Kahana-The Untold Stories

by Ann Kennedy

  Iakopo, is breathing heavily when he says, “Have you heard? It is official. The Korean War has begun. We will be fighting North Korea. The United States and sixteen countries, including us, will be sending troops to aid South Korea.”

  The news shocks Kim, Thalia, and her family.

  Iakopo announces, “Havana and I are going to the Naval Base at Pago Pago to enlist.

  Havana interrupts, “I heard there’s already a big line of guys waiting to enlist.”

  Thalia says, “I don’t understand why Korea was ever divided.”

  Kim calmly responds, “I know all about it. I knew a lot of soldiers who served in World War II. They had told me that right after the war ended a cold war started in Korea. The U.N. had divided Korea into two different areas along the 38th parallel. The Americans were to control the south of the line and the Russians got a communist regime in the north. Most of these soldiers told me that we were just a trigger away from another war over there.”

  Two months later, Kim receives his draft notice from the United States Army. He goes to tell only Thaila because he knows that Iakopo and Havana have already been shipped out to Korea. After he says good-bye to Thalia and her family, he goes to visit Santini. He tells him that the U.S. Army has drafted him. Santini tells him that when he comes back to look him up and there will be a job waiting for him.

  He also says, “If you are in Los Angeles, see Freddie Le Tuli. I know Freddie will want you to join his troupe”

  The United States Army assigns Kim to be the Sergeant to the 1st Battalion, 11th Airborne Ranger Infantry Division. Very few men are chosen to be part of this group of soldiers and Kim is one of them. The Combat Formation is within the United States Army Special Operations Command. These Rangers are an elite group of soldiers, who receive extensive survival and combat training.

  Kim is the sergeant of one of the divisions that is sent to North Korea. His squad lives amongst the people for a year. They eat a Korean diet of dried fish and hard crackers. On behalf of the United States Army, he and his men conduct many secret and dangerous missions.

  North Korea is known as “the land of the morning calm.” Most of the country is not fit for farming. The Koreans live without any furniture. Their huts have a window or two, but there is no glass on them. The walls of their huts are mud, reinforced with corn stalks. Paper covers the walls and rats live in-between the paper. The rats are content in their burrowing place except when the rains run down their tunnels and soften the paper underneath.

  The war escalates with heavy anti-aircraft causing the air to be full of lead that falls in all directions. Forty-millimeter gun raids are also rapidly increasing. The soldiers fire with burp guns, rifles, and machine guns. There is also a lot of wild and indiscriminate fire that runs rampant.

  Kim’s infantry marches through communist lines towards Pyongyang. The city is the headquarters of North Korea’s Secret Police. His company drops behind enemy lines to conduct a search and to clear the mission east of Pyongyang. Most of his soldier’s wade in the murky water to get across the Injun River.

  Others are crouched in the mud, crawling on their bellies to inch forward using the old infantry style. They are hiding from the North Korean soldiers, who are singing “King-Sung-Soo.” It is a marching hate song about one of South Korea’s leaders. The song strongly emphasizes their belief in Songun and philosophy that their military comes first over everything else.

  Kim’s infantry comes under a heavy volume of small arms fire as they march through communist lines. There are also B-40 rockets from a North Korean army force of an unknown size. The deadly accuracy of enemy fire pins down his squad.

  Then Kim, with complete disregard for his personal safety, exposes himself to the enemy’s onslaught of heavy fire. He does this to draw the enemy’s fire away from his men so that they can withdraw to a more advantageous position.

  Kim is seriously wounded. A bullet punctures his leg and a grenade explodes, which blinds him. He cannot see two feet in front of him, but he continues to spray the area with bullets. He kills more than twelve of the enemy’s soldiers.

  Kim does not know that the North Korean forces have killed all his men. He continues to keep up his heroic actions until he runs out of ammunition. He has no other choice now but to pretend to be dead. He falls to the ground and blankets himself under a few of the dead soldiers.

  The North Korean soldiers dig a huge pit for all the deceased soldiers and dump their bodies in the pit. Then they continue with their cold-blooded slaughter. They fire another heavy round of ammunition at the corpses. Kim is buried alive with all the dead bodies of the men from his squadron.

  He lays there amongst the dead and waits until he no longer hears the enemy. Once they have gone away, he slowly, digs his way out of the mass grave and starts to crawl away from the horrible site.

  He holds back his anger and tears for the men of his squadron who are in the massive grave. As he crawls, he realizes that his eyesight is not returning. He cannot see a foot in front of him. He blinks his eyes repeatedly to get his eyesight back, but he still cannot see anything. He lays down on the ground and falls into an unconscious state.

  Chapter 12

  Blindsided

  Kim awakens to find himself in a South Korean hospital. Later, the military will send him to the Hawaiian V.A. Hospital. This is only the beginning of Kim’s journey. He will be transferred to many different military hospitals and medical facilities in the United States. He receives a number of eye operations and plastic surgeries. After one of his operations, the doctors conclude that he will never regain his eye sight in his right eye, but there is a slim chance that he may regain a small percentage of his eyesight in his left eye.

  The surgeons always tell him that he must learn to live as a blind man because once he accepts his condition it will be easier for him to move forward. After these doctors tell him that he will never see again, he does not give a damn about anything.

  Many times, he shouts at the doctors, “How am I supposed to live? How am I supposed to accept what you are telling me? Don’t you know, when you lose something as precious as your sight, your life is over. I have nothing to live for and I am giving up. I am done.”

  Whenever he struggles to feed himself, he becomes agitated because he cannot do it. One day, he reacts by hurling his food at everyone that is near him. Then two hospital attendants try to restrain him. Kim becomes belligerent, and his volcanic temper erupts. He starts throwing wild punches at them and anyone else that is near him.

  There are many times that attendants are called in to restrain him. One-time, a number of attendants rush to stop one of Kim’s violent outbursts. They do everything they can, but the situation escalates. One of the attendants suffers a broken nose and another a broken hand from Kim’s punches. The attendants finally manage to hold him down and put a straight jacket on him.

  During the next few weeks, he has consultations with different doctors. A few of them give him a different diagnosis than the first doctors. They believe that Kim is shell shocked and there is a chance that his blindness in his left eye may be temporary blindness. This group of medical professionals give him hope, the hope that some or all his sight in his left eye will return. Whenever he has a glimmer of hope, he experiences some calmness.

  Whenever Kim doubts that his sight will not return; he falls into a deep depression. Many times, he holds his forehead and bows his head as he mumbles to other wounded soldiers in his room, “I am desperate. I am confused. I do not know what is happening to me. I do not know what to believe. I don’t know who to believe. Don’t they know anything? I know that I am in total darkness.”

  Zelda, a middle-aged nurse in the room overhears Kim. She tells him. “Soldier, you are right. They don’t know, but they are not telling you lies. The diagnosis and testing of blindness has a long way to go to be exact. It will take at least twenty or thirty years to have better x-rays, medical diagnostic equipment, and testing. You don’t have twenty or
thirty years to wait. You need to take the bull by its horns and begin to try now!”

  Kim doesn’t have a chance to answer her because an attendant has come to take him to see his psychologist. Kim spends a lot of time meeting with physical therapists, clinical psychologists, teachers of the blind and others to aid him in his healing process.

  When he gets inside the clinical psychologist’s office, she asks Kim if he would like her to read his official commendation letter from the Department of the Army. He adamantly tells her that he does not want to hear it. She does not give up. She tells him that it will do him good to hear it. He is not interested, but finally she persuades him.

  She begins reading his official document aloud. “Kim, the first heading states: Award of the Silver Star by the Authority of the Direction of the President under the Act of Congress. The next heading is titled ‘Reason,’ it is for gallantry in action against an armed hostile force in the Republic of Korea. On that date his company dropped behind enemy lines to conduct a search and clear mission east of Pyongyang, when they came under a heavy volume of small arms fire.”

  She stops reading. It is obvious to her by Kim’s groaning that his memories are coming back to him. He is experiencing the painful memories and events of the war.

  She waits and waits until he is back in the moment. She hopes that reading the facts of that tragic day from his commendation letter will be beneficial to Kim’s healing. Then she says, “Would you like me to continue? Or would you rather wait until our next session?” He is clenching his fist as he yells at her, “Read it now!”

  She begins to read it very slowly to him. “His prompt and courageous actions undoubtedly prevented numerous casualties from an enemy force with an overwhelming advantage. Staff Sergeant Kahana’s personal heroism, professional competence and devotion to duty are keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the 11th Airborne Ranger Infantry Division, and the United States Army.”

  She stops reading and says, “Kim, you are a hero. You received the Silver Star. It’s one of the highest honors the military can give a soldier. Very few soldiers receive the bronze star, two purple hearts and now the Silver Star. When you get past your raging anger and your depression, you will be able to empower yourself.”

  Kim starts shouting at her. “What good is it? I am a blind man! You want me to empower myself to be a blind man? I can’t do that!”

  She calmly responds. “Kim, I have spoken to my colleagues about your case. Some of us believe that you have a chance to see with your one eye again, but you won’t, if you do nothing but retreat into depression and anger.”

  Kim does not utter a word. The clinical psychologist does not give up. She desperately wants to reach him, as she says, “Other soldiers do not have any chance to ever regain any percentage of their vision. Even if you have a slim chance, you have a chance.”

  Kim is beginning to listen to her. She pauses for a minute and then says, “You must take an active part in your healing now. If not, you will leave here blind and in a wheelchair. This does not have to happen. You do not have to leave here helpless”

  The clinical psychologist waits for a minute for Kim to respond. When he doesn’t, she says, “Kim, these are the things that you must do under the supervision of our staff. You must do the exercises for your eye. You have not been doing so. You must get out of your wheel chair and train yourself to walk with a cane for your strength and independence. You do not make any effort to help yourself. When the staff gives you a cane, you yell at them and then break the cane in half.” Kim’s only response is to openly laugh at her.

  The clinical psychologist demands that Kim stops laughing at her. She tells him that she is not through talking to him yet. She then continues. “Kim, you must exercise all your muscles to build up your strength and balance. You must work with our staff members and not against them. Then, and only then, will you begin a journey on healing and balancing your mind, body and spirit.” She then leans over her desk and tells him, “I believe you can do it.”

  After her stern, but heartfelt words, he becomes belligerent, and he shouts at her. “I don’t need a lecture from you, and I don’t need you to be my cheerleader.”

  Then he demands her to call an attendant to wheel him back to his room. She thinks that she has failed him. She believes he has given up. The attendant enters and proceeds to wheel him out of the room. Kim tells the attendant to stop. Then Kim mumbles to the psychologist, “I might begin tomorrow.” She watches him leave.

  Then she whispers to herself, “I hope so Kim Kahana. I truly hope so.”

  Chapter 13

  Here Come the Katas

  Jenny is a nurse at a Massachusetts VA hospital. She is now assigned to Kim’s case. She is married and the mother of three teenagers. She has mousy brown hair, hazel eyes, freckles, and a very fit body. When she was young, she trained to compete to be a figure skater in the Olympics.

  Jenny was on her way to fulfill her dreams when she got into a terrible car accident. She suffered severe injuries on her right leg and had to stay in the hospital for a long time. She knew that she would never be the same again. Her life had dramatically changed, and she had to dedicate every minute to learning to walk again.

  She suffered a period of severe depression and anger. However, once she accepted her fate, she started to work hard to be able to walk again. It took a lot of time, but she eventually succeeded. She can walk, but she will always have a bad limp.

  After spending so much time with physical therapists, Jenny wanted to work in the medical profession. She decided she wanted to become a nurse. She especially wanted to help those who thought they had lost everything.

  Before Jenny meets Kim, she wants to learn everything about his case. She mulls over all the information documented about him. She speaks to the staff members who are involved in taking care of him. She tries to find out as much as she can about his background.

  She learns that he was one of the elite Army Rangers and is a war hero. During his life, he had extensive training in the martial arts with Hawaiian experts. When he was young, he had earned his first two black belts in Hawaii. He received his belts in the true Hawaiian tradition, before there was a rank system.

  Then she reads that Kim was a Samoan fire sword dancer before the war. She realizes that she will be helping a real warrior and how difficult her job will be. She stops reading his file and begins to breathe deeply. She bows her head as she calls upon God for guidance to heal this great young man’s wounds. She begins to think about the methods she can use to help Kim. Then she has an epiphany. She believes that she has discovered a way to motivate him to bring his fighting spirit back.

  The next day, she goes to Kim’s room and introduces herself. She tells him that they will be going outside. She helps him get into his wheelchair, then picks up his cane and gives it to him to hold. While she is wheeling him outside, she says, “I’ll be taking you outside every day from now on.”

  She hopes that taking Kim outside will begin the process of reawakening his other senses. She wants these journeys to be a catalyst to help him overcome some of his fears and anger. She knows that he will feel more comfortable in nature’s classroom, which has no walls. Her goal is for him to become one with nature. She believes with all her heart that this will be the first step to put him on a path to wellness.

  The moment that they are outside, she tells him to take deep breaths. “What does this area smell like to you?” she asks.

  Kim is irritated by her question. He responds, “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  She says, “I’m going to take some deep breaths and shut my eyes, and then I’ll describe what I smell to you.” She does so, then says, “I smell the trees. Their strong scent is overwhelming. There must be lots of trees, greenery, and plants around me.”

  Then she asks Kim, “Do you smell what I described?”

  He smiles and answers her that he does.


  She says, “Good! Now, I will be taking you to another area with lots of flowers. On our way over there, I want you to continue breathing deeply and concentrating on the smells around you. Will you do that for me?”

  Kim shrugs and nods.

  A few minutes later, they arrive at an area with a lot of foliage. Jenny takes Kim’s hands and helps him out of his wheelchair to sit on the lawn. She sits down and faces him, then asks, “Kim, what do you smell here?”

  He answers, “That’s easy. I smell lemons.”

  She replies, “Excellent! There are some lemon trees and other trees that surround us. Do you remember the scents from any other trees?”

  He quickly replies, “Yeah, the cherry trees. I was on a farm once that had cherry trees.”

  She finds out more about the details of his life as he talks about the time he spent on Dora’s farm. Their conversation lasts about an hour.

  After telling him that it’s time to go back and helping him into his wheelchair, she says, “When I wheel you back, tell me any scents you smell.”

  Kim concentrates on the smells around him. He is beginning to live in the moment. When they arrive at the doors of the hospital, Jenny asks him to be aware of everything he smells and hears until she meets him tomorrow. He listens to her but does not bother to respond.

  The next day, they venture out on the grounds again. She asks him about the scents he smelled in the hospital. He answers, “For the first time, I smelled the food. I mean, I smelled it—and it stunk!”

  She holds back her laughter, then says, “Well, was there anything that smelled good?”

  Kim says, “That’s easy: the coffee. It smells stronger than it ever has before. I liked the scent.”

  Every day, Jenny takes him outdoors to do the “scent” exercises. Then she introduces hearing exercises. She brings him to a place with lots of bees and questions him. “What do you hear?”