Richard Sakakida, Hero And Tough Guy
Update: Check the comments for someone calling shenanigans.
I had never heard of this man before, but I knew how desperate it was where and when he fought his fight in World War Two.
He never told his wife he was tortured so badly until decades later when he was asked to speak about it.
Here’s the man.
Here’s what he did. Just read the story, or check out the Congressional Record account at FAS.org.
May I never have to be in his position.
Oh, and his actions? He got a Legion of Merit. That’s it.
5 Responses to “Richard Sakakida, Hero And Tough Guy”
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January 26th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Sounds like the stuff of a CMOH to me. What a brave man. I assume he faced his share of prejudicial treatment along the many years he served, particularly in the post War period, yet, there’s not a hint of that in his story in the link.
January 26th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Great story!
February 1st, 2007 at 11:02 pm
[...] You may remember a story about a nisei Japanese-American soldier who fought through very tough and uncertain times. At the time, I asked if there were examples of that kind of courage today. [...]
August 22nd, 2011 at 5:17 am
The story of Richard Sakakida is one that needed no embellishment. That makes me wonder WHY he began several years after the war to do just that, making up absolute fantasies about how he helped the guerrillas escape from a jail and how he sent messages to MacArthur. Both of these stories have been totally demolished by guerrillas and by the MacArthur sources. His life story for those three years in Japanese-occupied Manila is totally bogus. And not worthy of the man. Sorry folks, but you can easily look it up–I wonder why no one has! Even in his original CIC interviews in Sept and Oct of 1945 he absolutely denied sending messages to GHQ and helping in the guerrilla raid on the prison. Why the changes in story later?
April 23rd, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Peter Parsons talks about “fantasies”, etc. and how Sakakida’s stories have been “demolished by guerrillas and by MacArthur sources”, YET he sites absolutely NO guerrillas OR MacArthur sources that “demolish” what Sakakida has written. What are those “sources”? From my research, ALL of them are based on hearsay on hearsay on hearsay! Those are NOT accurate, historical sources. How does one “easily look it up” as Parsons has suggested. He has not cited any of these sources. Sakakida’s book may not be accurate, but I have seen no proof that it is not.