Class Note 1943
Issue
November-December 2020
Mindanao is the second largest island in the Philippines. It is 35,537 square miles of mountains, valleys, and farmlands. It is double the size of a combined Vermont and New Hampshire. World War II had ended days earlier, on August 15, 1945, and brief peace negotiations had taken place all over Mindanao. Filipino scouts knew exactly where every large encampment was hidden, and tens of thousands of mimeographed surrender sheets were dropped by low-flying B25 medium bombers on these enemy positions.
We had made the landing on the island back in late February. After heavy battles the enemy had, overnight, disappeared to safe areas deep in the mountains near a lake or river. Then came Emperor Hirohito’s radio announcement. And WWII as we knew it was over! What a huge relief. The horizon looked brighter and there was not a dry eye in the outfit. Thank the good Lord for those two bombs! As the enemy soldiers trudged toward us in surrender, they were grim-faced, looking at the ground with stony stares from hollow eyes. It was the saddest sight I’ve seen in my life. They expected the worst from the “horrible Americans” their leaders in Tokyo warned them about. Low on ammo, medical supplies, food, and morale, they had literally been abandoned by Tokyo. They had received no mail from the homeland for months and months. I and other Nisei linguists assured them they would be taken care of, the sick and wounded first, and then returned to Japan as soon as possible. I treated them with compassion, respect, and kindness. As a non-smoker, I was able to give the POWs my ration of cigarettes. We also told them how lucky they were to have surrendered to American forces—and later reports verified brutal treatment of surrendering Japanese soldiers in parts of China and Manchuria. More in a later column.
Our class sends heartfelt condolences to the families of Frank P. Sherwood, one of my favorite classmates, who died on August 28, 2019, and Michael Frothingham, who died on August 10, 2020.
—George Shimizu, 2140 Sepulveda Ave., Milpitas, CA 95035-6142; (408) 930-2488; marymariko@comcast.net
We had made the landing on the island back in late February. After heavy battles the enemy had, overnight, disappeared to safe areas deep in the mountains near a lake or river. Then came Emperor Hirohito’s radio announcement. And WWII as we knew it was over! What a huge relief. The horizon looked brighter and there was not a dry eye in the outfit. Thank the good Lord for those two bombs! As the enemy soldiers trudged toward us in surrender, they were grim-faced, looking at the ground with stony stares from hollow eyes. It was the saddest sight I’ve seen in my life. They expected the worst from the “horrible Americans” their leaders in Tokyo warned them about. Low on ammo, medical supplies, food, and morale, they had literally been abandoned by Tokyo. They had received no mail from the homeland for months and months. I and other Nisei linguists assured them they would be taken care of, the sick and wounded first, and then returned to Japan as soon as possible. I treated them with compassion, respect, and kindness. As a non-smoker, I was able to give the POWs my ration of cigarettes. We also told them how lucky they were to have surrendered to American forces—and later reports verified brutal treatment of surrendering Japanese soldiers in parts of China and Manchuria. More in a later column.
Our class sends heartfelt condolences to the families of Frank P. Sherwood, one of my favorite classmates, who died on August 28, 2019, and Michael Frothingham, who died on August 10, 2020.
—George Shimizu, 2140 Sepulveda Ave., Milpitas, CA 95035-6142; (408) 930-2488; marymariko@comcast.net