Letter from Iwo Jima makes it to recipient's family, 60 years later
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SHIZUOKA -- A letter found on Iwo Jima near the end of World War II, and taken to the United States by an American soldier, was recently returned to the intended recipient's family here.
Yasukiyo Sasamoto, 74, a retired fishing boat captain from Shizuoka City, was surprised to receive copies of fragments of a letter addressed to his late grandmother Haruyo, who lived on Iwo Jima before the war escalated.
"I was surprised to hear the unexpected news. My grandmother, who is the addressee of the letter, is no more, but I would like to thank the Americans for their kindness," said Sasamoto.
The letter, penned by an unknown author, was given to U.S. soldier Burl Hermansen by a military translator, who said the letter was of low strategic value. Hermansen then took it back home and kept it after the war. He died in 1996.
Two years later, his 55-year-old son Terry found the letter, and his sister showed it to her Japanese neighbor Chitomi Wilkinson, 46. Wilkinson's husband then sent an e-mail to the Mainichi Daily News in January this year, asking for help in finding the addressee's family.
The envelope is addressed to Haruyo Sasamoto in Iwoto (the former, and now current name of Iwo Jima), Ogasawara Islands, Tokyo, and bears the postmark of the Yokosuka Post Office.
The back of the envelope is stamped by the accounting division of the Japanese Navy in Yokosuka, with another stamp of the U.S. authorities covering part of it, which reads: "Examined in the Field."
The letter, which was apparently written by a man, reads: "Thank you very much for kindly sending a number of delicacies," and also recounts the progress of some kind of engineering work.
According to Sasamoto, his grandmother lost her husband early in their marriage, and ran a grocery store in central Iwo Jima. She left the island before the war intensified and moved to Tokyo, where she died from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1950.
"Although the sender of the letter is unknown, I'm sure my grandmother is pleased about it," said Sasamoto. (By Akira Kudo, Mainichi Shimbun)
Letter from Iwo Jima makes it to recipient's family, 60 years later - Mainichi Daily News
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