Takashi Manago

Able Company, 100th Battalion, 442nd RCT

Takashi “Taka” Manago was born on January 20, 1924, in Captain Cook, Kona, Hawai‘i. He was the fifth child of Kinzo and Osame Manago, who established the Manago Hotel, a gathering place for both locals and travelers. Growing up in a family that worked hard to build the business, Taka learned responsibility early and developed a steady, practical outlook that stayed with him throughout his life.

Taka was a 17-year-old senior at Konawaena High School when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. The war quickly changed the atmosphere in Hawai‘i, and like many young men of his generation, he soon found himself on the path to military service.

After graduating in 1942, he attended the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa for about a year and a half before being drafted on September 18, 1944. He entered the U.S. Army with his older brothers Harold and Harry. Harry was sent to Fort Lewis in Washington as an officer’s jeep driver, while Taka and Harold were assigned to basic training in Texas.

The trip to the mainland was one of Taka’s earliest challenges. The seven-day boat ride to San Luis Obispo was rough, and he and the other boys from Kona suffered severe seasickness. Harold, who was more comfortable at sea, helped keep them steady and fed. After arriving, they continued by train to Camp Hood, Texas.

During basic training, Taka and Harold received a memorable three-day pass when their brother Major telephoned the captain — who assumed Major’s name was a military rank. Only after the brothers returned did the captain realize the misunderstanding.

In January 1945, Taka and Harold sailed from New York to Le Havre, France. Harold was soon assigned to Germany, while Taka traveled to Marseille and joined the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Eventually placed in Able Company of the 100th Battalion, he prepared for the final phase of the Italian campaign. A measles case on the transport delayed their progress, forcing a three-week quarantine before they moved into Northern Italy.

Around mid-April 1945, Taka served as a litter bearer, carrying wounded soldiers from the front lines under nighttime conditions and the constant threat of artillery. Only a few weeks later, on May 8, the war in Europe came to an end.

After the surrender, Taka, now a staff sergeant, processed German prisoners of war and collected weapons, vehicles, and personal possessions. In early 1946, he took furlough in Switzerland, where he met Heinrich Bucher, an English-speaking journalist who showed him around Zurich and whom Taka later referred to as his “Swiss Dad.”

Near the end of his first tour, Taka served in Special Service in Milan, assisting military families with travel arrangements and escorting some to Rome. He re-enlisted in December 1946, attended military school in Florence, and met his first wife, Sylvia Cozzi. They married in 1947 and returned to Hawai‘i before his discharge in January 1948.

Taka was discharged in 1948 as a staff sergeant. After the war, Taka attended Creighton College and the Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Dental Medicine. He established a successful general dentistry practice in Honolulu that he later passed to his son. Taka married Jane Toyoko Iida and had three children: Jennifer, Beverly and Jeffrey. He stayed connected to the 100th Battalion through softball and community events.

In 2026, at age 102, Dr. Takashi Manago continues to take an active part in Club 100, the veterans club established by the men of the 100th Infantry Battalion. He continues to represent the men of the 100th Infantry Battalion at anniversaries, ceremonies, services, and veterans’ events, carrying forward the legacy of his wartime generation. He enjoys watching sports, eating out and helping to perpetuate the legacy of the 100th Infantry Battalion.