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Memento found during war returned to Japanese widowSTATE COLLEGE, Pa (AP) - For 42 years, the only wartime memento Masano Tamil had of her fallen husband was an empty wooden box and a deathnotice Now, the 77-year-old widow hasa savings account book Yusuke Tomn carried close to the time of his death on SaipanThe book was one of the wartime souvenirs Jerome Pasto of StateCollege [ WorldKed up while serving during1LIts return left the Japanese woman flooded with tears” of gratitudeI tIn a letter to Pasto, she wrote, “Without delay 1 offered it before the tablet of the deceased upon the Buddhist altar, and prayed I just feel that I am not worth enough to deserve such a ious thing, and 1 am choked withprmtears“I cannot believe that 1 now actually have it in my hands Flooded with tears, I am writing a letter to thank you for your deep thoughtfulness ”To Pasto, receiving that letter was what the eight-month search for thebook’s owner was all about.“For me, that letter tells the story asten I gotthe letter from that widow, it really gripped me.”well as anything,” he said. 'WhenA week earlier, Pasto had received ashort thank-you letter from MitsuoKirihata, whose 20-year-old brother, Tsuguyoshi, also was killed in 1944 in the righting on Saipan, a small island in the PacificIn a Japanese newspaper at enclosed with the let tar, Kirihataarticle wasquoted as saying, “Until now, we could hold a service for his soul wily with the official report stating his death. But now we will consign this postal account book, which is the only article left by him, to the Buddhist altar, and (wor ship) on his death.Pasto found the books during the summer of 1044 when he was working as U.S. Naval Photographic IntelligenceOfficer in the Pacific.After several weeks of fierce fighting, the Japanese abandoned the Aslito Airfield on Saipan and Pasto talked his wayashore to take pictures of installations and equipment the enemy left behindIn an underground bunker near an anti aircraft gun, Pasto found some personal belongings stashed away withsupplies of fish and rice.He ibut they were turned over to U.S. military officials to be anal vied He found a Japanese hand grenade, which Pasto now uses as a paperweightAnd he found four personal papers, which he thought were payroll records Almost 40 years later, during a visit to Japan, he learned they were postal savings account booksPasto says it was a trip to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial w Washington, D.C., that started him searching for the families of the soldiers who Tost the books on Saipan“Seeing people touching the names (on the memorial) of their husbands, sons and brothers was an emotional experience.” he said,“That get me thinking about the concern we have here about the (Vietnam) Ml As and of all the anguish and ing people have for them thought the families of those Japanese soldiers probably had the same Kind of emotions. 11 yearn Tnen 1“I didn't know it for sure, but 1 didn’t think they (the Japanese soldiers) survived SaipanHe was rightAll four were among the estimated 26,500 Japanese soldiers killed on the island and none of the four soldiers ’ re-MhBta sent hffM.Pasto’s search for the survivors began in Kyoto, Japan, which, coincidentally, was the home of Kirihata While there, Pasto asked his tour guideif she knew what the papers were, and begot his answer, along with an address for Japan’s Chief of General AffairsWhen he returned to the United States, Pasto wrote a letter to that office explaining what he had He also sentof each book and its iden-ication number.Six months later, the chief of Japan’s Office of Investigation and Records,First Records Division, War Victims Relief Bureau, wrote Pasto informing him that the families of the dead soldiers in Toyama, Shiga, Niigata and* Kyoto had been located ,Last January, Pasto forwarded the books to Japan, writing, “I hope that these passbooks bring some sola the surviving relatives “ce toTamil's letter was dated 1266; Kirihata s Sept. 5,1986 Thewere written in Japanese andtranslated by Reiko lakeuehi, apicked up a couple of gas masks, graduate student at Peon State
Newspaper Details
Sedalia Democrat
Sedalia, Missouri, US
Thu, Apr 09, 1987
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Tor M.
USA 08 Apr 2020
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