{"id":581,"date":"2026-05-26T07:35:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:35:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=581"},"modified":"2026-05-26T07:35:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T07:35:51","slug":"long-overlooked-japanese-american-wwii-soldier-honored-with-posthumous-commission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=581","title":{"rendered":"Long-overlooked Japanese American WWII soldier honored with posthumous commission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – On this Memorial Day, we take time to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, including a World War II soldier whose story was at risk of being forgotten.<\/p>\n

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In the 1940s, Daniel Den Betsui, like many Hawai\u02bbi-born Japanese American men, left the islands and deployed to the European theater during World War II.<\/p>\n

Before he shipped out, Betsui was a cadet in the University of Hawai\u02bbi ROTC program.<\/p>\n

But Karl Okemura, president of the 442nd Legacy Center and Veterans Club, said Betsui was denied a commission and instead labeled an enemy alien.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cWhen President Roosevelt allowed the Japanese Americans to volunteer for combat service, he immediately volunteered, and he became a private as a part of the 442nd that fought in Italy and France,\u201d Okemura said.<\/p>\n

Okemura said Betsui was likely part of a formation at \u02bbIolani Palace before marching to Honolulu Harbor to depart for war \u2014 what Okemura described as likely his last walk on Hawaiian soil.<\/p>\n

Betsui was killed in an explosion in 1944.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Daniel Betsui passed, he was 19, so he was unmarried and never had direct descendants,\u201d Okemura said.<\/p>\n

Betsui\u2019s remains were returned to Hawai\u02bbi and he was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.<\/p>\n

Nearly 80 years after his death, the U.S. Army recognized Betsui\u2019s ROTC past at the University of Hawai\u02bbi at M\u0101noa. During a ceremony earlier this year, Betsui and six others posthumously received commissions as second lieutenants.<\/p>\n

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Okemura said the moment was meaningful not only for Betsui, but for all Japanese American soldiers whose contributions were overlooked for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrateful and very proud, and it allowed us to remember a fallen hero, a fallen soldier that was forgotten for so many years and now remembered and brought to light to the public,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

While family members gathered around photos of their soldiers during the ceremony, no one was present to acknowledge Betsui\u2019s posthumous commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis brothers and sisters had descendants whom we tried to reach out to but unable to convince anyone to step forward to attend the ceremony or to receive the documents that the Army provided as part of the honorary commission,\u201d Okemura said.<\/p>\n

Okemura said the 442nd Legacy Center hopes someone from the Betsui family will step forward in the future. In the meantime, he said the group is adopting Betsui as one of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s an important lesson to remember to honor those who gave their lives so that we could have what we enjoy today,\u201d Okemura said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo repeat this lesson and teach our children, I think is the most important that we can do to honor the memories of all the American patriots in the U.S. military,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Hawai\u02bbi-born Japanese American WWII soldier Daniel Betsui was initially denied a commission and labeled an enemy alien.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLong-overlooked Japanese American WWII soldier honored with posthumous commission - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=581\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Long-overlooked Japanese American WWII soldier honored with posthumous commission - 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