He was nick-named short pockets because he stood barely 5 ft. 2 in. and weighed 110 lbs at the time he entered the military. He suffered greatly during his time in the Philippines and New Guinea. Not only did he fall ill to malaria and anemia, we heard stories of battle such as one time when he and other soldiers were pinned down in a house in the Philippines and only he and one other fellow who played dead survived. We saw pictures of him holding a Japanese head in his hands wherein the governor of the Philippines offered a bounty. When he returned from the war, he stowed his machete that apparently was used to chop off a Japanese soldier's head, with his brother as he wanted no part of it.
He told my brother that he shook General MacArthur's hand and idolized him. This is very likely true because MacArthur returned to the island of Leyte in 1944 where my father was. http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/macarthur-returns MacArthur had been told to leave and left behind 90,000 American and Filipino soldiers much to the general's dismay. The island of Leyte is where MacArthur had been forced to flee from and where he had vowed to return and return he did. It must have been to my father's great relief.
By the time I was born my father rarely recounted any of his war stories, but I saw the pictures. I also treasured the jewelry he made out of sea shells he collected in the Philippines. What else does a soldier do far away from home? I try to imagine what it was like in Papua New Guinea in 1943.
Interestingly, my dad never spoke ill of any other creed or race. He was kind to the other Japanese farmers he worked with here in the Central Valley. Many came to his funeral. In his heart, he was a peaceful man.
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| Picture of a Japanese troop - maybe my father found it in a fallen Japanese soldier's pocket |
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| WWII Japanese leaflet |
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| Back of the leaflet |
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