After finishing the story of my father’s wartime service, I  have remembered something that happened during my senior year in college at Manhattanville circa 1968. I was enrolled in a class entitled “Modern Japanese Literature” taught by a lovely instructor from Columbia University, Ms. Fumiko Fujikawa. We knew that she had been a child during…Read more »

I concluded my WWII research in May, finding some closure to the search for my lost father. However, I have been bitten by the ancestry bug. My husband did quite a bit on his family trees and made a start of mine. Since he can no longer use a computer, I decided to have a go. So engrossing!…Read more »

In the summer of 1944, it was becoming clear to Imperial High Command that Japan was in danger of losing the war while the Allies island-hopped their way towards the Homeland Islands. One military historian noted that Japan had “long since lost aerial dominance due to outdated aircraft and the loss of experienced pilots. On…Read more »

This entry could be subtitled “Bill’s War.” Returning veterans of WWII would ask one another, “How was your war?” Some men had “good wars” i.e. deployment to interesting places, just enough combat to feel part of the fight, but no injuries and certainly no nightmares. My father’s war, I have found, was more eventful and horrific than the…Read more »

My father was honorably discharged from the Navy on September 27, 1945. The next document, in my possession, that bears his name is my birth certificate. It states that he is, indeed, my father and lists his occupation as “Veteran’s Hospital.” So far, I have been unable to determine what this designation means. Was he…Read more »

My mother was called a “war widow” and I was a “designated war orphan” in the terminology used by our government after WWII. We received pensions through the Veteran’s Administration. Today, the VA pays “Dependency and Indemnity Compensation” to the “Surviving Spouse” and “Surviving Child.” An improvement over the 19th century language in prior use,…Read more »

Emerging themes on this subject, based on personal narrative methodology, reveal a pattern among WWII war orphans, daughters who lost fathers. Feeling Different  During the post-war period, conversation about the missing father was off limits in the home. The girls rarely or never knew another child in the same situation. Yearning vs. Grief   A free-floating longing…Read more »

My father’s occupation is listed on my birth certificate as  the VA Hospital. His Death Certificate lists ulcerative colitis. I received benefits as a “Designated War Orphan” from 1953 through 1968. Everything else is silence or speculation. Then yesterday, another googled discovery! Researching Post WWII Veterans Benefits, I came across an article published in The Journal…Read more »

It is very hard to write this entry and the ones that may follow concerning the next seven years of my father’s life. There is no clear record of his illness or his employment. These are the memories or bits of evidence I have culled from documents, photographs, my mother’s answers to my questions (as…Read more »

We are, all of us, unreliable narrators of our own life’s story.  The development of the human person takes twenty-five years to unfold. By this benchmark, the brain is fully developed, life-long patterns of behavior become fixed, and the ability to employ all five senses will never be more acute. However, studies show that the…Read more »