Taneyoshi “Slim” Nakano

Baker Company, 100th Infantry Battalion

 

Taneyoshi “Slim” Nakano (Co. B, 100th Inf. Bn.) [Courtesy of Club 100]
Taneyoshi “Slim” Nakano was raised in Wailupe, Oʻahu, where he learned to fish and live sustainably from Wailupe Fishpond, one of several historic fishponds built along the shores of Maunalua Bay. His father served as the konohiki, or caretaker, of Wailupe Fishpond until the family was forced off the land following the attack on Pearl Harbor because of their Japanese ancestry. The fishpond was located across from the old Hind-Clarke Dairy near the area now known as the ʻĀina Haina Shopping Center.

When Nakano entered the U.S. Army during the early 1940s, he became part of the 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), a group of mainly Nisei (second generation) Japanese American soldiers from Hawaiʻi.

The unit was sent from Hawaiʻi to the U.S. mainland for training. During this period, Nakano was assigned to Baker Company’s Third Platoon and joined 23 other soldiers on a little-known assignment involving military dog training on Cat Island off the Mississippi coast. “Dog training” was something of a misnomer, as the soldiers were used as “bait” under the racist assumption that, as Japanese Americans, they smelled different and the dogs could be trained to attack them.

The project was highly secretive, isolating, and officially classified for decades. The men had not been told their destination, its true purpose, or its objective. Each soldier had been required to complete a 32-page questionnaire detailing extensive personal history, and it appeared that anyone who had previously traveled to Japan was eliminated from consideration. Despite the discriminatory nature of the assignment, the experience forged strong bonds among the soldiers on Cat Island.

It was here that a moment of quiet courage revealed something essential about Nakano’s character. During one period of bad weather and gale-force winds, the supply ship was unable to dock at the pier and deliver rations to the soldiers stationed on Ship Island. The men had to take turns rowing a small flat-bottomed skiff through rough waters to retrieve supplies from the ship offshore. On one trip, a fellow soldier could not make it back to shore. Nakano swam into the cold, choppy waters to reach him and rowed them both safely back. For this act of heroism, risking his own life to save another soldier, Slim was awarded the Soldier’s Medal, the Army’s highest award that can bestowed for a non-combat act of valor. 

On June 26, 1944, during the rugged Italian campaign, Nakano faced one of the most dangerous situations a foot soldier could encounter: an armored counterattack supported by enemy infantry. When a German Mark IV tank advanced on his platoon under cover of machine-gun and sniper fire, Nakano moved forward alone with his bazooka, closing to within only a few yards of the tank. Under intense fire, he fired three rounds, destroying the vehicle and disrupting the counterattack. The enemy infantry broke and scattered, allowing his platoon to hold its ground.

For this extraordinary courage, Nakano was awarded the Silver Star, one of the nation’s highest decorations for valor in combat.

After returning home, Nakano worked as a plasterer and estimator in the construction trade until his retirement. He was survived by two sons, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.