Nobuo D. Kishiue

Schofield Barracks, Wahiawa, Hawaii, 1943

Born in Armona, California, in 1920, Kishiue worked on the family farm for three years after graduation from Hanford High School. He registered for Selective Service at the age of 21, and was drafted on November 4, 1941. Following basic training at Camp Roberts and miscellaneous assignments at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, he was sent to Camp Savage for MISLS training. Meanwhile, his family -- immigrant parents from Wakayama Prefecture and a brother and two sisters born in America -- had been evacuated to the Jerome Relocation Center, Arkansas, and he was able to visit them on a couple of occasions while on furlough from Savage.

Kishiue saw action in some of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific war in the invasions of Makin, Saipan, and Okinawa. His Combat Infantry Badge and Bronze Star were awarded for action on Makin Island.

Returning home to Hanford following his discharge from the Army in November 1945, Kishiue married Emi Shinagawa of Hanford to whom he had been engaged before going overseas. The couple have one son and two daughters.

He was a self-employed farmer for almost thirty years producing field crops -- cotton, alfalfa and the like -- on a ranch near Lemoore. He bought a ranch south of Armona, near his birthplace, in the early 1950's for the family home to which he retired in 1979.

Over the years, Kishiue has dedicated himself to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, serving four terms as post commander in the 9th and 24th Districts of the Department of California, and as State Blood Bank chairman since 1980.

An ardent deep sea fisherman with the luxury to indulge his sport whenever it catches his fancy to do so, he fishes off the central and southern California coasts and in Hawaiian waters. His prize catches include a 150 pound marlin reeled in from the ocean off Diamond Head, Oahu, and a 40 pound dorado (mahi mahi) caught while attending the MIS Reunion in Hawaii in1993.