Mom

Janet - Momma Tanaka of the Tanaka Clan...

Hank - The fisherman's fisherman - task-master, father, husband, brother-in-law, grandfather - friend...

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Military records show (Hank) earned the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, and a Bronze Star, during his service in the Korean War, though for some bureaucratic reason he never received them. The Purple Heart is awarded when an individual is wounded in battle; an Oak Leaf Cluster is awarded for being wounded a second time....The Bronze Star is (awarded) for "heroic or meritorious achievement or service." This was our Hank, though we hardly knew him....Who could have known? Hank wasn't one for many words about anything, ever, and clearly not about himself. Silent, oftentimes harsh, with nail-hard opinions about the way things should be and should be done - namely, his way. Just ask his kids. He buried this part of his past, and went on from there... Mike shared a couple of stories about his dad

with me (recently)...that he'd heard from Hank's cousin: Once during a particularly bloody battle, the platoon leader panicked...(putting) the entire platoon in jeopardy. It was through Hank's heroism and...carrying the leader out that he...and the rest of the men got out alive. Eventually nearly all in his platoon were (killed) in heavy firefights with the enemy, leaving only a few survivors....(It is hard to understand) what (those experiences) mean, or the trauma that Hank lived through, but...the pain...must have been so deep...that even in his most intimate relationship, that with Janet, his wife, he never recalled those life and death memories, let alone share them with anyone else. (Excerpt from a memorial piece about Hank, by Gordon H. Nagai)

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The Tanaka Kids - Doug, Steven, Karen, and Mike...

Grandma Toshi and Miya, Janet's mother-in-law and sister-in-law...