Native Hawaiian Veterans: David Akui

 
David M. Akui (January 16, 1920 – September 15, 1987) was a Native Hawaiian soldier who became famous for capturing the first Japanese prisoner of war in World War II. At the time, Akui was a corporal in Company G, 298th Infantry Regiment of the Hawa’ii National Guard. Akui served through the remainder of World war II and was a member of the famed “Merrill’s Marauders”, who fought the Japanese in the jungles of Burma. He retired from the United States Army as a master sergeant and spent the rest of his life in Hawai’i.