The Niihau Incident: Loyalty and Betrayal After Pearl Harbor

Hello and welcome to World War 2 Stories. I'm your host, Steve Matthews. Today, we're exploring a remarkable but lesser-known drama that unfolded in the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor – a tense six-day saga on Hawaii's "Forbidden Island" that would test loyalties, lead to bloodshed, and ultimately influence America's controversial decision to intern Japanese Americans during the war.This is the story of the Niihau Incident – when the global conflict literally crash-landed on one of America's most isolated communities and forced its residents to make life-or-death decisions that would reverberate throughout the war.

Episode Transcript

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Hello and welcome to World War Two Stories.
I'm your host Steve Matthews. Today we're exploring A
remarkable but lesser known drama that unfolded in the
immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, a tense 6 day saga on
Hawaii's Forbidden Island that would test loyalties, lead to
bloodshed, and ultimately influence America's

(00:21):
controversial decision to internJapanese Americans during the
war. This is the story of the NI Hao
incident, when the global conflict literally crash landed
on one of America's most isolated communities and forced
its residents to make life or death decisions that would
reverberate throughout the war. The Setting Hawaii's Forbidden

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Island Our story takes place on NI Hao, the westernmost of
Hawaii's inhabited islands, a place so isolated and restricted
that it earned the nickname The Forbidden Island.
Privately owned by the Robinson family since 1864, Niihau
functioned almost as its own little Kingdom, with strict
rules controlling access in a way of life largely unchanged

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for generations. In 1941, approximately 136
native Hawaiians lived on Niihau, most working on the
Robinson family ranch. There was no electricity, no
phones and very limited contact with the outside world.
The island's owner, Elmer Robinson, managed affairs from

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nearby Kauai, making weekly boattrips to NI Hao and weather
permitted. Among the residents were a small
number of Japanese Americans, including Yoshio and Irene
Hirata, who were Nisei second generation Japanese Americans
born in Hawaii, and Ishimatsu Shintani, a Japanese born
immigrant who worked as a beekeeper.

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Most NI Hao residents spoke onlyHawaiian and had little
knowledge of world events. The island's isolation would
soon be shattered in the most dramatic way imaginable.
Pearl Harbor. In a fateful error, on the
morning of December 7th, 1941, Imperial Japan launched its
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,drawing the United States into

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World War 2. Among the attacking pilots was
22 year old Airman First Class Shigunori Nishikechi, flying one
of the deadly 0 fighter planes that had wreaked havoc on
American forces. Nishikechi's plane was damaged
by American anti aircraft fire during the attack.
Unable to make it back to his aircraft carrier, he needed to

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find a place to land his crippled 0.
Here's where a critical intelligence error occurred.
Japanese planners had designatedNI Hao as an uninhabited island
where downed pilots could await submarine rescue.
In reality, while sparsely populated, NI Hao was home to a
community completely unaware of the attack that had just taken

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place merely 130 miles away. Approximately 2:00 PM on
December 7th, residents of Niihau saw something
unprecedented, a small aircraft circling the island, clearly in
distress. The pilot, Misha Keichi, managed
to crash Land is 0 in a field near the home of Howard Kaylee

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Ohano, a Native Hawaiian resident.
First contact in Hawaiian hospitality.
Kaylee Ohano rushed to the crashsite and pulled the dazed pilot
from the wreckage. Though unable to communicate
directly due to language barriers, Kaylee Ohano
instinctively did something thatwould prove critically
important. He took the pilot's pistol, maps

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and official papers before helping him from the plane.
What's remarkable about what happened next is how it
reflected Hawaiian cultural values of hospitality and
community. Despite the pilots obviously
foreign military appearance, theIslanders welcomed him.
Following traditional Hawaiian custom, they hosted a luau in

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honor of their unexpected visitor that evening.
Though they prudently posted guards around him, the residents
had no idea that Pearl Harbor had been attacked or that the
United States was now at war with Japan.
They simply treated Nishikeichi as an honored guest, albeit one
who had arrived in unusual circumstances.

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There was, however, a communication problem.
No one on Niihau spoke Japanese and Nishikichi spoke no Hawaiian
or English. The Islanders first approached
Ishimatsu Shintani, the Japaneseborn beekeeper, asking him to
translate, but something extraordinary happened.
After a brief conversation with the pilot, Shintani appeared

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visibly shaken and refused to translate further.
The Islanders then turned to Yoshio and Irene Harada, the
Hawaiian born Nisei couple who spoke both Japanese and English.
And this is where our story takes its first dark turn.
The secret revealed When the Harada spoke with Nishikechi, he

(05:02):
revealed the shocking truth. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor,
and the United States and Japan were now at war.
But instead of sharing this critical information with their
fellow Islanders, the Haradas made a fateful decision.
They kept it secret. The Islanders, still unaware of
the attack, plan to wait for Elmer Robinson's regular Monday

(05:24):
boat trip from Kauai so he coulddeal with the situation.
But Monday came and went with nosign of Robinson.
What the NI Hao residents didn'tknow was that the US military
had imposed strict travel restrictions after the Pearl
Harbor attack, preventing Robinson from making his regular
trip. By December 8th, the situation

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began to change. Someone on the island managed to
hear news of the Pearl Harbor attack via radio.
Suddenly, Nishikechi's presence took on an entirely different
meaning. He wasn't just a pilot in
distress, he was an enemy combatant.
The Islanders decided to detain Nishikeichi while continuing to

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wait for Robinson's arrival. They confined him to the
Harada's home, with Yoshio Harada assigned to guard him.
This arrangement would prove to be a critical mistake.
Escalation and betrayal. Over the next few days, Yoshio
Harada made his choice. Rather than guarding
Nishakeichi, he allied with him.Together with his wife Irene,

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the Haradas helped plan Nishikechi's escape and recovery
of his papers, which contains sensitive military information.
On December 12th, 5 days after the crash landing, the plot was
put into action. Yoshio Harada and Nishikechi
broke into Kelly Ohano's house searching for the confiscated
documents but couldn't find them.

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Kaylee Ohano, spotting them approaching his house, had fled
and hidden in the islands rough terrain.
Now armed and desperate, Nisha, Keichi and Harada took control
of the village. They captured the Islander
shotguns in a pistol and proceeded to take several
Islanders hostage. They also set fire to Kaylee
Ohano's house and torched Nisha Keichi's crashed Zero plane to

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destroy evidence. Kaylee Ohano, meanwhile, had
reached the northern tip of the island.
In a feat of remarkable endurance, he launched a small
boat and rode 12 hours through rough seas to Kauai to summon
help. But the Islanders still on
Niihau couldn't wait for rescue.They were on their own.
The final confrontation On December 13th, the 6th day of

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the crisis events, reached theirclimax.
Misha, Keichi and Harada captured Ben and Ella Kanaheli,
A respected local couple in their mid 40s.
Ben was a foreman on the Robinson Ranch and known for his
physical strength. Mishikechi, becoming
increasingly desperate, ordered the Canaheli's to find Kaylee

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Ohano, threatening to kill everyone on the island if they
refused. Ben Canaheli, sensing an
opportunity, appeared to comply,but was secretly planning
resistance. When the moment seemed right,
Canaheli longed at Mishikechi, attempting to disarm him.
In the struggle, Mishikeichi shot Kanahele 3 times in the

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groin, stomach and upper leg. Despite his serious wounds, the
powerful Hawaiian continued his attack, picking up Nishikeichi
and slamming him against the Stonewall.
As the men struggled, Ala Kanahele seized the rock and
struck Mishikeichi on the head. Ben then slit the pilots throat

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with his hunting knife. In that same violent moment,
Yoshio Harada turned a shotgun on himself and committed
suicide. The 6th day NI Hao incident was
over, leaving two men dead and Ben Canaheli seriously wounded.
Aftermath and recognition Shortly after the confrontation,

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a military rescue party arrived from Kauai.
Alerted by Kaylee Ohano, they found the island in turmoil.
With Misha Keichi and Harada dead and Ben Canaheli requiring
immediate medical attention, theUS military recognized the
significance of what had occurred in the bravery of those
involved. Ben Canaheli was awarded the

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Purple Heart for his wounds in the Medal for Merit, the highest
civilian honor at that time. Remarkably, Ella Canaheli, who
played an equally crucial role in subduing Nisha Keichi,
received no official recognition.
The consequences for others involved reflected the growing
suspicion toward Japanese Americans that would

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characterize the war years. Irene Hirato was arrested and
imprisoned for 31 months for herrole in aiding Nishikeichi.
Ishimatsu Shintani, the beekeeper who had refused to
translate, was sent to an internment camp.
The documents that Kaylee Ohano had seized from Nishikeichi
proved to contain valuable intelligence, including maps,

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radio frequencies, and details of the Pearl Harbor attack.
His quick thinking and confiscating and protecting
these papers was credited as a significant service to national
security. Broader impact The shadow of
internment. The NI Hao incident had
repercussions far beyond the small island where it occurred.

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Coming immediately after Pearl Harbor, when fear of Japanese
attacks and potential fifth column activities was at its
height, the incident seemed to confirm the worst suspicions
about Japanese American loyalty.The fact that the Harratus,
American born citizens of Japanese descent, had chosen to
help an enemy pilot rather than their neighbors, fed into

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growing paranoia about where Japanese American loyalties
truly lay. The incident was cited in
military intelligence reports and likely influenced President
Franklin D Roosevelt's decision to sign Executive Order 9066 on
February 19th, 1942, authorizingthe internment of approximately

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120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were
American citizens. A Naval Intelligence Officers
report specifically noted the fact that the two NI Hao
Japanese, who had previously shown no anti American
tendencies, went to the aid of the pilot when Japan dominated
the scene indicates likelihood that Japanese residents

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previously believed loyal to theUnited States may aid Japan if
further Japanese attacks appear successful.
This interpretation, while ignoring the complex personal
choices involved in the fact that many other Japanese
Americans demonstrated unwavering loyalty to the United
States throughout the war, nonetheless shaped policy

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decisions with devastating consequences for an entire
community. A microcosm of wartime America,
the NI Hao Incident encapsulatesmany of the tensions and moral
complexities of World War 2 America.
It highlights the impossible positions in which many Japanese
Americans found themselves caught between their American

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identity and the suspicion directed at them because of
their ancestry. For the Harratus, we can only
speculate about their motivations.
Did they act out of ethnic solidarity, fear of Japanese
victory, personal opportunism? Or were they coerced by Nisha
Keichi? We'll never know for certain

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what drove their fateful decision.
The incident also showcases the remarkable courage of ordinary
citizens thrust into extraordinary circumstances,
from Kaylee Ohano's quick thinking and seizing
Nishikaichi's documents and his determination and rolling to
kawaii for help, to the Canaheli's physical bravery and
confronting an armed enemy when no one else would.

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Perhaps most significantly, the NI Hao incident demonstrates how
global conflicts can reach even the most isolated communities,
forcing everyday people to make life or death choices that
reflect both their personal values and the divided loyalties
that war inevitably creates. Remembering NI Hao Today the NI

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Hao incident remains A relatively obscure episode in
World War 2 history, overshadowed by larger battles
and campaigns. The island itself continues its
tradition of isolation, still privately owned by the Robinson
family, still largely close to outsiders, still known as the
Forbidden Island. Few physical traces remain of

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the dramatic events of December 1941.
Mishikechi's wrecked Zero was removed by the military, the
houses involved have long since been rebuilt or replaced, and
all the main participants have passed away.
But the story endures as a powerful reminder of how global
conflicts can manifest in the most unexpected places, testing

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the character and loyalty of ordinary people caught in
extraordinary circumstances. I'm Steve Matthews and this has
been World War Two stories. Thank you for joining me for
this exploration of the NI Hao incident, a remarkable 6 day
drama. Bat, while small in scale,
reveals much about the complex human dimensions of war and its

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ability to turn paradise into a battleground overnight.
Until next time, remember that history is made not just in the
halls of power or on major battlefields, but also in small
communities where ordinary people face extraordinary
choices.