Able Company, 100th Infantry Battalion
Robert Hideo Kawano was born in Honolulu on January 24, 1917. While he was attending middle school in Honolulu, his family decided to return to Japan to help a family member complete his rice harvest after an accident left him unable to do the work himself.
After a few years, Kawano returned to Honolulu on his own and lived with relatives in Kapahulu. Because of his American citizenship and his family’s deep commitment to loyalty and sacrifice for their country, he joined other Hawai‘i Americans of Japanese ancestry when World War II broke out in the 100th Infantry Battalion — the “One Puka Puka” — and served with Able Company.
He seldom talked about his service in Italy with the 100th Battalion, yet the few memories he shared involved two significant incidents that helped define the unit’s reputation as one of the most decorated in American military history.
One was the finding of the “Lost Battalion” from Texas, which occurred after the 100th joined forces with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
He would later recall the month he spent in a foxhole as his unit fought German forces during the battle for Monte Cassino. Over the course of the battles that made up the campaign, the 100th suffered more than 700 casualties — killed or seriously wounded — out of an original force of about 1,300 men. These heavy losses earned the unit the nickname, “The Purple Heart Battalion.”
For his distinguished service during the war, Kawano was the recipient of the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantry Badge. The Bronze Star is awarded for heroic or meritorious achievement during service in a combat zone, while the Combat Infantry Badge recognizes infantry soldiers who have actively engaged with the enemy in ground combat.
After the war, Kawano joined the Carpenters Union Local 745 and spent his postwar career in the skilled trades. He made good use of his carpentry expertise to continually update and renovate the family home. He later chose to give up nearly half of his beautiful yard to build additional living space so that one of his daughters could return to Hawai‘i from the mainland with her two young daughters.
One of his favorite pastimes was tending to his yard and growing everything from beautiful orchids, anthuriums, fruit trees of mango, lychee, avocado, tangerine, banana, papaya, and even a special crop of white corn grown specifically timed to be ready for Thanksgiving.
Kawano was also a devoted family man. He was married for 57 years to Yukimi M. Kawano, and was the father of two daughters, Corinne K. Holland and Pauline K. Nyuha, and the proud grandfather of four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
In his later years, Kawano lived in Mililani with his wife until her passing in 2003. He later adopted a dog named Nori, who became his faithful companion. Robert Kawano passed away on January 3, 2008, at the age of 90.
