Tribute to Robert "Great Grandpa Bob" Swan

Book written by Jim C. Mills , a comrade and friend during many missions aboard the PBY naval planes during WWII.





When we fly to Hawaii today. We hop on a plane and are confident that in 4-5 hours we'll landing at our destination from the West Coast. Back in the early 40ty's was not the case. Here is the story of how Grandpa Bob first came to Hawaii as a navigator in the Navy.



This is an amazing true story of WWII. An account by one of the sailors of the plane that was instrumental in turning the tide of the war in the Pacific. The Battle of Midway was the results of the recon work done by Bob and his comrades on the PBY that day.









Personal stories by Robert Swan. WWII

Robert and Beverly Swan 2004 Maui, Hawaii

Great Grandpa Bob passed away this morning in his sleep. He will always be a special hero, who is now gone, but will never be forgotten. Rest in Peace.....Aloha

Robert Allen Swan 24 June 1919- 7 April 2009
Obituary published on 10 April 2009 The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa
www.pressdemocrat.com
Very nice article please check it out

Tribute to a Real American Hero, Robert Swan

Robert Swan is my wife's (Linda) Father. Both Robert and Beverly(Dixon)Swan currently reside in Santa Rosa, Calif. Great Grandpa Bob is 90 years old and his health has been of some concern lately, I have been thinking of him and in so doing felt inspired to put down some information somewhere for our family to see someday. Our Grandchildren know him as the friendly old grey haired man from the mainland.
Heloves to play solitaire and do puzzles and crosswords.
He told me the story, after my coaxing, how he learned to first fly a plane in Montana, As a young boy around 8 years old. He would love to hang out in the barn at the top of the hill in his neighborhood. There he would idolize the guys flying the first planes, mostly for the farmers. He would be their gopher and help wash the planes etc. The pilots took a liking to this inquisitive kid and actual taught him how to fly. No thing like regulations and the FAA back then. He once took his schoolteacher for a ride. He was a big man and they couldn't get off of the ground because of their combined wieght, so Bob flew the airplane over the cliff to get liftoff. They flew in circles for a short time and then had to land the teacher in a field by his home to drop him off. He then took off and could fly back up the hill to the hanger(barn).
This is part of his story written by his comrade and lifelong friend.


This is amazing story of what happened as a prelude to one of the most famous and greatest stories of the Pacific theatre of WWII. The account is authored by the pilot and commander of the PBY that played a vital role. Ensign Robert Swan is my Father-in-law today.





Wonderful story that Hollywood made movies of. The Battle of Midway turned the tide of WWII in favor of the Allies and the USA. Famous actors have played the roles of these men, but the reals heros were unassuming sons, fathers, husbands, and brothers. For several years The US government would fly Bob and surviving crewmembers and family to celebrations as far as Guam as VIP to honor the great battles of the Pacific. He said he was honored at the great fuss but always felt a little uneasy, especially thinking about all of his comrades that were missing.

Bob is 90 this year(2009)and several years ago I asked him put some his personal rememberances down so future generations would have the chance to read them. It is as if he was able to tell the stories himself.

Christmas picture taken by Jeff with his new camera in 2006, Christmas. A true American hero with his family and Great Grandchildren. A wonderful man that did everything because it was his duty. Few would ever think that the heroics of the 40ty's would many years later be a blessing to the generations that would follow and would forever change history. A young man from the plains of Montana to a Great Grandfather sitting in our living room on Maui, Hawaii.

Auntie Beatrice Masae Akinaka 100th Birthday 8 March 2009 Celebration

Here's the akinaka Clan on Olu st. in the 1930's. Some memories for Auntie Bea.

The original Akinaka Clan from Olu street.
l-r: Grandma Fusa, Jessie, Masae(Beatrice), Tomiye, Kenzo, Takeo(T-Bone), Fukuo(Isaac), Grandpa Kenjiro


Local News
Posted on: Sunday, March 8, 2009

Happy 100th to their Aunty Bea
Olu Street friends, family celebrate a century of longtime neighbor Masae Akinaka
Photo gallery: Aunty Bea turns 100

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Masae "Beatrice" Akinaka wasn't feeling quite well enough to attend her 100th birthday celebration back in the neighborhood where she had spent nearly all of the past century, but her presence on Olu Street in Kaimuki was as strong and constant yesterday as it had ever been.



The eldest of Kenjiro and Fusa Akinaka's six children, Akinaka now lives at Palolo Chinese Home a few miles away. But she is hardly forgotten by the families that have lived on the quiet road for generations and who have stubbornly, steadfastly preserved their own understanding of what it means to be neighbors.

Hannah Knell, 83, from a few doors down, was among the 50 family, friends and neighbors who showed up to fete the woman they warmly consider not just the matriarch of her clan but a big sister and aunty to generations of Olu Street kids. Chris and Juliette Ling from across the street were also there. So was 92-year-old Patsy Yamane, whose family settled just down the road in 1937 and never left.

"You see that?" asked Knell, gesturing to the tall common mango tree across the street. "Bea planted that herself when her family owned the lot."

The party, a day earlier than Akinaka's actual birth date, was organized by Akinaka's nephews Ken, Vance and Bruce. Ken and Vance Akinaka now live on the property.

"I always think of her as my grandma," said Vance Akinaka. "She is very loving, very sweet. She's the kindest person we know."

And tough.

Bea Akinaka's father, who spent six years in the pineapple fields working off the contract that allowed him to emigrate from Japan to Hawai'i before becoming a stone mason, died when Akinaka was still young. Her mother, a picture bride, died when Akinaka was 20, leaving her to care for her five younger siblings.

Only Akinaka and youngest sister Jessie survive today, but the family name is firmly established.

Akinaka's brother Isaac (father of the three nephews who organized the party) served as a medic with the 100th Battalion in World War II, earning bronze and silver stars. Another brother, Kenzo, was a captain at the McCully Fire Station.

To support the family, Bea Akinaka, who never married, worked as a house cleaner and seamstress, walking to jobs as far away as Hawai'i Kai because she didn't drive and often couldn't afford to take a trolley.

Akinaka would later spend 25 years working in the cafeteria at nearby Liholiho Elementary School.

Friends say Akinaka's care extended beyond her brothers and sisters. They remember her rounding up neighborhood kids for excursions to Waikiki Beach.

"She was always very generous and very active," said Chris Ling, who recalled getting cooking lessons as a youngster from Akinaka.

Ken Akinaka said he couldn't recall a time when his aunt showed anger or frustration, even for the year and a half in high school when she cared for him and his brothers.

"That's just her," he said. "She's always happy and always positive."

Thanks to smart investments made on her behalf by brother Kenzo, Bea Akinaka was able to spend her retirement traveling around the world. Ken Akinaka said his aunt took a trip every three months. She visited Europe, toured Japan frequently, and walked along the Great Wall of China.

Once, Vance Akinaka recalled, she broke her arm passing through a security gate on her way to Korea but didn't tell anyone until she returned. The injury eventually required her to stay in the hospital. At age 85, it was her first hospitalization.

For all of her travels, friends say, Bea Akinaka built her true legacy close to home.

On Ola Street, where neighbors still stop and chat and exchange bags of fruit and keep an eye out for each other, Akinaka was a daily reminder that the important things could transcend time and change.

Every morning, Akinaka would make her way to the bus stop for her daily visit to Ala Moana Center or the Kaimuki business district. Several times a day, she would walk the block picking up fallen leaves and debris.

"I used to see her walking back and forth between telephone poles," Yamane said. "She just kept going as many times as she could. She said it was because she had to stay fit. She's a fighter."

Ken Akinaka said the family planned to take his aunt's cards and gifts to her at the home after yesterday's party. When that would be was unclear, as friends and neighbors lingered at the Akinaka home, ignoring the droplets of rain that splattered against tent tarps and awnings, to keep the party going through the late afternoon.

People still had stories to tell about Aunty Bea and about the street they call home.

"Things have changed in neighborhoods all around the island," Chris Ling said. "But here, time stops. We're still the same."

Bea Akinaka turns 100 today.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.


Not all of the information was correct but we did appreciate the wonderful article in the Honolulu Advertiser


Lia setup the greeting table and everyone signed in and they left messages in a book for Auntie to read.

The Heavens blessed the event with it's tears of joy. The show must go on and we cooked and prepared and the performers danced in the rain. Didn't seem to dampen anyone's spirits or appetite.

It was enjoyable for all.

Friends and neighbors enjoying the festivities and food.

Calvin Kaimi Pono also danced in the rain...

Allison Chu entertained with singing and dancing. Very talented and was very nice of her to do this for the group. Vey professional.

Who's the handsome guy????????? Ammon the younger............

Ammon and Grandpa 'Shaka"

Relaxing and talking story in the backyard. Ammon's "shaking and baking" for us and we're all cracking up.

Michael's gang and Myla at the party

Lia's special Auntie.

Who's the strange bald guy with my Auntie Bea??????

The gang visiting and wishing Auntie Bea happy birthday

cousins: l-r Richard and Carol Matsuda, Gerald and Amy Tanaka, Janet Shigiwara-b, Eilene Matsuda-f, Mirium Tazuka and Donald Kanagawa

Bruce, Ed Ikuma from the 100th Battalion, Vance and Kenneth.

Chazzyboy meets Auntie Bea. The young and the ancient. What's with the dumb hat?????????

Auntie was too tired to attend her own celebration. So we took the party to her. Here is Erin, Bruce's youngest, and Kenny with gifts and balloons. She had some chocolates that we gave to all of her fellow friends at the resthome. We totally disrupted the lunch hour with our entourage and singing happy birthday and all. The staff was really cool and the residents didn't seem to mind either.

Auntie Bea meeting Myla "Masae" Tuitele, named after her. Auntie would repeat for several times ", named after me? One could tell she thought it was cool to have a namesake.....She loved babies and seemed to adore little Masae...

Matriarch and oldest living member of the Akinaka Clan. One of the kindest people that I have ever known. When I was growing up she was my "Grand Mother". I wasn't fortunate enough to have had living Grand Mothers. Auntie Bea was it for me.
Every summer she would come and visit us and we would "holo holo", go vacationing with her. We would often visit my Mother's relatives in Utah and LA. We would sometimes go camping at Yosemitie or Lake Arrowhead etc. I would always ask her when I could go home with her to Hawaii. We would move in Calif every 5 years for my Dad's job and I always was told Hawaii was our home. I was born on Oahu, Kapiolani Maternity Ward in 1949. We moved to the mainland when I was 2 1/2 years old. I always felt home was somewhere else that I couldn't remember.
Finally, in the summer of my Sophomore year, I asked her again. She started to tell me the usual response of," wait until you're older." I said if I wait any longer I'll graduate high school and come to Hawaii on my own. So I asked my Father and after a short discussion, I came home to Hawaii, 3260 Olu st., Kaimuki, Honolulu. I lived with Auntie Bea and Uncle Kenzo, her younger brother, for the next year and until end of summer. The only reason I came back from Hawaii was because in our short discussion to come over, I promised my Mother I would come home for my senior year, so she could attend my graduation.
I loved it on Oahu and felt the spirits of my ancestors in our home on Olu st. It's not the same now as when I lived there as a youth. The house was rebulit and moved forward. No matter, it is, and always be my home where all of the Akinaka Clan originated.