Ichiro Okada: Go For Broke

Ichiro Okada (second row, second from the right) enlisted and was assigned to the US Army's 442 Regimental Combat Batallion shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Oahu in December, 1944. He participated in campaigns in Italy and France.

On his return, Ichiro managed J. Okada Store in Waimea, visible behind the statue. He was active in numerous civic programs, and decades later he organized the state's 200th anniversary festivities marking the 1778 arrival of English Captain James Cook.