Richard Motoso Sakakida (Japanese: 榊田 元宗, November 19, 1920 – January 23, 1996) was a United States Army intelligence agent stationed in the Philippines at the outbreak of World War II.
He was captured and tortured for months after the fall of the country to Imperial Japan, but managed to convince the Japanese that he was a civilian and was released.
After intensive training,[2] on April 7, 1941, he and Komori set sail for the Philippines, then an American possession, aboard the USS Republic (AP-33).
Upon their arrival in Manila, they were assigned to spy on the Japanese community in the city, posing as merchant sailors who had jumped ship.
[1][2] After the outbreak of hostilities with Japan, Sakakida was rounded up by the Philippine Constabulary and eventually ended up in Bilibid Prison, still maintaining his cover as a civilian,[2] but he was recognized and released.
[1] The Kempeitai (military police) interrogated and tortured him for two months, but were unable to shake his story that he was a civilian who had worked for the U.S. Army under duress.
[2] He spent nearly a year in one prison after another, before his case was reviewed in February 1943 by Colonel Nishiharu, Chief Judge Advocate of Fourteenth Army Headquarters.
[2] When a woman showed up at the Judge Advocate General's office to obtain a pass to visit her imprisoned guerrilla leader husband, Ernest Tupas, Sakakida took the risk of revealing his true identity to her.
For his accomplishments, he was awarded the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and two Commendation Medals,[3] and was inducted into the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
[3] Despite efforts to have Sakakida awarded the Medal of Honor, the Army refused to consider it on the grounds that a statute required that a recommendation be filed by 1951 at the latest.