Voices to Courage: A New Generation Shares the 100th’s Story
In 2026, the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans (Club 100) partnered with Mānoa Valley Theatre on "Voices to Courage: Hawaiʻi’s One Puka Puka Heroes," a summer youth theater program that explored the history and legacy of the 100th Infantry Battalion through oral histories, storytelling, and performance. Students in the program created and performed vignettes, and the program culminated in public performances at Mānoa Valley Theatre on July 11 and 12.
With great appreciation and pride, Club 100 would like to share this video featuring the students’ artistic interpretations of the World War II experiences of the soldiers of the 100th Infantry Battalion.
Many who attended the live performances described them as inspirational and said they were tearjerkers, with both performances culminating in standing ovations. The 100th patriarchs must have been beaming from the heavens — along with 100th Infantry Battalion veteran Mr. Masaharu Saito (Co. B / Rural Chapter), who watched from the audience — as they witnessed the students’ grasp of what the 100th and 442nd endured, the high-performance values that drove them, and the soldiers’ accomplishments during and after the war.
In just six weeks, students Jack, Kailey, Myles, Maggie, David, and Kazu, from schools across Oʻahu, bonded as friends, studied the legacy of the 100th, and interviewed the 100th’s descendants. They then conveyed that legacy to the audience through artistic expression, song, videography, humor, passion, empathy, and so much more. Outstanding!
Thank you to Rob Duval, Artistic Director of Mānoa Valley Theatre (MVT), as well as friends of MVT and Club 100, Mariko Miho and Alan Suemori, who developed the concept of sharing the 100th’s story through artistic expression. Thank you also to Karleen Chinen [daughter of Wallace Seiko Chinen (Co. D)], Jan Sakoda [daughter of Gary Uchida (HQ Co.)], and Irene Anzai [daughter of Yoshio Anzai (Co. C)], who stepped forward from Club 100 to work with the Mānoa Valley Theatre team.
Students shared that they became personally invested in the 100th’s story after interviewing descendants who shared memories and their views about their 100th patriarch. By incorporating the descendants’ voices, the MVT summer program transformed into a meaningful community-building experience.
This mode of artistic expression is a great model of what can be offered to students by the Hawaiʻi Department of Education and private schools, as an engaging way to learn about the 100th, 442nd, MIS, and 1399th, in addition to creative lesson plans and project-based learning tools.
The 100th and 442nd overcame discrimination because their Japanese ancestry made them look like the Japanese Imperial Navy that attacked Pearl Harbor, ultimately becoming one of the most decorated in U.S. military history. We hope people around the world will share the soldiers’ legacy with their children to help them understand the values that led to their success, the pain of war, and the importance of becoming proponents of peace.
We hope you enjoy watching the video and feel the mana (spirit) of the 100th soldiers, along with pride in the students’ hard work and heartfelt portrayal of their legacy in "Voices to Courage: Hawaiʻi’s One Puka Puka Heroes."
Thank you — mahalo — to everyone involved, especially the students, who led the way in bringing history to life in a relevant and innovative way.
Comments