By: Mary Harada

Mary Harada — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 15:19:45 +0000

Jon, Matt, and I visited the National Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) some years ago. My cousin John Campbell is buried there – died on Okinawa during the last days of the war in 1945. My Aunt went there for the burial but could not bring herself to go again. What surprised me is that the grave markers are all flat – not the rows of crosses and stars of David usually shown in photos. My other cousin (John’s brother Lloyd) lived in Honolulu for many years and we visited him also. His wife told us that Lloyd does not think it is John’s remains buried there as the personal belongings returned by the army contained many things that did not belong to John. I will not describe the condition of the body as Lloyd did – but the Japanese military did not treat the American dead with any respect. Without DNA it would be impossible to know what pieces belonged to whom. Today that would not be acceptable but back then it was better to think they had the body than to be told that the person was missing. Many thousands of war dead are still missing from that war.
In Germany Mak and I visited some local cemeteries in small towns in southern Germany. There would be grave stones with photos of young men in uniform- date of birth and a statement -lost on the Eastern Front with a year but no specific date. So many of the German (and Russian dead) were never recovered. Families put up head stones to honor their lost sons.
I never met my cousin John – he and Lloyd were much older and grew up in California. He was a first Lieutenant in the Army and served in the Pacific theatre. Lloyd was a pilot in the Air Force and was stationed in England. Lloyd was recalled to the Air Force to serve in Korea as a Jet Pilot as well. War is hell – only truly stupid people glorify war.

Comments on: MEMORIAL DAY – A Time to Remember

By: Mary Harada