Wolfhounds Welcome Osaka Keiki

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Soldiers of the Wolfhounds 27th Infantry Regiment were to welcome four Japanese orphans at the airport on Monday (July 21) for a 10-day “trip of a lifetime.”

The children, ages 10 to 12, are from Holy Family Home in Osaka where U.S. Army Sgt. Hugh O’Reilly first struck up a friendship with the orphanage after World War II - a personal alliance that has endured for 51 years between the Wolfhounds and the home.

The children have two weeks of fun planned for them here, as the Army carries out its yearly exchange of love and friendship.

This week, for example, they will visit Polynesian Cultural Center, Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, the Honolulu Zoo and Outrigger Canoe Club.

They also will be honored by 25th Infantry leadership, enjoy interactive storytelling with Schofield’s Family Readiness Group and share a barbecue picnic at Stoneman Field with 1,100 soldiers and families.

The Wahiawa-based Halau Hula o Leihua has “adopted” the keiki as well and will dance with them at the barbecue and watch them perform a traditional Japanese dance that they’ve been practicing for months.

The original story of the Wolfhounds and the orphanage was made into a Hollywood film in 1955, Three Stripes in the Sun starring Aldo Ray and Dick York.