As everyone following this blog knows, one of the driving forces behind my research is the desire to return the photos, flags, and personal memories home to the families of the Japanese soldiers who carried them into battle during the war. So far, I have been able to return two items - the prayer flag and a photo. There are still about 13 individual items left and I think I need some help.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A second letter, a second son
Just twenty four days after the first letter arrived from Japan, notifying me that the son of Shinzo Furuya had been located, a second letter was waiting for me in the mailbox today after work.
Another son has been located.
Another son has been located.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Letter from Beatrice to Mike West
Today's post is just a quick update to the one from the weekend - scans of the original letter from Beatrice Givan to Mike West are now available after the break.
Thank you again Mike for saving this letter for so many years, this was truly a wonderful present.
Thank you again Mike for saving this letter for so many years, this was truly a wonderful present.
Friday, March 25, 2011
A present from California
Earlier in the week I received a wonderful email from my good friend Mike West who lives with his wife out in Camarillo, California. As I have written in previous posts, Mike (as seen below in all of his hula glory!) was a good friend of Grandpa's from the war.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Final delivery
The flag has made it to Japan!
I just hope and pray that it is in one piece...I was distracted during the packaging of the flag and did not wrap it in anything or protect it inside the envelope, so I hope the mail system did not damage it. But, it made it to Japan at 3:01PM today, Japan time.
I just hope and pray that it is in one piece...I was distracted during the packaging of the flag and did not wrap it in anything or protect it inside the envelope, so I hope the mail system did not damage it. But, it made it to Japan at 3:01PM today, Japan time.
Tags:
Japan
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
The flag is heading home
Saturday was a bittersweet day. It was the day that the silk Japanese prayer flag, belonging to Shinzo Furuya, began the 6500 mile journey from Muncie, Indiana to Tokyo, Japan and then on to Yamanashi Prefecture.
Tags:
Japan
Monday, March 14, 2011
Updates, home and abroad
Over the past week, there have been a few minor updates in my research efforts. I have found another amazing resource and ran into a delay in returning the prayer flag to Mr. Furuya's son.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Success! A son has been found...
A little over four months ago, I started a search for families that I had never met, with faces I had never seen and from places I have never visited. The only information I had to go on were characters that I could not decipher or read, scrawled in pencil and ink on the backs of faded wallet-sized photographs, a tattered silk flag, and a delicate paper fan. With the help of Fumiko Kishi Chiuini, a very patient and generous instructor of Japanese at the Indiana Academy for Sciences, Mathematics, and Humanities, we reviewed all of the mementos my grandfather had collected during the war and she did her best at translating a language that was even a little foreign to her.
Tags:
Japan
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