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Birth
On December 8th 1919, Sakae Takahashi was born on a Makaweli sugar plantation #4 in Kauai, Hawaii -
High School
Sakae was lucky enough to be in the first graduating class of Waimea high school. He was a good student, and an athlete, running on the track team and playing football, while barefoot. He got his first pair of shoes as a high school graduation gift. -
University
After high school, with his fathers blessing, Sakae enrolled at the University of Hawaii. He received a small scholarship from the Hawaiian territorial government, and a small sum for participating in ROTC. -
Qualifying for army reserve
Sakae was surprised to be asked to stay in ROTC his junior and senior years at UH (University of Hawaii). To completely qualify for the Army Reserve, Sakae had to renounce his Japanese Citizenship. -
Pearl Harbour
Earlier that year in June, Sakae became one of the first nonwhite US army officers (rank of second lieutenant) in Hawaii. He was teaching agriculture at the Aiea Intermediate School, where he had a bird eyes view of the destruction at pearl harbour. He responded by reporting to the Hawaii Territorial Guard. "I was angry" he said. photo of Sakae after becoming an officer -
299th infantry regiment
On December 22nd, Sakae was transferred to Kauai to serve in the recently federalized 299th Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and this ultimately saved him from the demobilization of Japanese American troops on January 12th, in which they lost their arms and turned out of their units. -
100th Battalion formed
On 05/30/1942 Sakae and the rest of the 299th infantry regiment was shipped out of Kauai to Honolulu. The 298th & 299th infantry regiments were shipped out to Camp McCoy in Wisconsin for training on June 5th, as the Battle of Midway raged -
Life at Camp McCoy
Sakae was one of the original 16 officers that served under layers of white officers. Initially a platoon leader, Sakae used his off days to stay in camp and studied. "“I felt that if you’re going into combat, you might as well learn everything you can. I did a lot of studying, about tactics, strategies and weapons. Yeh? If you have to fight, you might as well be prepared.” He didn't like the idea of being a segregated unit, but accepted it under the certain circumstances -
100th earns Presidential Citation
The 100th was awarded its first presidential citation after successfully attacking the Italian town of Belvedere. Many German soldiers were taken prisoner. With media coverage, the view of Japanese American soldiers started to shift. -
Battle of Rapido River
The 100th's first major assault in Italy was a disaster, and labeled as a "suicide mission." The officer above Sakae refused to order the 100th on this mission, and was temporarily relieved of duty. Sakae replaced him, and ordered the 100th to cross the icy Rapido river, as he reckoned if he didn't give the order, someone else would. It was a massive defeat, and only 3 officers (including Sakae) and 11 soldiers were not killed. -
Honorable Discharge
The 100th battalion was fighting to liberate the French village of Bruyeres. In the fighting Sakae took a serious wound to the arm, and was hospitalized after losing a large amount of blood. He was moved to an army hospital in New York. There he met a nurse by the name of Bette Wolfe. While there he also spent time with Daniel Inouye, who convinced him that politics was the way to create change in Hawaii. -
Marriage
Sakae married Bette Wolfe, who was a nurse and opera singer. (Image of Sakae, Bette and fellow officer Young Oak Kim in NYC, 1946. Sakae is on the left) -
The start of a law career
Sakae was part of the Hawaii democratic revolution in the 50's. He was the first Japanese American veteran to hold public office. In 1951 he was appointed territorial treasurer. -
State Senator
in 1953, Sakae successfully ran for a seat within the territory's senate. He served there for 2 decades. -
Central Pacific Bank
Post war America didn't treat Japanese Americans too well. There was still discrimination, and this applied to the banking system. Sakae helped co-found CPB, which loaned money out to Japanese Americans. -
Sons
On October 26th, 1958, Mark Takahashi (My father) and Brian Takahashi were born. -
Death
At 81 years old, Sakae Takahashi suffered a heart attack, and passed away in the hospital.
