Japanese Pilot

[centurion]

I've come across a reference to a Japanese gentleman who served in the RFC His name was Flight Sgt Ohara MM (Ohara is a Japanese name - there is a leading Japaneses scientist in the Biosciences in Tokyo called professor Ohara). Unfortunately if I do any kind of search I get lots of O'Haras begob. Any one know who he was, how he came to be in the RFC and what became of him?

[per ardua per mare per terram]

I get one MIC match for James O'Hara filtered by RFC and 4 for various O'Haras RAF; none of whom have cards for MM, DCM etc. There were no mqtches for Ohara. Looking for his MM is your best route, but I have mislaid by copy of Airman's Awards.

[centurion]

Thanks Ken

Its the same man, here he is in the RFC. Goodness knows what name was on his MIC.

[auchonvillerssomme]

Could this be him?

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...resultcount=586

Mick

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...resultcount=237

[centurion]

The 1st medal card has the right numbers but the wrong rank as he was a Flight Sergeant. Is it common for the rank to be wrong on MICs?

[per ardua per mare per terram]

No wonder why I didn't get a match on the MM/DCM MICs as it was listed under Middlesex Regiment and the medals card had pte. He could have been a pte on transfer, the number is an RFC one for 1916.

If this is hi, then his RAF service record should be in AIR 79/703 Scope and content 77325 - 77450.

[centurion]

Looking at the photo and text in Ken's earlier thread. It obviously the same man , the photos match and the service numbers also.

So we have a Japanese journalist who joins the British army, wounded on six seperate occassions with over 70 individual bits of damage in total, wins the DCM and the MM - Medals presented by the King. Still a private but transfers to RFC promoted to Flight Sergeant, and gains his wings. Quite a samurai - one wonders why there isn't more about him (perhaps he was on the other side in WW2)

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Did he get his commission in the RFC?

What we need now is an LG genius ...

[per ardua per mare per terram]

I can't see him on the Aerodromes list of aces; there is part of your answer: he was an OR, not an ace, not a VC and with a name confused with O'Hara so was allowed to fade away.

It looks like he might have had British papers not Canadian so we wait in anticipation for the Os to be released.

[Myrtle]

Here is his MM entry in Gazette.

Pte. H.F.O'Hara

Myrtle

[Ken S.]

There is a book entitled "The Japanese Community in Pre-War Britain" which can be previewed in part on Google Books. According to it, there were only about 500-700 Japanese in Britain during the WWI period, and there was a small Japanese-language newspaper called the Nichiei Shinshi that served this community; it was first published in 1915. Could Ohara have been associated with it? My guess is that his service would have been documented in the paper, but the British Library only holds editions from 1919 on.

[per ardua per mare per terram]

WTG Myrtle!

Ken, that is a possibility, maybe the Japanese Embassy may have a complete run. Possibly he also was covered in Deeds that Thrill the Empire or one of the illustrated war magazines. Have you found the Canadian connection?

[Ken S.]

WTG Myrtle!

Ken, that is a possibility, maybe the Japanese Embassy may have a complete run. Possibly he also was covered in Deeds that Thrill the Empire or one of the illustrated war magazines. Have you found the Canadian connection?

Not yet, although I doubt there is one.

[andiS]

Ohara is a Japanese name - there is a leading Japaneses scientist in the Biosciences in Tokyo called professor Ohara

Actually Ohara isn't a Japanese name - there is a Japanese name which you can transliterate into English as Ohara - the issue of transliteration from oriental languages can cause significant issues when looking for information as the conventions changes.

For example the Chinese internal martial art which 15 years ago was transliterated as Pa-Kua is now always rendered as Bagua, and Hsing-I is now Xingi. When Ohara-San joined the RFC he said his name and the recruiting officer decided to write it down as Ohara - however if he gave his name to anybody else they might well have written it down in quite a different manner!

Just a thought.

[centurion]

Thanks Andy Perhaps I should have said that there is a leading Japaneses scientist in the Biosciences in Tokyo whos name appears in Western papers and web sites as Ohara.

Transliteration is always a problem and not just with Oriental languages - Arabic also and both ways. For example strictly there is no P equiv in Arabic there is one for B which is often used instead when translating. (I found this out when getting business cards translated into arabic script). There is a P equiv if you accept a version of written Arabic that has adopted some Farsee elements but as I found out the hard way, some purists (in Saudi and Iraq) get quite upset if you use this.

It gets even more difficult when languages involve words spelt the same but with different intonations. Working in my old company's office in Jakarta and trying to order a milky coffee in the local language I caused major laughter by ordering 'coffee with big tits'!