Douglas County was
and is an amazing place!
Most of the time my subject matter simply falls in my
lap. Something I read spurs me to write, something someone says, something a
reader sends me, and sometimes my writing begins with just a photograph.
The other day I came across a picture of a captured
Japanese submarine on the back of a truck being carried through the middle of
Villa Rica. I realized that if the submarine was being driven through Villa
Rica the chances of it being driven through Douglasville were very high.
Intrigued I decided to dig a little deeper.
I knew the time period for the picture was 1943, so I
wanted to pour over the Sentinel issues
archived at the library. Unfortunately, the microfilm copies for 1940-1943 are
missing, so I turned to the Internet for the rest of the story.
During the early morning of December 7, 1941 it wasn’t
just Japanese aircraft bearing down on Pearl Harbor. Five midget submarines
were also launched from the Japanese fleet as well.
The submarine that eventually made its way through Villa
Rica and Douglasville was 78 feet long and carried the designation of HA-19. There
was just enough room for two men – Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki and Chief Warrant
Officer Hiyoshi Inagaki.
There were problems with the submarine as soon as it hit
the water. At one point it nearly sank. When the men were finally forced to
surface, the submarine was spotted by a U.S. patrol, and our men began tracking
it.
Sakamaki and Inagaki finally decided to scuttle the
submarine and make for shore. Explosives were rigged to destroy the craft in case
the men had to abandon it, but when there was no explosion Sakamaki swam down
underneath the submarine to determine the problem. He became unconscious from
the lack of oxygen and washed ashore near Waimanalo Beach, Oahu.
When Sakamaki finally awoke he found himself the “guest”
of the United States. In fact, he is recorded as the very first prisoner of war
captured by the United States during World War II.
The submarine was salvaged by Navy and Army personnel,
and for the remainder of the war it toured the country as part of a war bond
drive. That’s how it ended up being carried through Villa Rica and
Douglasville.
The submarine served as a symbol – a reminder regarding how
the United States entered the war and of our loss. The submarine ended up
raising millions of dollars for the war effort.
Sakamaki’s name was stricken from Japanese records as if
he never existed. He begged his U.S. captors to allow him to commit suicide,
but of course, his request wasn’t granted. He spent the entire war on the U.S.
mainland as prisoner of war, number one.
At the war’s end Sakamaki was released and returned to
Japan where he refused to discuss the war. He eventually became an executive
with the Toyota Motor Corporation and served as the president of its Brazilian
subsidiary during the 1970s.
Sakamaki eventually wrote a memoir entitled I Attacked Pearl Harbor.
He was reunited with his submarine in 1991 when he
traveled to Texas for a historical conference regarding the war. He reportedly
cried.
I remain on the hunt for the missing newspaper articles
and will keep you updated.
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