It's 10 a.m. December 7th, 1941. After escorting bombers during the second attack wave on Pearl Harbor,

airman first class Nishikachi Shiganoi is flying away from the island of Oahu

and his sleek, fast and deadly Mitsubishi A6M, better known as the Zero. But as he soars above the

Pacific's blue waters, he notices his fuel is going low, fast. He did take some hits. It must be a punctured fuel tank, and it doesn't

take him long to realize that. There's no way he's making it back the 200 miles to his aircraft carrier.

I hear you. It's time to resort to the backup plan, landing on the small and most western of

the eight Hawaiian islands, the island of Niihau.

Nishikichi spots the small, 18 by 6 mile island below.

But wait, there are structures, people even, not good.

In their morning briefing, his superiors said the island was uninhabited,

thus making it a good spot to land, bail, and wait for rescue via an imperial submarine, if needed.

Bad intel then, but at this point, Mishikaichi has no other choice. He's heading down whether

he likes it or not, and as he gets close, he takes in another surprise.

The fields are deeply plowed, ensuring a rough landing.

This won't be pretty.

Standing in his front yard, Howard Calli Ohano watches as the aircraft and its black plumes plummet,

as the wheels clip the fence,

and the nose slams into the earth,

bending the propellers like twigs.

A compassionate man, he dashes toward the wreckage.

Howard opens the cockpit.

He looks down at the pilot, alive but unconscious.

...