John Hughes - Washington Remembers WWII

WASHINGTON

REMEMBERS

WORLD WAR II

P ERSONAL A CCOUNTS FROM THE

DEADLIEST CONFLICT IN WORLD HISTORY

John C. Hughes & Trova Heffernan

First Edition

Copyright 2016

Legacy Washington

Office of the Secretary of State

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-889320-37-3

Ebook ISBN 978-1-970024-04-3

Front cover photo: Bob Hart

Back cover photos: Fred Shiosaki, Arnold Samuels,

Clayton Pitre, Robert Graham, Joe Moser,

George Narozonick, Regina Tollfeldt and Stan Jones

Book Design by Lori Larson

Cover Design by Laura Mott

Printed in the United States of America

by Gorham Printing, Centralia, Washington

To the Washington veterans who served in the war, their families and thousands more who served on the homefront.

Legacy Washington is dedicated to preserving the history of Washington and its continuing story.

www.sos.wa.gov/legacy

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C ONTENTS

A LONG OVERDUE REUNION FOR TWO OLD SOLDIERS. Bob Hart (left) and Fred Shiosaki fought in two of the most legendary battles in military history. In 1944 their paths crossed after weeks of savage combat in Italy. Harts 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team was relieved by the all-volunteer Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Hart says the men of the 442nd were the sharpest troops he encountered during the war and a sight for sore eyes. Hart went on to fight in the Battle of the Bulge. Shiosaki is one of the few survivors of the rescue of the Lost Battalion. Ben Helle/Washington State Archives

NO GREATER GIFT

I sometimes walk to the World War II monument on the campus of the Washington State Capitol. There, inscribed on granite tiles, are approximately 6,000 names of Washingtonians who gave their lives to defeat tyranny. Twenty-five were awarded the Medal of Honor. Theyre more than names on a wall; they are heroes of The Greatest Generation.

At this writing, on Veterans Day 2016, there are 24,000 living World War II veterans in Washington Statemen and women mostly in their 90s. We are losing approximately 450 each day. This sad reality propelled this book.

Washington Remembers World War II is a tribute to veterans and citizens on the home frontsome who represent little-known chapters of the war and others who lived through horrors most of us cannot imagine. Their stories can be difficult to hear, even shocking. Each is vitally important to understanding historys deadliest conflict and its far-reaching impact.

On behalf of the people of Washington, I humbly thank you, our veterans, for your service to this great country. To those featured in this book, I can think of no greater gift to the people of this state than the experiences you have bravely shared.

Washingtons 15th Secretary of State

Dogface GIs like us could sympathize with the German soldiers.

They were living like animals, just like us.

You dig a hole; youre wet all day, cold all night,

then you get up and shoot some kid your own age.

Staff Sgt. Fred Shiosaki, 442nd Regimental Combat Team

You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice and youve won, President Harry S. Truman told the 442nd Regimental Combat Team on July 15, 1946. By then, Fred Shiosaki and most of the other original members of the 442nd had been discharged from the Army. National Archives

F red Shiosaki, a high school senior, was doing his homework and listening to the radio. It was December 7, 1941, a cold, gray Sunday in Spokane. Shortly before noon, an announcer broke in. We interrupt this program to bring you a special news bulletin: The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor Hawaii by air, President Roosevelt has just announced.

Freds father, who ran the laundry below their tiny apartment, was in the next room. Hey, Pop, Fred said. The Japanese have attacked Hawaii!

Nearly 1,200 sailors and Marines died on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. National Archives

Kisaburo Shiosaki was at first skeptical. Then, as more details came in, he predicted, Its not going to last long. By supper time, however, with the Japanese reportedly advancing everywhere in the Pacific, Fred remembers that his parents were visibly shaken. Their firstborn, 24-year-old George, was attending college in Japan. What would happen to their family now? The five Shiosaki children were U.S. citizens, second-generation Nisei (nee-say). But Kisaburo and his wife Tori, were Issei (e-say)immigrants who couldnt even own property. Now they all had the face of the enemy in a city that was 99.1 percent white.

Across the state at Grays Harbor, Natsu Saito, a widow who ran an Asian import shop, was getting ready for church. Her oldest son, Lincoln, was in Tokyo studying for the ministry. Two FBI agents in fedoras and trench coats soon took her into custody as a suspected spy. The captain of a Japanese ship docked at the port reportedly had asked her for maps. Mrs. Saito vehemently denied being disloyal. The agents insisted she had patriotic ties to Japan, never mind that her sons bore the names of great Americans. Her No. 2 son, Perry, had to rush home from college at Pullman to care for his younger siblings. It was two frightening weeks before they learned their mother was being held in Seattle.