This 18 mile long, 6 mile wide island is the western most island in the Hawaiian Islands chain. Prior to the war, Japanese planners believe this island was uninhabited, and told any aviators damaged during the Pearl Harbor attack to crash land there, and an await pickup by an I-Class submarine.

'Niihau Incident'
A6M2 Zero BII-120 piloted by Nishikaichi force landed on the island after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The residents of the island were unaware of the attack on Pearl Harbor, or that the America was at war with Japanese. The downed pilot was treated to a luau and interrogated by a Japanese born immigrant living on Niihu, Yoshio Harada, to whom he confessed about the state of war. Harada kept the new to himself. That night, when word of the attack reached the island by radio, he was questioned again.

Nishikaichi played on the Japanese-Americans loyalties, and won him over to assist him with a plan for death with honor. He convinced Harada to steal back his pistol and a shotgun. The two took control of the village where they took two prisoners before stripping the machine guns off the crashed zero and stowing them on a wagon. They tried to destroy the plane, but the fire did not spread past the cockpit. They two were "drunk" with power, firing their weapons and demanding residents to surrender.

They controlled the island until the night of December 12th when a Hawaiian named Kanahele cornered them. In the melee, Kanahele was wounded, Harada was shot by the pilot before taking his own life with the shotgun. When the Army rescue part arrived, Kanahele was awarded two Presidential Citations: the purple heart and Medal of Merit. The conduct of Harada helped to fuel the anti-Japanese sentiments that lead to the decision by FDR to have Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans detained in the United States.

Thanks to David Aiken of the Pearl Harbor History Associates  for additional information.