The Submariner Who Became America's First WWII Prisoner

Sergeant David Akui walked along Waimanalo Beach on the morning of Dec. 8, 1941, and spotted what he thought was a sea turtle emerging from the surf. Akui quickly realized he had found something far more significant—a Japanese naval officer from the previous day's Pearl Harbor attack. Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki became Prisoner of War No. 1 for the United States, the first of only approximately 50,000 Japanese military personnel who would surrender to Western Allied forces during World War II.