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>> Narrator: Alexandra Roth, UH Manoa student: Nine months before the start of World War
Two, a second generation Japanese American, or Nisei, from Hawaii was recruited by the
United States military to go undercover and gather information on Imperial Japan. Reflections
of Honor: The Untold Story of a Nisei Spy, is about that man, Maui born Arthur Satoshi
Komori, a McKinley High School and University of Hawaii graduate.
>> Morris Lai, Reflections of Honor principal investigator: It's the story about how one
man, could do so much, despite the very trying circumstances.
>> Narrator: The book, published by the Curriculum Research & Development Group, part of the
College of Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is based on Komori's hand
written journal, an oral history interview and declassified army documents. Shortly after
his career as a spy started in the Philippines, Komori found himself in the notorious Bilibid
prison after the Japanese military bombed Pearl Harbor and Manila.
>> Lorraine Ward, co-author: He was caught by the Filipino constabulary men raising a
toast to the emperor in the Domei Newspaper Agency office and put in prison with all the
other Japanese nationals.
>> Lai: He was serving in an undercover capacity well before the 442nd and the 100th Battalion
were formed.
>> Narrator: Komori was not exactly welcomed back by all of his fellow American soldiers
after he was rescued four days later.
>> Lai: He said, a lot of them, he knew would not trust him for anything.
>> Narrator: He was soon fighting in the battles of Corregidor and Bataan in the Philippines.
>> Ward: He would routinely go across the front lines to collect documents from dead
bodies on the battlefield and to capture prisoners of war and bring them back to interrogate
them for information. He was very much in the thick of battle.
>> Narrator: And was always surrounded by danger.
>> Ward: If he was captured by the Japanese, he was considered a treasonous Japanese citizen,
and there was a danger of him being mistaken for a Japanese spy by his own American soldiers.
>> Narrator: While risking his life for his country, tens of thousands of Japanese Americans
were placed in internment camps, their loyalty to the United States in question.
>> Ward: He was very much aware of what was going on and he considered what he was doing
a way that he had to prove, not only himself, but all his fellow Japanese Americans.
>> Narrator: Reflections of Honor: The Untold Story of a Nisei Spy tells these stories and
more, like how Komori forged a close relationship with General Douglas MacArthur, who presented
him with a samurai sword for his service. How he trained Aborigines in Australia to
rescue downed allied pilots and helped create the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section,
where thousands of Nisei interpreters worked as part of the Military Intelligence Service.
>> Lai: It was probably the most important intelligence center in World War Two at the
that time.
>> Narrator: The Military Intelligence Service is credited with shortening the war by two
years and received a Presidential Unit Citation by President Bill Clinton in 2000, two months
after Komori's death. The book is just one man's story but,
>> Ward: If we don't capture them while we can, they'll be gone and we will lose them
and we'll lose all of this history.
>> Narrtor: For more on Reflections of Honor go to hawaii.edu/c-r-d-g. That's Hawaii.edu/c-r-d-g.