WWII: A Postcard from Burma
In my deepest heart of hearts I suspect I have a secret desire to receive a letter from the past. These tales of the postman delivering a yellowed envelope with a three-cent stamp in the corner and “Buy War Bonds” emblazoned somewhere on the paper draw me in every time. This story, however, does not come from the United States, but rather from Japan.
It involves a postcard, written by a Japanese soldier during World War II that reached an 80-year-old retired man in Kochi, a state in the southwest of Japan just recently. The card was written by his friend Nobuchika Yamashita in 1943 from Burma, the same year the young soldier died at age 23.
The postcard never reached its destination originally, because it went into the pocket of a U.S. soldier who died 25 years ago. Then his son held on to the card until he passed it on to a Japanese exchange student in Hawaii. The student, Yuko Kojima, now a sophomore at Mukogawa Women’s University, spent two years looking for the intended recipient Shizuo Nagano. It took two years . . . well, really sixty-four . . . but Nagano finall received Yamashita’s card.
Each time I read a story like this I am amazed by the ability of small, fragile objects like a postcard to survive for decades, even finding their way back to their owners or to someone who will treasure the scrap as it were an extension of someone they loved. The orginal story from ABC News (which can be found here) doesn’t mention what the card said. Probably a take on the standard, “How are you? I am fine.” But the message overwhelmed Nagono who never expected to connect with his friend again and that alone makes the words, whatever they were, precious.
Want to look around the 451Press neighborhood some more? Try this post on the government’s Empty Pockets over at CurrentEventsWatch.com or learn why Seasonal Decorating is for the Birds at BackyardBirdingBlog.com.
WWII, World War II, Japan, postcard
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:10 pm
I read the story, too, and always thought when these things happen that it would be somehow comforting to receive something from a loved one after they had passed on. What I admired most about the story was the student’s diligence in making sure the postcard made it to its intended. She could have just chucked the thing. Two years’ worth of effort for something that no doubt meant so much, well, you go, Yuko!
October 22nd, 2007 at 2:14 pm
My thoughts exactly. Back in the day I was doing well to get my students to sit in the right seats much less to get their attention trained on a project for two years!