Department of Defense

Royal T. Frank survivors celebrate 53rd reunion

As a young soldier fresh out of basic training, George Taketa of Hilo, wasn’t afraid of playing against the odds in a dice game Unfortunately, the events that took place the morning of Jan. 28 1942, were even more than he gambled on.

That day, Taketa, with a pocketful of earnings and the intention of treating his fellow soldiers to breakfast in Hilo, found himself floating in the Alenuihaha Channel in the middle of an oil slick. The ship that he was travelling on, the U.S. Army transport General Royal T. Frank, had been torpedoed by a Japanese submarine.

Before the torpedo cut his trip and his friend’s lives short, the newly-recruited Army soldiers were anticipating a rendezvous with Hilo’s 299th Infantry. They had boarded the Frank in Honolulu enroute to Molokai, Maui and the final stop, Hilo.

No matter how you look at the incident, luck was clearly on Taketa’s side. He survived the attack along with eight of his army buddies. Seventeen other soldiers, however, weren’t so lucky. These 17 island-born men, federalized Army National Guard soldiers, died when the ship was attacked shortly after dawn.

Taketa and six other survivors, Yoshio Ogomori, John R Souza, Takimaru Takamoto, Shizuo Toma, Shigeru Ushijima and Haruo Yarnashita, met at the K K Tei Restaurant in Hilo, Jan. 27, for the 53rd observance of the tragedy.

The other two survivors of the attack were Susuma Yoshioka and Tsutomu “Mac” Wakimoto. Wakimoto is deceased, and Yoshioka did not attend the reunion.

From the time the first soldier arrived, it was evident that a sort of camaraderie still existed among them. The “Torpedo Gang” was clearly back in action. This time their mission was not to play war games, but to pay tribute to their buddies who died, celebrate life and renew their friendship–a friendship that has lasted since they were assigned to basic training at Schofield Barracks in the early 40s, witnessed the tragic deaths of their peers, and served together in the 298th Infantry on Oahu.

Seconds before the torpedo blew up the Frank, Taketa remembers hearing someone say, “Wake up. I see some big fish corning.”

What someone thought was a bigfish was a torpedo. In his account of the story, Taketa says that three torpedoes were fired.

He was able to survive the attack by holding on to a U.S. Mail bag that he had been sleeping on. Taketa was grateful that the mail bag was buoyant. It kept him afloat until he was rescued by a Young Brothers tugboat. He unfortunately lost all of his gambling earnings while attempting to remain afloat.

Like all of the other soldiers who survived, Taketa was sleeping above deck. He said the survivors were rescued by a tug boat and taken to Maui, a trip that took approximately four hours.

“fm thankful that I’m still around,” said Souza, who was below shortly before the torpedo hit the Frank Souza said he slept all night above deck because he could not tolerate all the smoke and gambling below deck. Waking up shortly before 7 am., he went below deck to get his mess-kit in”anticipation of breakfast.

While he was there, he heard the sound of metal scraping the bottom of the ship he decided to return to the upper deck to see what was happening. Seconds later, the torpedo hit, and the impact threw him against a chain railing.

Souza is grateful that he had a life jacket on since he didn’t know how to swim. He jumped overboard kicking and struggling to get away from the sinking vessel. He was rescued last because he had drifted so far away from the other survivors. Souza says he still has a piece of the cork he cut from the life jacket.

All information about the incident was placed under strict censorship by the U.S. Army. Taketa and the others could not talk or even write to their families about it until after the war.

When Souza’s fiancee, Ruth Luiz, received a letter he had written shortly after the Frank’s sinking, key passages were marked out. Despite the blacked-out passages, Ruth said she was relieved to know that her boyfriend was alive.

Three years later, they were married on May 19th. They will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this year.

Ushijima was at the ship’s stern when the explosion occurred. The impact knocked him on his back. After he realized the ship was sinking, he said, he jumped overboard and started swimming away from it.

“We just tried to save our selves,” he said, explaining the ship was sinking so fast he did not have time to think.

Ogomori shared similar sentiments. The veteran said that he went below deck to change his clothes because they were wet from sleeping above deck all night long Like Taketa, he believes that two torpedoes scraped the ship before the final one exploded, breaking it in two. Like the other survivors, Ogomori jumped overboard, swimming away from the boom to prevent getting tangled up in the wires and cables above the ship.

The survivors were taken to Hana, Maui, where they changed out of their oil and water saturated clothing and spent a few days with Maui’s 299th lnfantry. The group was later transferred to the 298th lnfantry in Kaneohe.

When the 200-foot transport went down, it was part of a convoy that included a four-stack destroyer and the Kalae, a small freighter loaded with heavy equipment. The Kalae was reportedly towing a barge.

The attack occurred at about 7 a.m., when the convoy was in the Alenuihaha Channel about 18 miles northeast of Kauhola Point, where the lighthouse is located in north Kohala.

Historic accounts of the sinking reveal that, “The ship did not seem to blow up or sink, she just disintegrated and disappeared in 30 to 40 seconds.”

After the tragedy, the nine survivors served with the 298th Infantry on Oahu where they worked in the motor pool. All but Souza were transferred to the 100th Battalion, 442nd lnfantry, where they became part of one of the most decorated units during World War ll. Even then, Taketa never lost his zeal or spirit for gambling, or looking out for his friends. He explained that when they served with the 442nd he always traded the red cards for blue cards so the “torpedo gang” would never had to sleep below deck. In those days, Taketa explained, soldiers who were issued red cards were required to sleep below deck and those issued the blue cards could sleep above deck.

Souza was transferred to the 298th Infantry Division, Company E, where he served out his enlistment.

This story was written by Deborah M.S. Murray as part of the Hawaii National Guard’s tribute to veterans who served during World War II.

In Memory

The victims of the U.S. Army transport General Royal T. Frank, January 28, 1942, tragedy were:

Hawaii

• Pvt. lwao Nakamura, Kealakekua, Kona
• Pvt. Yoshito Nii, Papaikou
• Pvt. Larry M. Oku, Kailua, North Kona
• Pvt. Reginald M. Osato
• Pvt. John Perreira, Hilo
• Pvt. John S. Rodrigues, Pepeekeo
• Pvt. Raymond H. Shirakawa, Waiohinu
• Pvt. Yeishun A. Soken
• Pvt. Bushichi Tani, Papaikou
• Pvt. Pemal C. Torrijos, Hakalau
• Pvt. Alfred Veriato, Olea
• Pvt. Torao Yamamizu, Pepeekeo
• Pvt. Albert H. Yano, Kainaliu, Kona
• Pvt. Yonezo Yonemura, ofKeopu, Kona

Oahu

• Pvt. Shoii Okido, Honolulu
• Pvt. Shinichi Shigi, Honolulu
• Pvt. Hook Y. Young, Honolulu

– 1995 January – February Pūpūkahi pp. 6