had to wade in. My comrades were 6-footers — the water came up to their knees so it was not a problem, but being only 5 foot, the water came up to my waist! I had to carry my backpack over my head — it was very difficult. We finally arrived in the wee hours on June 8th.” National project, local connection
Stories like this that Seiya Ohata of Kula has shared with JAVA and other researchers prompted a request by Barbara Watanabe to have him interviewed for the Hanashi Oral History Program of the Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC). Watanabe is the Hawaii regional director for GFBNEC and a former executive director of the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center. The idea initially came from the personal relationship between Karen Kodama Low, whose dad is former Mauian Richard Kodama, a Military Intelligence Service veteran, and Barbara Huntley, who is Dr. Ohata’s
Hanashi Oral History Program subject Seiya Ohata (second from left) poses with interviewer Leonard Oka (second from right) of Maui’s Sons and Daughters of the Nisei Veterans and Maui Production Company’s Chad Nagano (left) and Dan Takamura. Photo by Kyle Watanabe
Go For Broke National Education Center’s
hanashi oral history program The interviews of Dr. Ohata and the other Nisei veterans from Maui are among more than 1,300 of World War II veterans conducted by Go For Broke National Education Center’s Hanashi project. The project is now expanding to record the life histories of Japanese Americans who served in the Korean War. For more information about the Hanashi project, visit http://goforbroke. org/oral_histories/oral_histories_hanashi. php.
daughter. Information from Karen Kodama Low made its way to GFBNEC offices in Torrance, California, then to Watanabe in Honolulu, and finally to Leonard Oka, president of the Maui’s Sons and Daughters of the Nisei Veterans (MSDNV). Sons and Daughters longtime partner
The Sons and Daughters have partnered with GFBNEC for about 10 years, helping to schedule 35 Maui Niseis for oral history interviews that can be used by GFBNEC, MSDNV and now the NVMC as a first-person resource of our veterans from Maui. 6 – February 2015
From the first contact in mid-August to the actual taping of the interview on September 21, much planning went into making Dr. Ohata’s interview happen. GFBNEC made contact with Dr. Ohata, to explain the process, and it arranged for volunteers on Maui to handle the interview themselves. In the past, GFBNEC would send a crew of volunteers, with their equipment, to tape the actual interview. Volunteers from the MSDNV would supplement the crew, helping as interviewers and with sound and video duties. This time, GFBNEC arranged for a professional videographer from Maui and depended on MSDNV and NVMC volunteers to handle all interview duties as well as take care of the facilities and other logistics. Videographer Dan Takamura of Maui Production Company and his assistant, Chad Nagano, were the professionals who handled the technical side of things, including audio, video and lighting. Oka made arrangements for a pre-interview and the actual interview with Dr. Ohata. Kyle Watanabe, historical preservation and education program coordinator for the Nisei Veterans Memorial Center, Please turn to the next page