Patrick Aki oral history interview, February 25, 2011

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Patrick Aki oral history interview, February 25, 2011

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Aki was working as a messman on Wake Island during the attack on Pearl Harbor. Days after, the Japanese Navy arrived on the island and took all American personnel captive as prisoners of war. Aki was sent to a POW camp in Japan, where he stayed for the duration of the war. After Japan's surrender, he returned safely to Hawaii, but later enlisted for the draft. Once the Korean War began, Aki was drafted into the Air Force, where he was stationed in Japan for two years.

Items in the Patrick Aki oral history interview, February 25, 2011 Collection

Aki begins the interview talking about his family, both of his parents were Nisei and had decided to settle in Kauai, his father being a politician, while his mother was a schoolteacher. As a child, he would grow up liking geography, while his…

Aki talks about getting to Wake Island, going on a boat and arriving to a small island, where there was nothing but Marines, some Navy and Pan-American Airlines. He would end up working in the mess hall, while the construction workers would help to…

Aki continues to talk about his experience as a prisoner of war on Wake Island. There, he would be treated pretty normally, although there were some casualties and they were guarded by the Japanese Army. He also talks about one incident that was…

Aki continues to talk about his experiences as a prisoner of war while in Japan. Towards the end of the war, he noticed that a lot of weird things were happening with the Japanese Army guards and that the POWs were taken out of work. He overheard…

After joining the Air Force, Aki would ask to be sent to occupied Japan, instead of having to serve in the Korean War. He talks about coming into Japan for the first time since his time as a prisoner of war, and comparing the destruction he saw when…

Patrick Aki oral history interview transcript [full interview], February 25, 2011

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