VAntage Point
Don Seki: Japanese American War Hero
Don Seki served as a member of the 442nd Regiment, a unit of Japanese American soldiers, during World War II.
Born in December 1922, Noboru “Don” Seki grew up in the Manoa Valley in Honolulu, where his parents worked as farmers on a sugar plantation. He was the youngest son and grew up barefoot; his family was at the bottom of the plantation economy. At the time, two of every five Hawaiians were Japanese American, and discrimination against Japanese American citizens was not as prevalent as it was on the mainland.
When Seki was 17, his parents moved back to Japan. Seki, however, stayed behind. On Dec. 7, 1941, only three days after they said their goodbyes, the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. Life as he knew it changed forever and Seki would not see his parents again until 1947.