Teruto "Terry" Tsubota (July 28, 1922 – May 22, 2013) was a second-generation Japanese American (

Nisei is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...

) and a

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. Born in

Pahoa, Hawaii Pāhoa ( haw, Pāhoa) is a census-designated place (CDP) in the District of Puna in Hawai‘i County, Hawai‘i, United States. The population was 924 at the 2020 census. The population dropped by 1.8% from 945 in the 2010 census. Geograph ...

, Tsubota was credited with valiantly saving hundreds of civilian livesDefiant soldier saved lives of hundreds of civilians during Okinawa battle
'' Stars and Stripes'', April 1, 2005 while serving as a

Military Intelligence Service The Military Intelligence Service ( ja, アメリカ陸軍情報部, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based ...

(MIS) combat translator with the 6th Marine Division during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, when he was attached to the

4th Marine Regiment The 4th Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. Based at Camp Schwab in Okinawa, Japan, it is part of the 3rd Marine Division of the III Marine Expeditionary Force. Mission Close with and destroy the enemy by fi ...

. After the war, Tsubota stayed in Okinawa Prefecture. In 1947, he married Kiyoko, a young local woman who had survived being conscripted by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

as a nurse and whom he met in a refugee camp. Together, they raised three children. He retired from the U.S. government service in January 1993. Tsubota remained a

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''her ...

to the Okinawans as the man who personally prevented many combat deaths and civilian suicides during the battle. The Japanese Army forces had misled the native Okinawan population that they would suffer rape and violence from the invading Allied forces; they urged Okinawans to kill themselves or others in advance of defeat. He accompanied Okinawa's governor and other officials during

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

's visit to the prefecture in 2000, and was one of the honored guests at the 59th anniversary of the battle held in the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum in 2004. In 2007, the story of Tsubota and his fellow Japanese-American translators was told by James C. McNaughton in ''Nisei Linguists: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II''. Teruto Tsubota died in

Lihue, Hawaii Lihue or Līhue is an unincorporated community, census-designated place (CDP) and the county seat of Kauai County, Hawaii, United States. Lihue (pronounced ) is the second largest town on the Hawaiian island of Kauai after Kapaa. As of the 201 ...

, at the age of 90.Obituaries for Sunday, June 2, 2013
''

The Garden Island ''The Garden Island'' is a daily newspaper based in Lihue, Hawaii, covering the islands of Kauai and Niihau. ''The Garden Island'' began publication in 1902. It was formerly owned by Scripps League Newspapers, which was acquired by Pulitzer in 19 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsubota, Teruto 1922 births 2013 deaths American humanitarians American military personnel of Japanese descent United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II People from Hilo, Hawaii United States Marines American expatriates in Japan