June 21, 2009


Keizer doctor writes of his father's time in WW2

By Barbara Curtin
Statesman Journal

Dr. Jay Jamieson has created the kind of tribute that few fathers will be lucky enough to receive today. It's a painstakingly researched biography of his father called "Once a Marine: Honoring the Life of My Father Captain Roger Jamieson, U.S.M.C.R., (Ret.)"

Roger Jamieson isn't here to receive that loving gift; he died in 2007. But long before then, he'd had the satisfaction of Jay's growing interest in his World War II service. The two had visited Okinawa, Saipan and Guam, three sites with special meaning to Roger. And Jay had managed to track down key figures who had helped his father quell troublesome memories from the war.

Rather, Jay wrote this book for the next generation: for all Roger's grandchildren and great-grandchildren to come. "I needed to express to my kids, 'This is where you come from,'" he said.

Hard to talk about

When Jay was growing up in New Jersey and California, his dad didn't talk much about the war. Jay knew his dad had fought on Okinawa and had been wounded on Sugar Loaf Hill, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. He knew that his dad had lost a cousin, David Leslie Dougherty, in the Pacific. He knew that if he asked too many questions, his dad would clam up.

Then one night in 1994, Jay happened to catch a news special on the 50th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Europe. It got him thinking: Would there be a similar commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the battle for Okinawa the following spring? If so, would his dad consider such a trip with him?

The answers were yes, and yes.

Hearing Dad's story

As Jay began planning the trip, he and his dad read and talked more about the war. Jay learned that his dad had shown courage on Okinawa by volunteering to leave a relatively safe assignment in order to serve at the front. He also learned why Roger had found it so hard to talk about the battle: The young men under his command all had been lost.

Jay also tracked down Marines who were able to fill in missing details about the death of Roger's cousin David. The subject had weighed on Roger's conscience all these years because he believed that David had enlisted to follow his example.

"For two guys to get on the phone and jawbone about what it was like ..." Jay said. "(He would say) 'People can tell you to get over it, but you can't.'"

Finally, in June 1995, Jay and his father left on the two-week trip. In Okinawa, Roger paced off Sugar Loaf Hill — now just a scrubby bump on the landscape — and found the spot where a recruit had died in his arms.

When a national TV reporter asked for his comments, Roger broke down and cried, "Stop the wars."

But later, he was able to shake hands and be photographed with a Japanese veteran of the same battle. The two wound up corresponding for a year.

Jay and Roger also visited the Saipan beach where Roger's cousin David had died, and they laid a wreath for him at a war memorial. In Guam, Roger was welcomed like a VIP for playing a part in the island's liberation from the Japanese.

On the way home, they stopped in Hawaii.

"My dad had been to Pearl Harbor several times before, and every time, he had cried," recalled Jay. "This time, he was not crying."

In the weeks that followed, Roger was able to talk more about his service. He even gave speeches about the trip.

"You'll never get full healing, but he got as close as you can get," Jay said.

Impressed to write it down

Fast-forward to 2007: Roger Jamieson died of cancer, just short of his 86th birthday. Jay Jamieson gave a fine eulogy at his dad's memorial service in Solvang, Calif. He could look back with satisfaction on the Okinawa trip, the longest time he ever spent with his dad as an adult.

But Jay wanted his dad to live on in more than the obituary his mother had written and the papers his dad had left behind. And so he began to write.

"It was therapy for me," he said. "I needed to express what my dad meant to me ... I had something I had to say, and it was my way of memorializing my father."

How did a family doctor with a busy practice in Keizer find time to write a book?

"All it took was one hour an evening, five nights a week, for many months," he said. He found the hour by turning off the television. "I'd wake up at night and a phrase would come to me, and I'd write it down."

He wrote about their trip. He did more research on his dad's wartime service. He filled in the details of his dad's life leading up to his enlistment and sketched what had happened after the end of the war.

He tracked down photos. He even paid to get the rights to legally use quotes from songs and movies.

When it came time to publish the book, a few months' legwork brought rejections from several traditional publishers of historical nonfiction. So he turned to a print-on-demand house, Dog Ear Publications, playing about $2,000 in printing costs up front.

In return, Dog Ear will print just as many copies of the book as he and booksellers sell, keeping a portion of the sales price.

"I wrote this as a memorial to my dad's life, to be passed down to my kids," Jay said. "If anyone else wants it, fine."

What would he like others to take from his experience?

He paused and thought for a while.

"Dig deeper and find out more about your loved ones," he said.

"You have a great heritage in your own home if you take the time to ask the questions and find out what makes them tick."

bcurtin@statesmanjournal.com or (503) 399-6699
Additional Facts
At a glance


WHO: Jay A. Jamieson, MD, of Salem


WHAT: Recently published "Once a Marine: Honoring the Life of My Father Captain Roger Jamieson, U.S.M.C.R., (Ret.); Dog Ear Publishing; $26.95 hardcover, $12.95 paperback; a portion of proceeds will aid injured Marines


ISBN: 978-159858-829-3


FAMILY: Married to Kelly, a kindergarten teacher at Wright Elementary; their children are David, 29; Daniel, 26; Joe, 24; Holly, 21; and Erin, 18.


BOOK SIGNING: 1 p.m. Saturday, Borders Books, 2235 Lancaster Drive NE

Ellie