Dr. Seiya Ohata Has Been a Good Son, a Good Doctor, a Good Veteran
Colleen Uechi
Special to The Hawai‘i Herald
As Seiichi Ohata and his family enjoyed Sunday morning breakfast at their home in the sugar plantation town of Pä‘ia, little did they know that Japanese planes had just decimated the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet home-based at Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu. With that, America was drawn into World War II.
“Before he could even finish his meal, the police were at the doorstep,” recalled Dr. Seiya Ohata of his father. The elder Ohata was dragged off to the Wailuku prison and, over the course of the next few years, sent to military jails throughout the continental U.S.
