Of mixed native Hawaiian and Japanese immigrant ancestry,[1] Akui was inducted into federal service on 15 October 1940[2] and served in the Pacific Theater until the end of the war.

[3][4] Akui took the man into custody and he was identified as Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, commander of a two-man midget submarine that took part in the Pearl Harbor attacks.

Sakamaki ran aground on a reef, where the United States Navy destroyer USS Helm spotted his submarine and opened fire.

When he could not repair the gyrocompass, Sakamaki ordered Petty Officer 2nd Class Kiyoshi Inagaki to swim ashore, while he set the demolition charges to destroy the submarine.

[6] Akui served through the remainder of the war in the Pacific Ocean Theater and was a member of the famed "Merrill's Marauders", who fought the Japanese in the jungles of Burma.