Newly named general is son of Hawaii native
The Pentagon’s latest announcement of the Army’s newest one-star generals includes the son of a World War II nisei Military Intelligence Service soldier.
Army Col. Paul M. Nakasone, currently serving as executive assistant to the commander at the U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Md., has been nominated for his first star. His promotion is subject to U.S. Senate approval.
Nakasone, 47, was born in St. Paul, Minn., and attended St. John’s University in Minneapolis and was commissioned through the Army ROTC program in 1986.
His father, Edwin Nakasone, was born in Wahiawa and graduated from Leilehua High School in 1945. He was drafted into the Army and sent to Fort Snelling, Minn., for Japanese language training.
The elder Nakasone said he was in the last class at Snelling before it was closed and the training was moved to Monterey, Calif., in 1946. He was stationed with the occupational forces in Japan from 1947 to ’48 as a linguist and interpreter with the 168th Language Detachment of the 1st Cavalry Division.
Nakasone later attended the University of Hawaii and was commissioned through its ROTC program and served in the Army Reserve until he retired as a colonel in 1987. In his civilian life, Nakasone taught history and political science on the mainland.
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Although Nakasone retired in the St. Paul area, he said by email that he and his wife spend every February in the islands "to escape the hageshii (harsh) MN (Minnesota) fuyu (winter)."
Also on the Pentagon’s promotion list was the nomination of Col. Michael D. Lundy, deputy commander of the 25th Infantry Division, to brigadier general.