Grandmother died when she was around seventy-one years old. She had suffered a stroke and was not able to use one of her arms. It frustrated her. Doctors would make house calls while my brothers and I did our best as distracted young adults to take care of her. Looking back, I feel we could have done a better job.
When Tadashi received his first paycheck, he returned home from Nagoya and took me shopping for new shoes. Tadashi had always been generous, sharing his food with everyone else. As times got better, he and Sadakazu would buy me beautiful handmade geisha dolls with hand-painted faces, dressed in silk kimono. I would save money and occasionally splurge on a few fine things for myself: tiny, wooden kokeshi dolls, pretty glassware, and delicate teacups, saucers and plates painted with colorful flowers.
Time passed and Tojo was eventually found guilty and was executed by hanging. To the Japanese who had despised him, justice had been served.
A few years later, United States President Harry Truman unexpectedly ordered General MacArthur to return to the United States. This was upsetting news for the Japanese. Another general was sent to Japan to fill-in for General MacArthur but the Japanese did not warm to him.
Unfortunately, I had to work the day that General MacArthur left Japan and was not able to see him off. On his last day in Tokyo, thousands of Japanese lined both sides of Haneda Road, a route that led to Haneda Airport. They held small Japanese and American flags in each hand. As MacArthur went by in his motorcar, they bowed deeply, waved their flags at him and wept.
Looking back, I realize how fortunate my brothers and I were to have survived the war. I expect that one day I will see Grandmother again and when I do, I will apologize to her for not having taken better care of her.
I will also tell Grandmother the story of how my own life turned out. I eventually moved to America and studied hard to become a United States citizen. I was officially sworn in on February 17th, 1961. It was a proud and important day in my life.
Grandmother will laugh when I tell her that the fortune-teller was right after all -- I ended up getting married and having four children of my own. The tragedy of threes - three daughters who had all died at an early age; three cousins who had died from an atomic bomb; and three siblings who had endured the hardship of war - was finally over.
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This concludes Mom's story but there is still a bit more to come. I'll eventually post a timeline of events as well the online sources that were used to fact-check it.
Happy Mother's Day and thank you for reading!
YOU ARE READING
Forged In Fire: Stories of wartime Japan
Non-FictionForged In Fire is the true story of a young girl's childhood in pre-WW II Tokyo; her schoolgirl dreams; the violence, starvation and desperation of wartime that drove her family out of the city; and the American Occupation that shaped Japan's future...
