Pan Suki: An Epic Novel Based on True Events
By: Hahn Ritt
Pan Suki
is the story of the bitter emotional and abusive struggle of an individual who travels from childhood to adulthood. His childhood is spent in an unusual and sometimes strange environment that has been forced upon him and his family because of the philosophical adaption, economical crisis of the time and the start of World War II. The attack by the Japanese of the Hawaiian Islands exposes him and his relatives to a shocking revelation of who they are.
This novel is based on true events and is filled with life's adversities, intimate romances, the breathtaking drama of combat, the complexities of choices, and Japanese words and phrases and cultural traditions that place the reader in a literary illustrated environment along with its characters.
About the Author
Hahn Ritt was born in 1935 in Hawaii when it was still a territory and after the vicious attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the islands were placed under martial law. This catastrophic event and the eventual declaration of war left he and those nearest him with difficult challenges, hardships and the psychological effects that would inevitably follow. As a seventeen year old and still a high school student, Ritt enlisted in a USMCR unit and was sent to Camp Pendleton, California for bootcamp and possible unit activation just as the Korean conflict came to an end in 1953. He served 20 years in the United States Air Force and volunteered to serve a combat tour in Vietnam where he once again found himself in the midst of warfare and witnessed the heroic acts of American fighting men and the resilience of local citizens who survived the most atrocious situations imaginable. The dynamics of abrupt changes forged by war dictated predictable behaviors and frequent irrational choices. Ritt's passion for anthropological knowledge and intrigued with Asian culture, he returned to Vietnam and Cambodia and traveled on to Burma, Thailand and Laos visiting indigenous tribes people and ethnic tribal refugees. In the mid-50's, Ritt traveled the length of the Japanese archipelago and lived in that country for eight years at which time he was introduced to affluent traditional Japanese nationals and the populous of darken streets and the rugged back alleys of various cities where contrasting and unique occupations and lifestyles thrived. After traveling abroad for over 25 years, Ritt returned to Hawaii where he currently resides. He has four children, three of which were born in Japan. He is unmarried and lives an independent life painting, writing and engaged in Japanese genealogical and historical research.