Preserving World War II History

By Jim McCoy, Pacific Historic Parks

“Everlasting Legacy” is the theme for the upcoming 81st Commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor that triggered America’s entry in World War II.

It’s acknowledging the sad reality that members of our Greatest Generation are slipping away while also shining a light on the importance of documenting their stories for future generations.

So what steps should we take to honor the World War II survivors along with those who worked on the home front supporting the war effort? Here’s some advice on how to achieve everlasting legacy for the Greatest Generation.

Raymond Emil Kapaun is a sales engineer in Washington State. His middle name is in honor of his uncle, U.S. Army Capt. Emil Joseph Kapaun, a Catholic priest who served in the latter stages of World War II and died in 1951 at a North Korean POW camp. His family spent heart wrenching decades not knowing where his remains were.

“I was born years after he died but I knew the stories and anytime you talk about him it gets me emotional and I can thank my grandmother for that more than anything,” Kapaun said

When Father Emil’s fellow POWs were released from custody, they told stories of how he helped them stay physically and spiritually strong. In 1956 a school in Kansas was named after him.

Fast forward more than half a century to 2013 when President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Father Emil the Medal of Honor. His nephew Ray was on hand to receive it. Most of his relatives had long passed.

Years later remains of unknowns from the Korean War were dug up at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. In 2021, Father Emil’s remains were identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and returned to his home parish near Wichita, Kansas.

Capt. Emil Joseph Kapaun

Veterans of the Korean War pay tribute at Punchbowl

Knight family members experience the VRs at Pearl Harbor During a keynote speech at the National POW/MIA Recognition Day at Punchbowl September 16, Kapaun credited his grandmother with keeping the story of his uncle front and center.

“Even when she had Alzheimer’s she didn’t remember my name and barely knew Dad’s name, but she would always ask my Dad if Emil would ever come back home. And I remember Dad would always hang his head and have to tell her that he didn’t think he would,” Kapaun said.

Retired Army Colonel John Knight made CDs for his family members so they know about the death of an uncle killed on the USS Arizona December 7, 1941. Electricians Mate Third Class Robert Wagner Knight was just 19. His remains are entombed in the battleship with roughly 1,000 fellow crewmembers killed on that day of infamy. The CDs also have information on John and his brother Roger Knight’s service in Vietnam.

The Knight family had another family member who served and survived World War II but wasn’t aware his service included hot spots in North Africa and India. That was discovered decades after his death in 1970.

“Often times you don’t know what you don’t know, so ask the question and in doing so people get the appreciation for the old quote that ‘history is’ and not ‘history was’,” Knight said. “And then you get a sense of continuity in terms of family and ancestry and service and that can be a guidepost for future generations.”

On September 13, 2022, Ella Fujie of Honolulu died at the age of 100. According to her family she passed “peacefully and elegantly” and had a steady stream of visitors the past several months.

She had many accomplishments in her life profiled in a recent interview on PBS Hawaii. The latest honor was membership in the American Rosie the Riveter Association for her work at the Army PX in the Hilo Armory during World War II.

Jan Davis’s mother was a Rosie. A year ago, Davis was asked to start a Rosie chapter in Hawaii. Ella was the first Hawaii Rosie she and Pat Ferraris found. When they interviewed her in May, Ella “lit up” about her Hilo work during the war. She was awarded the certificate before she died.

Ella (Minaai) Fujie, on right, with older sister Sadako Minaai at the family home in Hilo in 1942 Ella's love for travel and celebrating her 100th birthday with Grandchildren Photos courtesy Fujie Family

“We are so happy to have found Ella and to have had this brief but spectacular encounter with her,” Davis said.

“Everyone was thrilled for the recognition and we’re just proud of our mother,” Ella’s son Richard Fujie said. “She was really open minded and not afraid to do things like traveling by herself to the East Coast back in 1961.”

Fujie suggests that families record the stories of greatest generation members. “There’s very few of them left. Sometimes the experiences they had in the past were not good ones and don’t want to speak about it, but sometimes when they get older, they are willing to express themselves so it’s good to ask again.”

Tammy Brumley, known as the Rosie Wrangler for her work at Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in California, recalled that even one of her family members didn’t know she was a Rosie. “Her son finally asked her well mom, weren’t you a Rosie and she said no, I didn’t rivet. And it turned out she had painted bombs at a munitions factory in Arkansas and so she thought she had to be a riveter and there are a lot of women out there that still have that misconception,” Brumley said. “If you worked for the war effort on the home front, you are a Rosie.”

At the dinner table and other family gatherings consider taking the steps that others have followed: Ask questions, listen, research and record.

There will come a time when Pearl Harbor commemorations won’t have the physical presence of aging World War II veterans , Rosies and other home front workers. But they will include the recorded testimonials about the attack that changed the world and a war that saved our democracy.