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Fort Polk’s general FORT POLK, La. >> Despite the numerous awards, decorations and memorabilia, the one that holds a place of honor in Brig. Gen. Jason Kamiya's office is a simple display featuring a picture of his father in his World War II khakis with a row of service ribbons and the Purple Heart won while fighting with the 100th Battalion in Italy.
credits Hawaii roots
Jason Kamiya returns to Fort Polk
in Louisiana to head
an Army training centerBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com"It's hung on the wall in my office," said Kamiya, 47, "next to my desk to remind me of my roots and the career I have embarked on."
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It's a 26-year career that has taken him from Palolo Valley and the halls of St. Louis School, where he graduated in 1972, through the ROTC scholarship program at Gonzaga University in Spokane, the Gulf War campaign in 1991 and assignments in Korea, Japan and Panama.Now Kamiya is responsible for the welfare of 8,700 soldiers, 13,000 family members and 37,000 retirees affiliated with Fort Polk in west central Louisiana, which is spread over nearly 200,000 acres and pumps more than $826 million annually into the local economy.
He is one of four former island residents who are generals in the Army with Gen. Eric Shinseki at the top as Army chief of staff. The other two are Maj. Gen. Joseph Peterson, a 1968 St. Louis alumnus; and Brig. Gen. Antonio Taguba, a 1968 graduate of Leilehua High School.
Kamiya said he is always reminded of the sacrifices and the heroism of his father and those of his colleagues in the 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
"I am where I am because I got here on their shoulders," said Kamiya recently, referring to the heroism of the World War II combat unit composed of Japanese Americans who volunteered following the attack on Pearl Harbor to prove their loyalty. Many of them on the mainland volunteered although their families had lost their homes and businesses and were being held behind barbed wire in internment camps.
His father, Larry Masanobu Kamiya, and his mother, Regina, were present when he took command of Fort Polk on Dec. 19. Like many members of his generation, Kamiya said, his father, a member of the 100th Battalion's Charlie Company, was reticent to speak of the war and how he got wounded in Italy.
Several times after he was selected to receive his first star two years ago, Kamiya remembers being asked what motivated him to serve.
"I think many of those soldiers thought I had a military background and that my dad might have been a high-ranking officer. I tell them that my dad was a Pfc. (private first class) in a combat infantry unit, wounded before the battle of Monte Cassino and had been awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart and three campaign ribbons."
He said he is also motivated by his belief that "military service requires selfless service. For me and my family these are key factors and that's what got me here today" and constantly strives to help better the conditions of all soldiers.
"Look at what our soldiers go through ... they're absent from their families ... reservists have to give up their civilian jobs. This country asks a lot of their soldiers and their families and I have dedicated my 25 years in trying to better lives."
Married to the former Carmen Unciano, a 1973 Waimea High School graduate whom he courted while attending Gonzaga University, Kamiya's last extended visit home was in 1998. "We just counted," Kamiya said. "Since 1989 alone we moved 11 times."
His first daughter Kelly, 16, was born on Kauai and the youngest Jamie, 11, in Savannah, Ga.
Carmen Kamiya said when her husband was assigned to Fort Campbell, Ky., last March as the assistant division commander, she unpacked all the family's belonging anticipating a long stay.
However, within nine months Kamiya was assigned to Fort Polk as its commanding general. The family arrived here in Dec. 16 and Kamiya assumed command three days later.
"I still haven't unpacked all our belongings. We still have things in boxes."
But Carmen Kamiya said the assignment at Fort Polk is a good one since her husband was posted here from 1997-99 as a brigade commander.
"Kelly was able to pick up where she left off with the friends she had made," Carmen Kamiya said.
Despite not being able to unpack all of their belongings, the Kamiya's home reflects his quarter of century of service with mementos from past assignments and Asian art pieces hanging on the wall.
There also is a touch of Hawaii with drawings by a local artist and a golden retriever named Koa that the Kamiyas adopted during their first Fort Polk assignment.
Kamiya said he was always interested in making the military his career.
"When I was growing up, the Armed Forces Day parade in Waikiki was always a big thing. I was in the junior ROTC program at St. Louis and even if I had gotten that four-year ROTC at Gonzaga, I think I still would have joined the service.
"I think military service is an unique career. I got here today because of the solid foundation I got from my parents, educators and clergy."
Having served once before at Fort Polk, Kamiya said the current assignment is "a lot easier because I know the people and, more importantly, I know the leaders and mayors of the towns around us."
Kamiya also considers heading the Joint Readiness Training Center here as a prime assignment. He described Fort Polk as "one of the crown jewels" of the Army's training operations: The Army has created an environment at Fort Polk to replicate all conditions of warfare from full combat to urban guerrilla warfare to peacekeeping missions.