“My mom wouldn’t make chicken too often cause dad wouldn’t eat,” Yamashige’s son, Eric, lightheartedly recalled on Wednesday. 

Eric Yamashige’s late father, a member of the 100th Infantry Battalion, told them that since produce and certain types of meat were hard to come by during the war, they ate lots of chicken instead. And apparently, he’d had enough. 

The story is just one of the few recollections that the elder Yamashige shared with his family of his war experience. Eric Yamashige said his father was similar to many other nisei veterans, who spoke little or nothing of their confrontations or heroics. 

In fact, Eric Yamashige said he had to hear from others about how his father, a first sergeant, saved others. The elder Yamashige, who was awarded the Silver Star for his bravery, never spoke about it to Eric, one of Fred and Helen Yamashige’s three children.

1st Sgt. Fred Yamashige — Photo courtesy of the Yamashige family

On Oct. 22, 1944, near Biffontaine, France, Yamashige “fearlessly led his men through intense 20 millimeter gun fire to a building in the town for the purpose of protecting his company’s right flank and rear,” according to the Sons & Daughters of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team’s website. 

Yamashige “with complete disregard for his own safety, picked up a rifle from a fallen enemy solider and pursued the fleeing Germans.” 

“Despite intense small arms fire, he shot one enemy solider and wounded two others,” according to his Silver Star citation. His “courage, initiative and leadership” were instrumental in the successful occupation of the town. 

Fred Yamashige died in 2020 at the age of 97. At the time, the former longtime Maui Land & Pineapple Co. employee was the last known living Maui resident who was in the 100th Infantry Battalion, nicknamed the “One Puka Puka.”

But memories of Yamashige and others in the battalion remain, and the men’s sacrifices are being remembered this month, the 80th anniversary of the battalion’s formation. 

The 100th Battalion was originally comprised of nisei, or second-generation Japanese American soldiers from Hawaii, and was formed as a segregated unit on June 12, 1942, when there was distrust and animosity toward Japanese Americans amid World War II. The battalion earned the moniker “The Purple Heart Battalion” because of the high number of casualties it suffered in its first five months in battle in Italy. 

There are approximately 12 surviving veterans of the original 100th, including those on the Mainland, according to a news release from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration Committee. On June 12, exactly 80 years after the units official formation, descendants of those who fought in the battalion made personal visits to the homes of several veterans all of whom are nearly 100 years or older. 

On Maui, since there are no survivors, personal visits and gifts are being presented to wives and families this month. 

On Wednesday, Leonard Oka, president of the Maui’s Sons and Daughters of Nisei Veterans, presented lei and a gift card to Helen Aiko Yamashige, Fred Yamashige’s widow. Orchids will be given to descendants in nursing homes. 

Oka thanked Janice Sakoda on Oahu, a co-chairwoman of the 80th Anniversary Commemoration Committee, for remembering the Maui families. 

“It’s nice that I get to meet the wives, and in some cases I’m meeting or talking to sons that I’ve never talked to before,” Oka said of organizing the Maui gift presentations. 

He added that with the remembrances are prompting some family members to recall or even research what their fathers did in the war.

Overall, Oka estimated that there were 70 to 80 Maui men who were with the original 100th Battalion. 

Eric Yamashige said his mother was surprised by the gesture on Wednesday, and that she told Oka that it would have been nice if her husband were still around. 

In 2017, four living members of the 100th Battalion on Maui were honored, which included Yamashige, Tom Yamada, Ed Nishihara and Willie Goo. 

“I’m glad they were around to be recognized,” said Eric Yamashige, who is also a part of the Maui’s Sons and Daughters of Nisei Veterans. 

The younger Yamashige added that as the survivors pass and generations get further removed from the war, it is important to not forget what the men did and how it has affected future generations. 

“The nisei veterans paved the way for our generation to benefit from the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy and all too often take for granted,” he said. 

Eric Yamashige said he cannot imagine doing what his father and others did. 

“They are so focused to do what they did,” he said. “They had something to prove.” 

“They had to fight the enemy and they had to fight their nation, to prove themselves worthy. And they did. That’s why we are so lucky.” 

As part of the 80th anniversary’s observance, there will be a “One Puka Puka” television rebroadcast today and Sunday. 

The program highlights the experiences of the 100th Infantry Battalion during its first nine months of combat in Italy, when it was the only Japanese American military unit fighting in Europe. 

The two-hour documentary was written, produced an narrated by the late KGMB News anchor and reporter Bob Jones. It first aired in 1992, on the 50th anniversary of the battalion’s formation. It will be shown again for the first time in 30 yeas as a tribute to Jones, who died in November, and to the veterans. 

Today’s broadcast will be at 7 p.m. on KGMB and at 3 p.m. Sunday on KHNL.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.