Isaac Fukuo Akinaka

Headquarters Company and Medics, 100th Infantry Battalion

Isaac Fukuo Akinaka was born in Honolulu on May 15, 1911. His father, Kenjiro Akinaka, had emigrated from Japan in the late 1890s to work in the pineapple fields of Maui before becoming a cement contractor and stone mason in Honolulu. His mother, Fusa Akagi, came from Hiroshima as a picture bride. Akinaka, born Fukuo (“lucky boy”), was the second of six children and later adopted the name Isaac.

He graduated from McKinley High School in 1930. During the Great Depression, the family suffered a series of losses: his father died unexpectedly of a heart attack, his mother committed suicide from despair, and two younger siblings suffered nervous breakdowns, leaving both emotionally unable to cope and disabled. Responsibility for keeping their four siblings together in the house during this difficult time fell to him and his sister. He was 22 at the time. Akinaka worked a variety of jobs, including caddying, delivering newspapers, roofing, and farm labor, before finding steady employment as a boilerman’s assistant in 1935.

Around this time, he was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). After studying the Book of Mormon, he experienced what he described as a spiritual calling and became a devout member of the faith. In keeping with LDS practice, began to keep a journal from the moment he entered Army service. Akinaka remained active in his faith throughout his life, preserving his experiences in diaries and writing his life history in his later years that document both his wartime service and his religious convictions.

On December 9, 1940, Akinaka enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard’s 298th Infantry. Although his enlistment term ended on December 8, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor led him to reenlist voluntarily.

He became a member of the Hawaiian Provisional Infantry Battalion, which departed for the mainland on June 5, 1942, and was later redesignated the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate). At age 31, he was one of the oldest members of the unit.

Akinaka trained at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, and Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Initially trained as a radio operator in Headquarters Company, once in combat, he volunteered to become a medic as casualties mounted. Despite no medical training, he repeatedly undertook many risks to aid the wounded and carry them to safety, often recalling the 23rd Psalm as he did so.

Akinaka served in the Italian campaign, including the fighting at Monte Cassino. On February 8, 1944, he exposed himself to heavy machine-gun and artillery fire to rescue several severely wounded soldiers. For these actions, he was awarded the Silver Star.

He had the sad task during the battle at Cassino to retrieve Major Jack Johnson from the minefield where he was mortally wounded. At the end of the battle he would write, “When we were relieved and pulled off the line, I was the only frontline medic left, walking back.”

After Cassino, Akinaka was shipped back to the mainland and was granted a furlough in Salt Lake City. He visited religious sites and received a blessing before leaving for Italy. When he returned safely a year later, his LDS friends introduced him to another member, Gwen Yamaki, who had been born in Utah. They were married in 1945, and lived in Hawaii where Akinaka pursued studies at the University of Hawaiʻi. They had two sons, Ken and Vance, before the family relocated to the mainland. After a brief period in Chicago, the family settled in Los Angeles in 1952.

There, he worked for the California Department of Corrections as a prison guard. While a guard, he initiated the first psychology classes for prisoners in California, teaching them how they could live meaningful lives. He and his wife raised three sons, Ken, Vance, and Bruce.

He died on June 25, 1984, following complications from surgery. His life reflects the experiences of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the role of Nisei soldiers in World War II, as well as a sustained commitment to faith, family, and service.

Read Isaac Akinaka’s Diaries

Read Isaac Akinaka’s Life History