This is a story so absurd that it is hard to believe:after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese pilot landed on an island belonging to the USA (in fact, in enemy territory). He was welcomed with open arms, after which ... he organized a conspiracy and terrorized the natives. He paid the highest price for it.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbor took place. Few people know that on the same day there was also a strange incident involving a Japanese aviator ...
22-year-old Shigenori Nishikaichi piloted a Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter. He escorted a group of bombers from the Shokaku aircraft carrier scheduled for the second wave of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Their destination was the Bellows Army Airfield base. The Japanese had already lost a valuable element of surprise and were attacked by nine American P-36 Hawks fighters on their way back.
Nishikaichi shot down one of the enemy planes - but was hit himself. It seemed harmless at first, but the pilot quickly realized that the fuel consumption was faster than usual. It turned out that the missile had penetrated the tank, which was leaking. He wasn't the only one who got hit. The man noticed another broken and smoking Zero in the air.
(Without) populous island
Even before the attack, during the check-in on the carrier Hiryo, a special plan was developed. He predicted that machines that failed to return to base after the attack were made should go to the island of Niihau. It is the westernmost and also the smallest island of Hawaii. There, the pilots were to wait for rescue by a class I submarine.
Nishikaichi's quick calculation showed that it would be better to go to an island 130 miles away than try to return to Hiryo, which was probably already moving away towards Japan. So the pilot reduced the speed and with the second Zero shot, he headed west.
After 20 minutes, the Japanese saw an island measuring only 29 km long and less than 10 km wide. They quickly realized that the military intelligence had given them incorrect information - it was not deserted. While taxiing, they noticed that an area of about 1/3 of the area was built-up . Not only that, just behind the buildings, Nishikaichi noticed a crowd of people standing next to a structure resembling a church.
The pilots felt consternation. They directed their machines southwest of the island. Nishikaichi approached the second plane and gestured to his colleague that he wanted to land, but he rejected the suggestion. After a few minutes, Nishikaichi noticed his companion rising higher and then suddenly falling straight into the water ...
Niʻihau Island
He himself found a relatively flat piece of land and landed hard behind one of the houses. The nose of the plane crashed into the fence of the pen and then plunged into the ground. Howard Kaleohano watched the whole dramatic event. He was one of the few inhabitants of the island who could speak English fluently. In 1930 he came here to visit his sister and fell in love with one of the local girls. He received a settlement permit issued to him by Niihau Aylmer Robinson, managing director.
Kaleohano immediately took the pilot's weapons and papers that looked like papers. Nishikaichi asked in broken English if he was Japanese and Kaleohano introduced himself, explained that he was from Hawaii, and ... took him to his home where his wife prepared breakfast for the survivor!
As the English Nishikaichi proved insufficient to establish communication, 60-year-old beekeeper Ishimatsu Shintani, born in Japan, was sent for. He did not feel comfortable being an interpreter. After a short conversation, he seemed downright shocked. Without saying a word, he left the room. However, he did not reveal the secret, and he heard from the pilot that Japan had attacked the United States so the island was formally at war with it!
A guest at home?
After the beekeeper left, Yoshio Harada, who could speak Japanese and English, was summoned. And he decided to keep the information he heard a secret! Unaware that the US was at war with Japan, the people of Niihau treated the pilot as a special guest. He was given a traditional flower wreath and a bedroom was prepared for him. It even got to Nishikaichi borrowed a guitar and started singing traditional Japanese songs!
He felt quite at ease, especially since he was convinced of the imminent arrival of the submarine to rescue. And this one did indeed arrive, except ... at 1.30 a.m. while Nishikaichi was asleep. The vessel was ordered to return and hunt American shipping. The rescue is gone for good!
At night, the radio broadcast a message about a Japanese attack. He was also picked up on the island of Niihau. It was decided to question the newcomer again. This time, Harada conveyed the pilot's words to the villagers. The only thing missing was the right person to decide what to do with the uninvited guest.
The island manager, Aylmer Robinson, lived in Kauai and only visited Niihau once a week. The man he had appointed to rule in his absence, John Rennie, died in September. Harada was next in the rank. He was faced with a dilemma - whether to invoke American citizenship or to prioritize his Japanese origin. The local community also debated the fate of the pilot. So far it has been placed in John Kelly's house. Harada was supposed to keep an eye on him.
The next day, Nishikaichi was taken north of the island on a tractor. It was there that Robinson was supposed to arrive with the weekly inspection on December 8 (he did not show up due to war restrictions). The prisoner and the guard used the waiting time for discussion. The pilot began to persuade his interlocutor to cooperate. His main card in this game was the certainty that Japan would win. Eventually he managed to convince Harada and his wife Irene.
It was Thursday, December 11. Nishikaichi was still treated like a guest, albeit unwanted. Shintani also joined the conspiracy among the Japanese. He went to Kaleohano's house to ask him to return the documents. When he heard the refusal, he threatened him. However, he did not intimidate him and threw the aggressor out of his house. Nishikaichi and Harada realized that they could not count on a beekeeper. So they joined Plan B, which involved the pilot's honorable suicide.
Shigenori Nishikaichi,
The concept did not enter the implementation phase, because the guards were taken over by the inhabitants of the island, although they did not conscientiously apply to their duties. Instead of four sentries, only one remained at the remote control. Harada decided to seize the opportunity. He went to him and said he needed Nishikaichi's help with the hives. After all three went there, Harada and the pilot neutralized the caretaker, took his weapons, and locked him in a nearby warehouse.
The conspirators went to the plane - Nishikaichi wanted to use the radio, which proved impossible. So the men headed for the Kaleohano house. At the sight of the hostile guest and his companion, he started to run away. He sped towards the village to forestall the rest of the inhabitants. Almost everyone left their homes trying to hide. Some went to the highest peak of the island - Mount Paniau, to fire warning flares. Robinson noticed them and decided that he must organize help at all costs.
The jokes are over
Meanwhile, Nishikaichi and Harada captured a guard who managed to escape from the warehouse. They marched through the village with him, urging people to leave their homes and surrender. Only one man responded to their appeal - Kaahakila Kalima.
Disappointed, the men returned to the plane. They wanted to dismantle the machine gun and the remaining ammunition from it . They also tried to burn the machine down, to no avail, so… they got drunk. Strongly drunk, they went to the Kaleohano house and started shooting at him, calling names. In the morning they broke inside to try to recover the documents again. It failed (Kaleohano hid them in his mother-in-law's house). Frustrated, they burned the building down.
Nishikaichi's irritation grew stronger with each passing moment. At one point, he began to threaten to shoot all the inhabitants of the island. Though the natives were renowned for their calm disposition, now they had had enough! There was a bloody slaughter - one of the local men knocked the newcomer to the ground and began to stab him with a knife, and his wife grabbed the first stone on the shore and furiously massacred the man's head. Harada, standing to one side, realized his hopeless position. Without waiting for events to unfold, he put a gun to his head…
When the aid finally arrived the next morning, everything seemed to be back to normal and the situation was now under control. The island's heroic inhabitants received decorations for their courage. Interestingly, Shigenori Nishikaichi was also treated as a hero - at least in Hashihama's hometown. Well, the pilot was put there a granite stone with the inscription that he had died in combat ...