A very special Memorial Day !
Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 8:08 pm
The mayor of our town asked me to say a few words at a grave dedication for 3 Japanese laborers who were killed on our area in 1906.
The graves had remained unmarked for all these years. Their Japanese friend had paid for and buried them at the time. Now it was upon the shoulders of the current Japanese community to follow through and mark and dedicate the graves.
The main person behind the drive was a gentleman named Hero Shiosaki, 95 years old, who happens to be a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Listening to his story brought awe to all who listened. As his father had immigrated in 1894 to work on the railroads in the west. They never learned English as there was no one that spoke both languages. As WWII came about, a lot of family members were placed in the relocation camp in Hart Mountain, Montana.
As Hero and the others volunteered to go into the service he said "My dad told me he'd rather see me come home in a casket than come home in disgrace. My dad, told me in Japanese "you are an American soldier, you go fight for America, and if you have to die for America, so be it." And of course he never lived to see us come back. "
The graves had remained unmarked for all these years. Their Japanese friend had paid for and buried them at the time. Now it was upon the shoulders of the current Japanese community to follow through and mark and dedicate the graves.
The main person behind the drive was a gentleman named Hero Shiosaki, 95 years old, who happens to be a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Listening to his story brought awe to all who listened. As his father had immigrated in 1894 to work on the railroads in the west. They never learned English as there was no one that spoke both languages. As WWII came about, a lot of family members were placed in the relocation camp in Hart Mountain, Montana.
As Hero and the others volunteered to go into the service he said "My dad told me he'd rather see me come home in a casket than come home in disgrace. My dad, told me in Japanese "you are an American soldier, you go fight for America, and if you have to die for America, so be it." And of course he never lived to see us come back. "
