In the Military
For and about Hawaii's servicemen and womenBy Gregg K. Kakesako
See also: For Your Benefit
Leilehua grad
named to high post
at Army CommandCol. James T. Hirai, a Leilehua High School and University of Hawaii-Manoa graduate, will become the deputy commandant at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
Since July he has been assistant division commander for maneuver for the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Hood in Texas. His promotion to brigadier general is still pending. Before leaving for Texas, Hirai was chief of staff of the U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1974 through the UH ROTC program.
His island assignments have included U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith in March 1989, where he served as a joint exercise operation officer and executive assistant to the director for operations.
Hirai commanded the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Brigade Gimlets of the 25th Infantry Division from June 1992 to June 1994. After attending the Army War College, he was again assigned to Camp Smith, where he served as a speech writer. He commanded the U.S. Army Garrison, Hawaii, from June 1997 to August 1999, and became chief of staff in September 1999. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Toshiyuki Hirai of Wahiawa.
The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, based in Yokosuka, Japan, and which was to have replaced the USS John C. Stennis in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, will remain off Japan, and the Navy may extend the life of the carrier USS Constellation beyond its scheduled retirement early next year. Retaining the Constellation would give the Navy a 13th carrier when its planned replacement, the USS Ronald Reagan, joins the fleet next spring. The Reagan is under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding.
Associated Press reporter Charles Hanley is apparently trying to suppress publication of a new book -- "No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident" -- that takes another view of what happened at No Gun Ri. The book, written by Army Maj. Robert Bateman, is critical of the AP story, calling into question the reporters' sources and research. Two years ago, the Associated Press won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting for its article on the deaths of South Korean refugees at a bridge near the town of No Gun Ri during the early weeks of the Korean War.
The story described events that took place nearly half a century earlier, painting a brutal picture of retreating American GIs ordered by their commanders to kill Korean civilians. Korean citizens, who later filed claims against the governments of the United States and South Korea, said as many as 400 were killed, 300 under a bridge at No Gun Ri and 100 more by Air Force planes. The AP reporters said the American soldiers they interviewed said as many as 200 were killed.
Sailors who were held prisoners of war during World War II are authorized to receive promotion back pay under a new federal law. The act directs the Navy to pay back pay to personnel who were selected for promotion but not able to receive it because they were prisoners from Dec. 7, 1941, to Dec. 31, 1946. Surviving spouses are entitled to the back pay. Additional information is available by calling 800-762-8567 or visiting www.persnet.navy.mil/pers62.
Moving up
Schofield Barracks
>> Brig. Gen. John D. Gardner, 25th Infantry Division assistant division commander, will become deputy commanding general for transformation at the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Lewis in Washington. >> Brig. Gen. Charles H. Jacoby Jr., deputy director for global/multilateral issues/international-American affairs on the Pentagon's joint staff, has been named as a 25th Division assistant commander. >> Brig. Gen. W. Montague Winfield, deputy director for operations at the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon, has been named as a assistant division commander for the 25th Division.
Hickam Air Force Base
>> Col. David G. Young III has been named as commander of the 81st Medical Group at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Young, who is in line to be promoted to one-star general, is currently assigned as command surgeon at Headquarters Pacific Air Forces.
Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
