ASSOCIATION OF HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUBS
A RESOLUTION
No. 2019 -30
Congratulating George Kenich Ōide On his being awarded the legion d’Honneur (French Legion of Honor Medal) and his designation as a Chevalier (Knight)
WHEREAS, George Kenichi Ōide was born on February 22, 1923, in Honolulu, Hawai‘i and was the tenth of ten children born to Matsutaro Ōide and Hayano (Tanaka) Ōide (both immigrants from Hiroshima, Japan; and
WHEREAS, George Ōide attended McKinley High School, however, with the outbreak of World War II, George did not graduate with his class, but eventually earned his high school equivalency diploma; and
WHEREAS, on March 23, 1943, George Ōide was inducted into the United States Army at Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawai‘i, received training in the field artillery discipline, was assigned to an artillery forward observer team (FOT), Headquarters Battery, 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT), and held the rank of Private; and
WHEREAS, as an essential member of the FOT, PVT Ōide served with distinction in the Rome-Arno, Northern Apennines, Rhineland (Vosges, and Maritime Alps), and Central Europe (Alsace-Lorraine) Allied Offensive Campaigns; and
WHEREAS, once the 442nd RCT arrived in France for the Rhineland-Vosges Campaign, PVT Ōide continued his self-sacrifice and steadfast “Go for Broke” gallantry, and he assisted with timely and accurate artillery fire in the liberation of the Eastern-France to include the key villages held by the Germans of Bruyeres, Biffontaine, Belmont, and La Houssiere; and
WHEREAS, PVT Ōide was next directly involved in the epic rescue of the lost “Texas” battalion (1st Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment) surrounded by the German Army deep in the Vosges Mountains, and he continued to provide essential artillery fire support in Southern France for the Rhineland-Maritime Alps, and followed by the Central Europe (Alsace-Lorraine, and into Germany) Allied Offensive Campaigns; and
WHEREAS, at the end of World War II, PVT Ōide was briefly assigned to post-war occupation duty in Germany; and
WHEREAS, PVT Ōide single-handedly captured a German sergeant prisoner of war; and
WHEREAS, while still in Germany, Mr. Ōide met Erika Minna Berta (née Karbe) and was married by a German town mayor; and
WHEREAS, while awaiting his new wife’s arrival to the United States, PVT Ōide returned to Hawai‘i and on February 14, 1946, he was honorably discharged from active duty at Army Separation Center, O‘ahu.; and
WHEREAS, George Ōide is the father of Ret. Police Sgt. Ralf Ōide, the late Linda (Ōide) Farden and Glenn Ōide and is the grandfather of Shannon Ōide, Association of Hawaiian Club President Hailama V.K.K. Farden, and Shawn (Ōide) Lyman, and is the great-grandfather of five; and
WHEREAS, when George Ōide returned to the private sector, he was employed as a printer for the Honolulu Advertiser (1957) and as a compositor in 1960 for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin; and
WHEREAS, George Ōide later was the president and co-owner of a company called “TYPO” and provided typesetting and proof-reading services, and TYPO dissolved when Mr. Ōide fully retired in 1992; and
WHEREAS, in the mid-1950s, with the guidance of Dr. Mary Kawena Pukui and Dr. Samuel Elbert, Mr. Ōide manually set the type for the first three Hawaiian language dictionaries; and
WHEREAS, the dictionaries were set in monotype, and this was a great task considering, not only that this was a dictionary, but a dictionary of a language not spoken by Mr. Ōide; and
WHEREAS, in 2007, George Ōide was nominated and selected as a Living Treasure of Hawai‘i by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai‘i, however, in all his humbleness, Mr. Ōide declined the designation; and
WHEREAS, George Ōide continued proof reading special recording projects for Hula Records and other recording companies until the age of 85; and
WHEREAS, on June 1, 2019, Mr. George Kenichi Ōide was present the highest medal awarded by the French Government for his important contributing role as a forward observer, to the liberation of France at the end of World War II; and
WHEREAS, George Keichi Ōide was sponsored into membership of the Kuini Pi‘olani Hawaiian Civic Club for his contribution to ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i in his arduous work as the typesetter of, and last living contributor to the first three Pukui Elbert Hawaiian Language Dictionaries.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs at its 60th Annual Convention in Lahaina, Maui, in the malama of Welehu and the rising of Lāʻau Pau, this 16th day of November 2019, congratulating George Kenichi Ōide on his being awarded the Legion d’honneur (French Legion of Honor Medal) and his designation as a Chevalier (Knight); and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a certified copy of this resolution be transmitted to Mr. George Kenichi Ōide; Mr. Ralf Ōide, his son; Mr. Glenn Ōide, his son; Hailama Farden, his grandson and the 442nd Infantry History Center, as well as the Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, President of the State Senate, Speaker of the State House of Representatives, Chair of the State Senate subject matter committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the State House subject matter committee on Hawaiian Affairs, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and all County Mayors.
The undersigned hereby certifies that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted in the malama of Welehu and the rising of Lāʻau Pau on the 16th day of November 2019, at the 60th Annual Convention of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs in Lahaina, Maui.
Hailama V. K. K. Farden, President
