Dem
47
GOP
53
Today, we hear from reader A.H. in Newberg, OR:
I wasn't going to submit anything for this series, but after reading several stories I have changed my mind.
My father landed at Cherbourg, France, D+about 90 days, and survived around 200 continuous days in combat before shaking hands with the Russians near Torgau, Germany. But this story isn't about him. This is about Roy. My father and Roy and 30 or 40 other men in our community were all members of the local American Legion post. For those who aren't aware, the American Legion is a federally chartered organization for veterans. For me, growing up, Roy was our family dentist. I went to school with his son Russ. We shot hoops in Roy's and Russ' driveway and I watched Steve Allen's Tonight Show in their family room. When Roy built a new home, my father built the cabinets for it. (Roy's wife Kim was a petite lady, so her kitchen cabinets were about three inches lower than any other cabinets my father built.)
Russ and I both went to Oregon State University. After college, I lost track of him for a while; I did know he went to school in British Columbia, became a dentist like his father. Because his dental schooling was funded by the Canadian government, he had to serve as a dentist in rural BC for several years. He married Sylvia while residing among the Canucks. Eventually, Russ moved back down to Oregon and opened a practice in Corvallis, about 60 miles and a little over an hour's drive away.
A couple of years ago, Russ missed a high school class gathering. He let several of us know beforehand that he wouldn't be there. He had a long-planned trip that he couldn't reschedule. Russ was going to Tinian. Tinian is not a big travel destination, and not on every airline's list of destinations. It usually requires about three flight changes and over 30 hours to get there. But that was where Roy had been stationed, and that was where Russ was going to go.
Russ and I have reconnected, and we get together now semiregularly for lunch to share old memories, tell lies about our grandkids, and just check up on each other. It was over one of these meetings that I learned why Russ wanted to go to Tinian. Roy had been an aircraft ground crewman loading munitions on B-29 aircraft bombing Japanese targets on the Pacific as well as in mainland Japan. Somewhere along the line, he had probably loaded weapons on the Enola Gay or Bockscar or several of the other aircraft flying missions over Japan.
So far the story is rather mundane. And now, the rest of the story... the story few knew. Roy was born in central Idaho to farmers growing onions and sugar beets. Kim, his wife, was raised in the east Multnomah County area near Portland. Roy and Kim Yamada were Nisei, second-generation Japanese born in the United States. Kim's family was interned in Idaho and worked in the farm fields, where she met Roy. Roy volunteered for the Army Air Corps. My friend, Russ Yamada, is Sansei, third-generation Japanese born in the U.S. Roy's parents were originally from Hiroshima, but had been evacuated.
Russ, I hope I got the details all correct.
Thanks, A.H.
We are still accepting submissions at comments@electoral-vote.com. We plan to do 5 weeks' worth this year, and then this feature will certainly be back next year. (Z)