When Stephen Nishimuta remembers his father from the Kona days, he sees him with a camera in his hands.
Paul Nishimuta, the general manager of West Hawaii Today from 1969 to 1984, passed away in San Diego on July 13 at age 91. Nishimuta, a war hero and member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, will be remembered at a mid-August service in California.
“He loved photography. He was always taking photos for the newspaper, and for himself,” said Stephen Nishimuta. “He was very social. He went to a lot of events. When anything big happened, he’d be there either covering it or representing the paper.”
Nishimuta didn’t always have a camera in his grasp. In Italy’s Po Valley in April 1945 it was an M1 rifle instead. A member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Nishimuta received the Bronze Star for pinning down a group of enemy soldiers long enough for his squad to move in.
The Nisei fighting men of the 442 Regimental Combat Team were — and still are — famous for the matter-of-fact way they returned to their lives and put the sacrifice behind them, shucking off the past and declining to join veteran groups.
“I think they did their thing, then they went back to their lives,” said Stephen Nishimuta.
It fell to others to chronicle and publicize the accounts of the most highly decorated military unit in U.S. history. In a family history penned by his daughter, Juli Nishimuta recounts the day of April 21, 1945, based on a newspaper story published in 1948 in the Okmulgee Daily Times.
“Despite the heavy concentration of fire coming from the house, he advanced to within 30 yards of the building,” the account reads. “Rapidly firing his M1 rifle into the doors and windows and repeatedly exposing himself as he fired, he was able to pin down the foe long enough to permit his squad to enter the house.”
One German soldier was killed, 17 were captured and eight were wounded in the action.
“If my husband did that, I would kill him,” joked Diana Nishimuta, a daughter-in-law who also remembered her father-in-law’s reticence about discussing his time in the war.
“He never mentioned it to us,” she said.
Born in Cushing, Okla., on March 16, 1924, Nishimuta was one of eight children, joining the U.S. Army at age 20. After military service, he studied journalism at the University of Oklahoma and began his career at the Lawton Constitution, moving to Kailua-Kona in 1969.
Following a stroke in 1984 that was so massive Nishimuta couldn’t talk or write, he moved back to the mainland to live with his son. The stroke effectively ended his connections to people in Kona, Stephen Nishimuta said.
He is survived by sons, Stephen of San Diego and James of Los Angeles; daughter, Juli, of San Antonio; seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. A memorial mass will be held Aug. 14 at 11 a.m. at the Saint Brigid Catholic Church at 4735 Cass St, San Diego. Afterward, Nishimuta will be laid to rest in the Miramar National Cemetery.
“He loved his Hawaii days,” said Diana Nishimuta. “We’re doing a Hawaiian-themed funeral with Hawaiian shirts and dresses. It’s not a black, be somber thing. We’re going to celebrate his life.”