thedrifter
08-09-08, 08:45 AM
Rochester war vet's gesture meant to put enemy's soul at rest
8/8/2008 11:05:01 PM
By Tom Weber
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
When Glenn Miller returned to Saipan in 2004, he was on a soul-saving mission.
The soul he hoped to save was that of a former enemy.
Miller served with the Marines during the 1944 battle of Saipan in the western Pacific. Like many American servicemen, he liked to scrounge. "You got caught up in taking souvenirs," Miller said. "I had a Japanese rifle, a helmet, a sword."
He also picked up a shirt that belonged to an unknown Japanese infantryman.
For decades, the souvenirs sat in storage in Miller's Rochester home. In 2004, when he and his family went to Saipan for the 60th anniversary of the battle, Miller dug out the shirt and took it along.
"I decided I'd like to see it get back," he said. "I knew there was a shrine in Tokyo where they document things like this."
Miller's understanding was that some Japanese believe recording the name of the soldier to the Yasukuni Shrine would put the man's soul at rest.
As luck would have it, at Saipan Miller was introduced to Hiroshi Nakajima, a Japanese professor. Nakajima offered to take the shirt and try to determine to whom it had belonged.
Within weeks, Nakajima wrote to Miller that the shirt belonged to a soldier with the 50th Imperial Army. The soldier had been killed on Tinian Island, very near to Saipan -- apparently Miller had picked up the shirt while on duty on Tinian.
Nakajima was unable to find surviving members of the soldier's family. But he did enter the man's name in the registry at the Yasukuni shrine.
"I felt very good with this outcome," Miller said. "I was under the impression that his soul could not be at rest unless something like this was done."
Ellie
8/8/2008 11:05:01 PM
By Tom Weber
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
When Glenn Miller returned to Saipan in 2004, he was on a soul-saving mission.
The soul he hoped to save was that of a former enemy.
Miller served with the Marines during the 1944 battle of Saipan in the western Pacific. Like many American servicemen, he liked to scrounge. "You got caught up in taking souvenirs," Miller said. "I had a Japanese rifle, a helmet, a sword."
He also picked up a shirt that belonged to an unknown Japanese infantryman.
For decades, the souvenirs sat in storage in Miller's Rochester home. In 2004, when he and his family went to Saipan for the 60th anniversary of the battle, Miller dug out the shirt and took it along.
"I decided I'd like to see it get back," he said. "I knew there was a shrine in Tokyo where they document things like this."
Miller's understanding was that some Japanese believe recording the name of the soldier to the Yasukuni Shrine would put the man's soul at rest.
As luck would have it, at Saipan Miller was introduced to Hiroshi Nakajima, a Japanese professor. Nakajima offered to take the shirt and try to determine to whom it had belonged.
Within weeks, Nakajima wrote to Miller that the shirt belonged to a soldier with the 50th Imperial Army. The soldier had been killed on Tinian Island, very near to Saipan -- apparently Miller had picked up the shirt while on duty on Tinian.
Nakajima was unable to find surviving members of the soldier's family. But he did enter the man's name in the registry at the Yasukuni shrine.
"I felt very good with this outcome," Miller said. "I was under the impression that his soul could not be at rest unless something like this was done."
Ellie