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In the Military Gregg K. Kakesako |
See also: For Your Benefit
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHNNY FERRER
Hawaii members of the 1st Armored Division, Sgt. Virgilio Peralta, of Ewa Beach, and Master Sgt. Johnny Ferrer, a 1980 Farrington High School graduate, are with Iraqi residents in Baghdad. Ferrer reported that he saw several members of the 25th Infantry Division while he was at Baghdad International Airport two weeks ago.
Hawaii soldier in Iraq
describes attack
Master Sgt. Johnny P. Ferrer, a member of the 1st Armored Division, reports that that his artillery unit has moved to Forward Operation Base Camp Street Falcon in the Al Rashid district in southern Baghdad as it prepares to return to Germany. Ferrer is a 1980 Farrington High School graduate.
"One of our missions is to patrol the most dangerous guard towers here in Baghdad," Ferrer writes in an e-mail. "Our towers get shot at every day and at all times of the day. We've also been receiving incoming mortars and missiles into our camp at least two to three times a week. One recent incoming missile hit right outside of our barracks on March 3, the same day suicide bombers attacked parts of Karbala and Baghdad, which killed about 200 civilians and injured more than 500 people. We just had a prayer breakfast the day before our near miss and we thank God today that no one in our camp got killed or injured.
"The missile's shrapnel took out a windshield to one of our Humvees, broke a nearby water tank for our outdoor shower trailer, pierced a hole into our shower trailer, blew a newly installed sewer drain pipe, blew out several windows to our barracks that didn't have sand bags around it, and barely missed Sgt. Virgilio Peralta (a 1990 graduate of Pearl City High School) and a few of his maintenance soldiers taking a smoke break. All this happened while I was outside of our barracks brushing my teeth at 0500 hours."
The soldiers of the 1st Armored Division are patrolling the city, conducting searches, hiring local Iraqi citizens, and recruiting, training, equipping , and employing 2,900 facility protection guards, Ferrer said.
The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center on Maui has published a 240-page book that traces Maui's Japanese community from its plantation beginnings through the 1960s. Claire Miyasato, marketing director for the center, describes it as the island's version of "chazuke for the soul." The book, "Every Grain of Rice: Portraits of Maui's Japanese Community," was written by Rita Goldman, a resident of Haiku. For five years, "Goldman pored over a century of newspaper microfiche, interviewed Mauians of Japanese ancestry, and collected hundreds of archival and family photos to tell the stories of soldiers and shopkeepers, cowboys and teachers, champion athletes and those who toiled in Maui's cane fields and pineapple canneries," Miyasato said.
People featured in the book include Kame Imanaga, who was a 10-year-old orphan when she was taken from Maui to an orphanage in Honolulu. When the Rev. Daniel Kleinfelter came to visit, he asked the girls what they wanted, and as each child replied "candy," he handed them a sweet. When he asked Kame what she wanted, she replied "a home." The minister was so touched, he took her into his own family, and raised her with his daughters. Years later, Kame named her first son Daniel, honoring Kleinfelter. That son became U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye.
Proceeds from the book sales will be used to fund a $2.8 million multigenerational facility on 2.2 acres of land donated by Alexander & Baldwin. Plans include a preschool and adult day care center. More information can be obtained by writing to Nisei Veterans Memorial Center, P.O. Box 216, Kahului, HI 96732.
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.
