My dad is a WWII veteran, who served with the 5th AAF. After the Japanese signed the Declaration of Surrender, my dad's unit was transferred to Tachikawa, Japan.
He was assigned six former Japanese soldiers to work for him. Only one of them stayed with him and they became good friends.
Dad is now almost 85 years old and (not being internet-savvy) asked me to try to find his long-lost buddy. Wow...what a task. He doesn't know the guy's name, but I have some slightly promising information about him.
First, he served during Japan's invasion of China and somehow lost a finger. OK, not such a great piece of information... But, I have a photograph of him and my dad standing side-by-side.
Also, he would invite my dad to have lunch at his mother's house, only a few hundred yards from where my dad bunked, in an old aircraft hanger, in Tachikawa. Of course, my dad agreed and said she made the best food he'd ever eaten.
Now, what I *think* I need to do is find a Japanese forum or some website that I can post that picture and hope that someone will be able to tell me who the guy is or direct me to a family member, who might recognize him.
I've also spoken to the gentleman that runs pacificwrecks.org that I should try to contact a newspaper in Tachikawa and have them run a story. I've tried to look up a contact for a Tachikawan newspaper, but haven't any luck.
Any suggestions?
I've already called the Japanese Embassy, in Washington and nobody was willing to help me.
I also emailed James Bradley (author of
Flags of Our Fathers and
Flyboys and his secretary said he was too busy working on another book to help me.
It'd be a real treat for a WWII vet to receive a call from his old friend in Japan (or a relative, for that matter).
The photograph can be viewed at my photobucket link, here-->
http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u...rrent=dad2.jpg