HayesGreener
SAINT
He was a legend within OSI when I was a young agent
Richard M. Sakakida,the Nisei spy who infiltrated Japanese headquarters.
Richard Motoso Sakakida (1920–1996) was a Hawaiian-born Nisei soldier in U.S. Army intelligence who went undercover in Manila before World War II. In March 1941, nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army recruited 20-year-old Sakakida due to his native fluency in Japanese. He landed in Manila disguised as a civilian merchant seaman who had skipped the draft. He quickly integrated into Manila's Japanese business community to identify potential undercover operatives.
When Imperial Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December 1941, Sakakida did not evacuate. When Bataan fell in April 1942, he surrendered his seat on an evacuation plane to an informant who had a family to protect. Sakakida stayed behind on the fortress island of Corregidor. When American forces surrendered in May 1942, Sakakida stood beside General Jonathan Wainwright as an interpreter, shielding American officers during brutal capitulation talks.
Because Sakakida was of Japanese descent, the Imperial Japanese Army viewed him not as an enemy combatant, but as a traitor to the Emperor. He was turned over to the Kempeitai, the dreaded military police.
For months, Sakakida was subjected to systematic physical torture. He was hung by his wrists, beaten with bamboo rods, burned with cigarettes, and subjected to repeated water torture. His interrogators demanded he confess to being a U.S. Army spy. Sakakida never broke. He maintained his cover story without a single slip, insisting he was merely a civilian caught in the machinery of war.
Convinced finally that he was harmless, Japanese officials assigned Sakakida to work as a translator and clerk in the Office of the Judge Advocate at Japanese Fourteenth Army Headquarters in Manila. It was a monumental miscalculation.
Operating directly inside enemy headquarters, Sakakida became an intelligence network of his own. He read top-secret troop movements, supply schedules, and defense plans. He memorized intelligence data, transcribed coded messages, and smuggled the information out to Filipino guerrilla units hiding in the mountains. In 1944, he helped plan and fund a massive raid on Muntinglupa Prison, securing the release of nearly 500 Filipino guerrilla fighters and their leader.
When American forces invaded Luzon in late 1944, Sakakida escaped into the jungle to join the resistance. Wounded by shrapnel during a firefight and suffering from malaria, beriberi, and dysentery, he survived for weeks on grass and wild berries. When he finally stumbled into an American perimeter weeks after the war ended, he was wearing a shredded Japanese uniform. He was nearly shot on sight until fellow counterintelligence officers verified his identity.
After the war, Sakakida remained in Manila to translate key documents and testify against his former captors in war crimes trials, including the trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita. He later transferred to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1975.
Richard Sakakida endured unimaginable physical torture and isolation so that his country could win a war. He did so while his own government subjected fellow Japanese Americans back home to mass internment. His determination, silence, and intellect saved hundreds of lives and proved that loyalty is defined by action, not ancestry.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Motoso Sakakida was born on November 19, 1920, in Puʻunēnē, Maui, Hawaii. He died on January 23, 1996,at age 75, in Fremont, California, from lung cancer and complications related to long-term injuries from wartime torture. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Richard M. Sakakida,the Nisei spy who infiltrated Japanese headquarters.
Richard Motoso Sakakida (1920–1996) was a Hawaiian-born Nisei soldier in U.S. Army intelligence who went undercover in Manila before World War II. In March 1941, nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army recruited 20-year-old Sakakida due to his native fluency in Japanese. He landed in Manila disguised as a civilian merchant seaman who had skipped the draft. He quickly integrated into Manila's Japanese business community to identify potential undercover operatives.
When Imperial Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in December 1941, Sakakida did not evacuate. When Bataan fell in April 1942, he surrendered his seat on an evacuation plane to an informant who had a family to protect. Sakakida stayed behind on the fortress island of Corregidor. When American forces surrendered in May 1942, Sakakida stood beside General Jonathan Wainwright as an interpreter, shielding American officers during brutal capitulation talks.
Because Sakakida was of Japanese descent, the Imperial Japanese Army viewed him not as an enemy combatant, but as a traitor to the Emperor. He was turned over to the Kempeitai, the dreaded military police.
For months, Sakakida was subjected to systematic physical torture. He was hung by his wrists, beaten with bamboo rods, burned with cigarettes, and subjected to repeated water torture. His interrogators demanded he confess to being a U.S. Army spy. Sakakida never broke. He maintained his cover story without a single slip, insisting he was merely a civilian caught in the machinery of war.
Convinced finally that he was harmless, Japanese officials assigned Sakakida to work as a translator and clerk in the Office of the Judge Advocate at Japanese Fourteenth Army Headquarters in Manila. It was a monumental miscalculation.
Operating directly inside enemy headquarters, Sakakida became an intelligence network of his own. He read top-secret troop movements, supply schedules, and defense plans. He memorized intelligence data, transcribed coded messages, and smuggled the information out to Filipino guerrilla units hiding in the mountains. In 1944, he helped plan and fund a massive raid on Muntinglupa Prison, securing the release of nearly 500 Filipino guerrilla fighters and their leader.
When American forces invaded Luzon in late 1944, Sakakida escaped into the jungle to join the resistance. Wounded by shrapnel during a firefight and suffering from malaria, beriberi, and dysentery, he survived for weeks on grass and wild berries. When he finally stumbled into an American perimeter weeks after the war ended, he was wearing a shredded Japanese uniform. He was nearly shot on sight until fellow counterintelligence officers verified his identity.
After the war, Sakakida remained in Manila to translate key documents and testify against his former captors in war crimes trials, including the trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita. He later transferred to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1975.
Richard Sakakida endured unimaginable physical torture and isolation so that his country could win a war. He did so while his own government subjected fellow Japanese Americans back home to mass internment. His determination, silence, and intellect saved hundreds of lives and proved that loyalty is defined by action, not ancestry.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Motoso Sakakida was born on November 19, 1920, in Puʻunēnē, Maui, Hawaii. He died on January 23, 1996,at age 75, in Fremont, California, from lung cancer and complications related to long-term injuries from wartime torture. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.