The Only Thing we Have to Fear

Early in the morning of December 7th, 1941 the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor. Wave after wave of Nakajima B5N “Kate” torpedo planed bombarded the helpless ships at anchor, while their accompanying Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” fighters sheltered them from whatever vastly outclassed P-36 fighters the US Army had managed to get airborne.

Airman 1st class Shigenori Nishikaichi was among the surprise raiders, escorting a group of bombers in his Zero fighter. While making the approach for a third bombing run, the attack group was met by the unexpected arrival of a squadron of nine US fighters, doing their best to head off the assault. While the American pilots flew valiantly, their p-36s stood no chance against the Zeros and were quickly dispatched. Nevertheless, one round had managed to pierce the fuel tank of Shigenori’s fighter, and his fuel level began dropping. That single bullet would set in motion a series of events that would ultimately lead to the United States imprisoning over one-hundred thousand people of Japanese heritage -no matter their citizenship- in concentration camps for the next 4 years.

As Shigenori attempted to return to his aircraft carrier his injured plane lagged further and further behind the rest of his attack group. It soon became apparent that he would not have the fuel needed to reach the carrier, so he made the snap decision to execute his emergency orders. Pilots unable to return to their carriers were to land at the uninhabited island of Niihau and wait for a rescue submarine to pick them up. It took just one pass for Shigenori to notice the fatal flaw in the Japanese plan; the tiny island was inhabited.

As he touched down in a vacant field the landing gear of his plane become tangled in a wire fence that had gone unnoticed, and his Zero crashed nose first into the ground. Native Hawaiian, Howard Kaleohano, watched the plane crash, and being unaware of the mornings surprise attack, rushed to help the downed pilot. Keleohano took the pilots papers and sidearm, and helped him out of the heaping wreck. While Keleohano was one of the few islanders who spoke English, Shigenori’s English was only rudimentary. A neighbor born in Japan was quickly summoned for help. The neighbor made it just a few words into speaking with the pilot, before his face drained of color, and he refused to participate further. Next summoned for help was Yoshio Harada, who being born in the Hawaiian Islands, was an American citizen.

Shigenori told Yoshio of the attack on Pearl Harbor and demanded the return of his weapon and papers. His demands were refused by Yoshio, however Yoshio neglected to inform the islands residents of the attack.

With the attack and impending war still unknown to the residents of Niihau, they treated their unexpected guest to a Luau. By all accounts Shigenori ate well, and even sang with the locals while waiting for his rescue submarine that was by now steaming across the Pacific back towards Japan. The festivities were to be short lived. The evening radio broadcast alerted all to the events of the day and Shigenori was immediately taken into custody.

Immediately after the attacks, the US Navy had put a stop to nearly all maritime traffic. This meant that until further notice the downed pilot would need to be detained on Niihau, rather than being taken by the proper authority. Over the course of just a few days Shigenori played with the loyalties of Yoshio Harada, pitting his citizenship against his heritage. Harada swayed in his loyalty and over the course of a day managed to steal a pistol and a shotgun to help Shigenori escape.

In the dead of night Shigenori and Yoshio escaped their guards and made their way to the wreckage of the Zero fighter. Finding the radio inoperable, they pivoted in their planning, and made the decision to rush the town. After taking several prisoners, tensions neared a boiling point. During the height of the standoff one of the captives spoke with Yoshio in Hawaiian urging him to supply him a weapon and let him join the escape effort. Yoshio did so, and as soon as the shotgun was in his hands, Ben Kanahele rushed Shigenori.

The pilot acted quickly and drew his pistol, shooting Kanahele three times; chest, hip, and groin, but it was not enough to stop the enraged Hawaiian. He hefted Shigenori and threw him against a stone wall, where his wife continued the assault with a stone, until Kanahele could finish him off with a knife. Seeing defeat was inevitable, Yoshio turned the shotgun on himself and fired.

Ben Kanahele recovered from his wounds, and was awarded two presidential citations, a medal of merit, and a purple heart.

The incident would spawn a Navy report that indicated a “likelihood that Japanese residents previously believed to be loyal to the United States may air Japan.”. President Roosevelt used that report to rationalize Executive Order 9066 which allowed military leaders to set up “exclusion zones”. It took less than two weeks for those exclusion zones to be used to segregate all people of Japanese descent on the west coast to concentration camps.

Fear is an incredibly powerful emotion. It has the ability to take over your mind and cloud your decision-making abilities. Advertisers know this. Politicians know this. Newscasters know this. They use that fear to sell you products you don’t need. To get you to tune into news programming. And to pass legislation that falsely imprisons 100,000 people .

Try as you may, you will never be able to purge yourself from the disposition to feel fear. What you must learn to do, is control it. Fear is part of our human nature and has been alerting us to danger for thousands of years. It is also easily manipulated.

Annuities and Life Insurance see their best sales during and after a market drop. The guarantees and protection they offer fall right into the hands of agents and brokers looking to make some money off of customers who have become too fearful of the market. By themselves, Annuities and Insurance are not evil products designed to take advantage of customers (though they certainly can be). The problem in this situation is that the worst time to buy a product like these, is when the market falls. They don’t get sold like hot cakes during market drops because the timing is right. They sell because investors are afraid.

My advice is this. When you notice yourself feeling fearful of the stock market. Fearful that your house may drop in value. Fearful what your company may be downsizing. Fearful about a big change in your life. When you notice yourself feeling nervous or afraid about anything, slow down. If you have decisions that can be made tomorrow, put them off. Slow down and wait until your head is in a clearer space.