Six Members Of Hawaii's Miyake Family At Shelby.

The Miyake’s have been in Hawaii for three generations and two of those generations have gone to war when their country called.

In World War I three of the family served in the United States Army, two of them as staff sergeants and one a corporal. They left the fourth member of the family at home — he was only nine years old.

But now, with World War II, the 9-year-old who stayed at home has led the Miyake clan back into the army. He's Pvt. Matsumoto Miyake, 34 years old now and married. But he's in the Japanese American combat team at Camp Shelby and moreover he has five nephews here with him in the army. Three of the nephews are brothers and the other two represent different branches of the family. The Miyakes are mighty proud that there's six of them in the army this time — just twice as many as turned out in World War I.

Civilian Defense

Pvt. Matsuko Miyake, called “Mutt” by his comrades and the brasher ones of his nephews, was an important figure in the Hawaiian Office of Civilian Defense set up before he volunteered for the army. He served as OCD division director, evacuation officer, district air raid warden and with the provisional police in his district of Waimea, Kauai. When opportunity came to join the combat team, Miyake was among the first to volunteer in the West Kauai district. And his wife, he says, was first to salute him. “If it's going to make you so happy, go ahead. I'm proud of you,” she told him. With that blessing the Miyakes went to war:

They are:

In Medics

Pvt. Walter Miyake who was a pre-medical student at the University of Hawaii. Soon after Pearl Harbor, Walter joined the Varsity Victory Volunteers, a labor unit stationed at Schofield Barracks, Oahu. When the VVV's volunteered as a unit, Walter came in and is now with the medical detachment of the combat team.

Cpl. Edward Miyake in civilian life was a shipping clerk at Port Allen, Kauai. He served with the 370th Engineers at Schofield for a year and two months before volunteering for the combat team.

Pvt. James Miyake was attending the University of Hawaii and came in with his two older brothers, Edward and Walter. He also had been a member of the VVVs.

Engineer

Pvt. George Miyake, of another branch of the Miyake, was majoring in electrical engineering at the University of Hawaii when he joined. He is now with the field artillery battalion of the combat team.

Pvt. Torao Wakamoto is the fifth nephew. His mother was a Miyake and naturally he went to war with the other Miyakes.

Back home in Hawaii, Iwao Miyake, a Harvard graduate, is an instructor in physics at the University of Hawaii and is teaching army engineers’ classes. Still another of the older generation, Noboru Miyake was a representative in the Territorial Legislature for many years. The Miyakes are outstanding examples of an immigrant family who came to Hawaii a half a century ago and have contributed to the upbuilding of their adopted home in many walks of life.