Sgt. Ronald Takara, November 1, 1944

Ronald lived in Chin Chuck Stable Camp.  He went to Hakalau School and graduated from Hilo High in 1939 before moving to Honolulu for business school.  At the time he enlisted in November 1941, he was working as a bookkeeper at Lewers and Cooke, Ltd. in Honolulu.
 
SGT Takara had recently been wounded in battle when, on November 1, 1944, he died along with 14 other Allied and German wounded soldiers in a C-47 plane crash near the village of Doizieux in central France.  He was with the 100th Battalion, B Company fighting in both Italy and France, and had just been in the fight to rescue the "Lost Battalion" in the Vosges Mountains in eastern France.  He was awarded the Bronze Star.
Picture
Sgt. Ronald Takara
Memorial services were held for him in E. S. Capellas hall in December 1944 under the sponsorship of the Hawaii Morale Group AJA Committee, Hakalau District with the assistance of the Chin Chuck Mauka Youth Organization.  He is interred in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
***
In November 2023, François Patard of Véranne, France contacted hakalauhome.com after reading about Sgt. Takara:
....it would be my pleasure to tell you or any person interested about the plane crash that claimed Sgt. Takara his life along with 19 other people. A stele has been erected in 2002 near the crash site to honor the victims and a short book published, the same year, by a neighbour of mine, Mr Pierre Dumas, about the accident. The Internet was not, at the time, yet as developed as it is today and little was known about the people on board. Therefore, my intention has been, since I began this research, to complete Mr Dumas' work in order to gain a better understanding of the human dimension of this tragedy, the deadliest air disaster ever to have occurred on Mont Pilat.
​
Each year, a ceremony attended by the mayor of Doizieux, American and German delegates, various officials and citizens takes place in front of the stele. The book I'm writing should be published - I hope - in 2024, in time to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the accident. Since three years now, I've been in touch with severals descendants of the victims, some of them have already visited the crash site. Even though it's a long way from Hawaii, we would be delighted to welcome to our modest French mountain, next year or later, any potential relative of Sgt. Takara.
Please find attached some pictures of the crash and of the September 2023 ceremony at the stele. (Though the crash happened on 1 November 1944, warmer weather in September is more suitable for organising such an event)
​
Each year, a ceremony attended by the mayor of Doizieux, American and German delegates, various officials and citizens takes place in front of the stele (monument). Pictures from the September 2023 ceremony are below:
Picture
Laying a wreath to honor those who died in the crash.
Picture
The mayor gives a speech honoring thse lost.
The plane, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, crashed on November 1, 1944. The crash resulted from appalling weather conditions, including thick fog, which probably disorientated the pilots as the plane was making its way up the Rhône river towards Istres, near Marseille. All 20 people on board perished.
Picture
Crash site today
Photos courtesy of ​Mrs Martine Mazoyer and Mr. François Patard.
For the Hakalau Kuleana, our responsibility is to care for the land, the people, and the culture. We are guided by cultural values of YESTERDAY: Engage in collective effort. Look out for each other. Honor hard work. Show respect for those who came before us. Aloha and Mālama `Aina. In 2021, Akiko Masuda added two more values to the list: Consistently show up. Whatever has to be done, jump in and do it!