|
In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
Fort Shafter
baseball field
to be renamedThe baseball field at Fort Shafter will be renamed next week in honor of the late Sgt. Shigeo "Joe" Takata, a standout Hawaii baseball player who was killed in 1943 while serving with the 100th Battalion.
Takata was born in Waialua on April 29, 1919, and graduated from McKinley High School. He later became a local baseball star playing for the Azuma and Asahi, two well-known island teams. He had hoped to try out for the major leagues.
Lt. Gen. James Campbell, U.S. Army Pacific commanding general, will be the guest speaker at a ceremony June 10 at Fort Shafter that also will commemorate the Army's 228th birthday. Adm. Thomas Fargo, U.S. Pacific Command chief, will throw out the first pitch.
"Renaming the baseball field is the Army's way of paying a lasting tribute to a fine athlete and soldier who sacrificed his dreams for the cause of freedom, and paid the ultimate price," said Campbell, an ardent baseball fan. "We owe him a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid."
On Sept. 29, 1943, Takata was leading his squad during the Salerno to Cassino Campaign in Italy when German soldiers opened fire, wounding him. He continued guiding his men through intense gunfire to locate enemy positions and pinpoint their locations to his platoon leader. He later died from his wounds. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross.
Supporters of the tugboat Hoga are now hoping to berth one of the last remaining survivors of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor near the Falls of Clyde at the Hawaii Maritime Center in Honolulu Harbor.
The Hoga is now in the Navy's Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Suisun Bay north of San Francisco.
Initially, Hoga supporters wanted to use areas near Halawa Landing or the site of the old Ford Island ferrying dock between the USS Arizona Memorial and the Bowfin Museum. But the Navy rejected that proposal.
Organizations in Florida and Arkansas also are seeking to take charge of the Hoga. North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Henry Hayes said the tugboat will become a part of a riverfront attraction on the Arkansas River across from the future Clinton Presidential Library.
Brig. Gen. Vern T. Miyagi, Hawaii Army National Guard commander, has been given the additional assignment as mobilization assistant to the director for operations at the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith.
Moving Up
Fort Shafter>> Brig. Gen. Robert L. "Larry" Davis will replace Maj. Gen. Ronald L. Johnson as the commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pacific Ocean Divisions on June 9. Johnson will become the director of military programs in the corps' headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Pearl Harbor
>> Capt. Dennis Murphy relieved Capt. Glen Neiderhauser as commander of Submarine Squadron 7.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
"In the Military" was compiled from wire reports and other
sources by reporter Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He can be reached can be reached by phone
at 294-4075 or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.