Tamotsu Shingaki

Tamotsu Shingaki enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard on March 27, 1956, and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on June 19, 1957. Airman Second Class Shingaki served as an Airborne Communication and Warning Radar Specialist before entering the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Air Force for Navigator training on May 20, 1960. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force and awarded his navigator wings at Harlingen AFB, Texas, on April 5, 1961, and then served as a C-124 Globemaster II and C-141 Starlifter navigator with the 75th Military Airlift Squadron at Travis AFB, California, from April 1961 to March 1971. Major Shingaki next served as a C-141 navigator with the 7th Military Airlift Squadron at Travis AFB from March to October 1971, followed by F-4 Phantom II Combat Crew Training from October 1971 to May 1972. His next assignment was as an RF-4C Weapons System Operator with the 14th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Udorn Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, from June 1972 until he was forced to eject over North Vietnam and was taken as a Prisoner of War on August 19, 1972.