December 8, 2023 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, two enemies: One led Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor; the other was an American Doolittle Raider who bombed Tokyo. Here to tell the story is Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon—the daughter of Doolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer. She is the author of Return of the Raider: A Doolittle Raider’s Story of War & Forgiveness.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything on this show, including
your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
They're some of our favorites.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This next story begins with the movie Pearl Harbor left
off two enemies. One led Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,
the other an American Dolittle raider who bombed Tokyo. Here
to tell the story is Carol Ico Deshaser Dixon, the
daughter of Doolittle raider Jacob DeShazer. She is the author
(00:43):
of Return of the Raider, a do Little Raider's story
of war and forgiveness.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Here is Carol Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
My name is Carol Ko Deshaser Dixon, and today I'd
like to tell you this story of my father, Jacob Deschaser,
whose story has made a mark in history. I'm not
a historian and I'm no military expert, but when I
(01:13):
received the phone call from this radio station asking if
I would consider sharing my father's story, I knew I
had to say yes, I'll try so. On February twenty sixth,
nineteen forty, more than a year and a half before
(01:35):
the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my father joined the Army
Air Corps at Fort McDowell in California. He always wanted
to be a pilot and believed being a pilot would
be a great way to serve his country. However, his
dream of becoming a pilot was short lived. At twenty
(01:59):
seven years old, he was too old by military standards
to begin pilot's training. Instead, the military trained him to
become an airplane mechanic. When the training was complete, he
was stationed at McCord Field near Tacoma, Washington. At McCord,
(02:20):
my father worked as a mechanic on the North American
B twenty five Mitchell Baumber. Although he was forced to
give up his dream of being a pilot, he was
able to fly when the military began looking for Bombadere's
the Bambadere's main duty was to assist the pilot and
(02:43):
navigator to ensure that a bomb hits the target. This
excited my father and he applied and was accepted to
Bombadere's school. He was on Kitchen Police better known as
KP duty, and was peeling potatoes and listening to the
(03:03):
radio when a Japanese raid led by Captain Mitzu Futita
attacked Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen forty one. His
initial shock turned to anger and then deep hatred toward
the Japanese. He heard himself saying, those Japanese, they are
(03:24):
going to have to pay for this. He wanted revenge
for the pain inflicted on his fellow Americans. Still, it
was with some surprise that he found himself in the
company of General Jimmy Doolittle and seventy nine other men.
(03:45):
Soon after, he heard General Dolittle explain that a secret
raid against Japan was being planned and volunteers were needed.
The mission would be dangerous and all might perish along
the way, but when asked if they would volunteer, every
soldier in the room responded without hesitation. Yes. My father
(04:12):
was a last man asked, and had a bit longer
to contemplate the risk. He was scared. He had no
idea how to do what was being asked of him,
and really just wanted to say no, thanks, I'm not
prepared for this. Maybe he was more scared of what
the others would think of him if he said no,
(04:34):
So he heard himself say yes, I'll go. Saying yes
to the Doolittle raid changed my father's simple, quiet life forever.
He was born in nineteen twelve and had grown up
on a farm in Madras, Organ He worked as a
(04:55):
sheep herder and raised turkeys. After high school graduation, there
was no money for college, and lack of employment opportunities
during the Great Depression led him to enter the army
so that he could make a living. He had grown
up in a Christian family, but he had already decided
(05:15):
that Christianity and the Bible were not for him. On
April eighteenth, nineteen forty two, four months after the attack
on Pearl Harbor, General Doolittle was Seventy nine other raiders
and sixteen B twenty fives were loaded onto an aircraft
(05:36):
carrier named the USS Hornet and set sail from San Francisco,
passing under the Golden Gate Bridge and sailing out onto
the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. Since the airplanes could only
carry a limited amount of fuel, the plane was for
the aircraft carrier to get as close to Japan as
(05:58):
possible and then to fly off the Hornet to attack
strategic targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokoska, and Nagoya in the dark.
The airplanes had enough gas to get to China, where
they could land and be helped out by friendly Chinese contacts. Well, unfortunately,
(06:22):
the hornet was spotted far out from the coast of
Japan by Japanese fishing boats and the Doolittle raiders had
to take off the hornet and lift into the air immediately.
That caused them to reach their target in the daytime
and China at night time with no help as their
(06:42):
planes ran out of gas with no safe place to land.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And you've been listening to Carol ko DeShazer Dixon tell
the story of her father, Jacob, who was serving in
the Army Air Corps when Japanese attacks, Well, they just
decimated our navy and Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And when we come.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Back, we've put you right in the cockpit and into
the shoes of Carol's father when we come back, more
of her father's story here on Our American Stories Folks,
(07:29):
if you love the great American stories we tell and
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Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
(07:50):
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's our American Stories dot Com. And
we continue with our American stories in carol Ico Dschezer
(08:13):
Dixon's story about her father Jacob Let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Still, the raid caught Japan by surprise and most of
the targets were hit. There was little physical damage done,
but the raid struck a powerful psychological blow to the Japanese.
Most of the raiders had to bail out over China
in the dark. A couple of the planes crash landed
(08:41):
with a few casualties. Two crews bailed out unknowingly over
a part of China that was occupied by Japanese forces
and were promptly captured and imprisoned. My father was one
of the eight men captured. General Doolittle and the surviving
raiders were assisted by the Chinese to return back to
(09:04):
the United States to a hero's welcome. You know, many
historians say the Doolittle Raid was an important turning point
in the war with Japan, but that meant very little
at the time to the eight men who became POWs
at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. The captured
(09:26):
Doolittle Raiders were held in solitary confinement in cramped prison cells.
They endured interrogation, threats of execution, beatings, torture, starvation, and
filthy prison cells that were infested with lice, bedbugs, and rats.
(09:49):
There was no heat in the cold winter months, and
the summers were muggy and hot with no ventilation, particularly
from the stench of the ben joe, which was a
hole in the floor serving as a toilet. All of
this increased my father's hatred for the Japanese. One of
(10:10):
the initial interrogation sessions brought my father into a room
where a group of Japanese officers began to question him.
Here is how he described his experience in his own words.
One of the officers, using lots of slang, said that
I had better talk. He said that these were mean
(10:32):
people and they would torture me until I did talk.
I had been blindfolded for more than twelve hours and
hadn't eaten all day. I had been asked questions at
every opportunity, but would always tell them that I wouldn't talk.
Sometimes they would tell me about places in America where
(10:53):
Japan had bombed and taken possession of property. Then they
would come up very close to my face and open
their mouths and laugh. I was then led into a
room and the blindfold was removed. A little Japanese man
of stocky build was standing behind a table, smoking a cigar,
(11:15):
rubbing his hands together and talking really fast in Japanese.
Several others were in the room. The man behind the
table said through the interpreter, I am the kindest judge
and all occupied China. I want to treat you real
(11:35):
good everywhere. I have the reputation of being the kindest
judge in all occupied China. I glared at the fat
fellow smoking the black cigar. The judge returned my glaze
and said, you're very fortunate to be questioned by me.
You just tell us what the truth is and I'll
(11:58):
give you a nice class of warm, sweet milk. He
asked me if Doolittle was my commanding officer, and I
answered I won't talk, and instead I gave him my name,
rank and serial number, because that was all I was
required to say under the Geneva Convention. The judge responded
(12:21):
to this by saying that I was Japanese property. The
judge continued, how do you pronounce h O R N
E T. I responded, that's hornet. The judge replied, that's
(12:41):
the aircraft carrier you flew off to bomb Japan. I said,
I won't talk. The judge continued, sixteen B twenty five's
took off the hornet and bombed Japan. Is this true?
I continued to respond, I won't talk. This must have
(13:02):
angered the kind judge greatly, because soon he struck the
table with his fist, saying, when you talk to me,
you look me straight in the eye. The judge was
growing angrier and pulled out his sword, holding it up
and looking directly at me. Said tomorrow morning, when the
(13:24):
sun comes up, I'm going to cut your head off.
I stood there silently. What do you think of that?
The judge asked me. I told him I thought it
would be a great honor if the kindest judge in
China cut my head off. The judge and others laughed
(13:46):
for the first time, and a little later I was
taken to my cell. I lay in the cell all night,
blindfolded in handcuffed without blankets. The next morning, at sunrise,
I was led out of my cell. I had no breakfast.
The blindfold was taken off and the handcuffs were removed.
(14:08):
I looked around for the judge with his weapon of execution,
but instead was loaded onto a truck with the other
prisoners and moved to another prison camp. Three of the
officers were killed by a firing squad. The remaining five,
which included my father, were sentenced to life in prison
(14:29):
in solitary confinement. My father endured these conditions for forty
long months, nearly three and a half years. He became
very weak, thin, and deathly sick, while burning with hatred
and resentment toward his captors. My father used to say,
(14:53):
my hatred for my enemy nearly drove me crazy. He
often cursed the prison guards, and in return they kicked
him and beat him. Eventually, one of the other Doolittle
readers died of malnutrition, and even the Japanese government became
concerned about the horrible conditions in the prison. An order
(15:14):
was given to provide better food. The four remaining prisoners
were offered books to read, and one of those books
was a Bible. Each of them were given only three
weeks to read it. When my father received his turn,
he was excited. He had turned away from any Christian
teachings from his childhood, from his parents and church, and
(15:38):
now he was being given a second chance to find
out what it was all about, and he wasn't going
to waste any more time. He had all day to
read with no interruptions. His plan was to read the
Bible from cover to cover and discover all the places
where the Bible contradicted itself. But as he read, his
eyes were opened to exactly the opposite. He saw how
(16:03):
prophecy in the Old Testament was revealed and fulfilled in Jesus,
and he became convinced that what he was reading was
the word of God. He read Romans ten nine. If
you confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord, and believe with
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
(16:25):
will be saved. He felt those conditions had been met,
and he said yes to God's call on his heart.
His mind would often recall his favorite passages. Of particular
importance to him was First John. He had memorized all
five chapters and often meditated on them. He liked First
(16:48):
John because it spoke plainly about sin and forgiveness.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And you're listening to Carol Ico Deschaser Dixon tell the
story of her father, Jacob my goodness, a life sentence
after being tortured and well belittled by a judge who
tried to extract information from him. And all he would
do was give his name, rank, and serial number to
that judge. And you can picture the scene in your head.
(17:15):
That's the joy of listening to a story like this,
as you get to create your own images in your
own head. I've got mine, I'm sure you've got yours.
And what this cell must have been like. It's unimaginable, actually,
how the Japanese treated our soldiers so inhumanely that it's
set a new standard for inhumanity. When we come back
this remarkable story of redemption and war and forgiveness, Jacob
(17:39):
Deschaser's story here on our American stories, and we continue
(18:08):
with our American stories and the story of Doolittle raider
Jacob Deschaser.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Here's his daughter Carol with more of the story.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
One day, when reading about the baptism of Jesus, he
had a strong desire for baptism himself. He looked up
out of a small high window of his cell to
realize that rainwater was blowing in, and he thanked God
for this provision as he stood under the rain and
accepted the baptism of the Holy Spirit, hatred for his
(18:41):
enemy's turn to forgiveness and love. One day, an opportunity
to demonstrate his faith appeared. He was being taken back
to his cell by one of the guards after a
short exercise period outside, and the guard started pushing him.
Hi yaku hi lucku, hury up, hurry up, the guard
(19:05):
shouted as he slapped him on the back with his hand.
When he came to the door of my father's cell,
he held it open a little and gave him a
final push through the doorway. But before my father could
get all the way in, he slammed the door and
caught his foot. He held the door against his bare
foot and kicked it with his hobnail shoes. My father
(19:29):
pushed against the door to get his foot free and
then jumped aside. The pain in his foot was severe,
and he thought some bones might have been broken. As
he sat in great pain, he felt as if God
were testing him somehow he felt anger and resentment toward
the guard and thought, Oh, surely God doesn't expect us
(19:52):
to love these real, mean ones in this world. But
then he remembered all the words of Jesus in Matthew
five forty four, who said, love your enemies, bless those
who curse you, do good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
(20:13):
He also remembered one Corinthians thirteen four eight, the Great
Love chapter, stating love is patient, Love is kind. It
does not envy, It does not boast. It is not proud,
It is not rude, It is not self seeking, It
is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.
(20:37):
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always preserves.
Love never fails. He decided, with the Lord's help, to
replace all the hatred in his heart with love. Wanted
(21:00):
to try this new approach on the guard. When that
same guard came to his cell the following day, he
bid him ohio kuzaimasu good mourning. The guard looked confused
and must have thought my father had spent too much
time in solitary confinement. But after many days of trying
(21:22):
to be nice to the guard, the guard finally smiled
and began to talk with him as much as they
could with his poor Japanese language skills. The Japanese guard
noticed the change in him, and instead of shouting and
beating him, he offered him a delicious, warm, sweet potato.
He thanked the guard, saying arigato, thank you, and then
(21:45):
thought to himself, God's way really works if we try
it out. Jesus was not an idealist whose ideals could
not be realized. When he told told us to love
one another, he told us the best way to act,
and it will work. His way will work out better
(22:07):
than any other way which could be tried. My father
had grown very weak during the forty month ordeal, suffering
from malnutrition and dysentery. He had counted over seventy five
boils on his body, and he was miserable. Now that
he had read the Bible and become a Christian. In
(22:28):
his prison cell, it struck him how much easier it
would be to die and go to Heaven than to
stay alive and suffer, he said. He lifted up his
hands and said, Lord, take me. I just want to
leave this suffering and to be with you. Then, he said,
he became aware of his hands. They were empty, and
(22:52):
he thought, I can't go like this. I've never done
anything for the Lord. Just think about it, to appear
before the creator of the universe. After all he has
done for me. He sent his son to suffer and
to die upon the cross to forgive us our sins.
(23:13):
He said, I didn't want to be there for all
eternity with empty hands, he said. He quickly put his
hands behind his back. He said, Lord, I don't want
to come to you with empty hands. Give me another
chance and I'll try. He knew he was a shy
public speaker. Well, God granted my father's humble prayer, and
(23:35):
he began to sense God's calling him to return to
Japan as a missionary. On August twentieth, nineteen forty five,
shortly after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which
ended the war with Japan, my father and four other
Doolittle Raider prisoners were released from prison and returned to
(23:59):
the United States. Their faces and stories were on the
front cover of the newspapers across the nation. Well, a
very beautiful woman named Florence Methini from Toddville, Iowa, noticed
the newspaper articles and under a picture of my father
(24:21):
she read with interest that he was considering attending Seattle
Pacific College to prepare to return to Japan as a missionary.
Florence had already told God yes to a life of
missionary service years before, and was already accepted to be
a student at Seattle Pacific College. Who knows, she said
(24:46):
out loud with a grin. Maybe I will get to
meet him some day and shake his hand. Well, she
did get to meet him and shake his hand, and
when he asked her to marry him, she said yes.
She recalls that my father was sincere, but not particularly
a good public speaker. He was rather timid and slow speaking.
(25:11):
He had been in solitary confinement for forty months, and
his thoughts and words came slowly and with much effort.
Seattle Pacific's president at the time, Hoy Watson, and the
entire SBC community, was a great source of encouragement and
helped my father gain the confidence, training, and support to
(25:35):
graduate in three short years.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And you're listening to the story of Jacob Deschazer, as
told by his daughter Carol, and she's written a terrific
book called The Return of the Raider, a dolittle raider's
story of war and forgiveness. And my goodness, reading that
Bible while in prison, getting reacquainted with the faith that
he had not taken seriously at all, and now had
(25:58):
some time to really read the book and how it
applied to his life, and my goodness, what a change
in his life. Love your enemies, Bless your enemies. These
were words that he had to try and live by,
and he did, and he applied it to that prison guard,
and the difference in that relationship because of how he
dealt with rudeness and with meanness and with well just
(26:19):
bad treatment, teaches us all a lot about how you
can change another person's actions and heart itself. And after
he comes out of captivity, after we drop two bombs
on Nagasaki in Hiroshima decides, of all things that he
wants to return to Japan as a missionary. My goodness,
(26:40):
you just don't get more remarkable than that and beautiful
than that. And in that pursuit comes across a woman
who admires what he does. From afar and ultimately becomes
his wife. And some people would say, oh, what a
ridiculous story. That doesn't happen forty months in captivity. And
all kinds of things will happen to you when you
get out, all kinds of things, and especially if you've
(27:02):
got forgiveness with you, and in this particular case, most
assuredly with Christ with you. When we come back more
of this remarkable story, the story of Jacob Deschaser here
on our American stories, and we continue with our American stories,
(27:39):
and the story of Doolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer, as told
by his daughter. Let's return to Carol with more of
her father's story.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
My parents went to Japan as missionaries in December of
nineteen forty eight. News of the former American pow that
was returning to Japan made front page news all over Japan,
and my father was invited to tell his story over
and over in churches, factories, schools, mines, people's homes, and
(28:18):
public squares. Many Japanese became Christians, including several of the
Japanese prison guards. But perhaps the most amazing story is
that of Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who was the head pilot
that led the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He read
(28:39):
my father's testimony that was printed in Japanese on a
track that was distributed in front of a busy train station.
When he read that my father was able to forgive
because of what he had read in the Bible, Captain
Fuchita decided he wanted to see what the Bible said.
(28:59):
He bought himself a Bible. When he read about Jesus
dying on the cross and that he prayed Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do, he knew he
wanted that kind of forgiveness in his life. He became
a wonderful Christian an evangelist and became my father's friend
(29:21):
and brother in Christ. My parents had five children, three
boys and two girls, Paul, John, Mark, Carol Aico, and Ruth.
I am the fourth child. I was born in Coba, Japan,
and always considered Japan my home. I like to tell
(29:42):
people I was made in Japan. My parents gave me
a Japanese middle name, Iko, which means love. My parents
lived and ministered together in Japan for thirty years. As
career missionaries. They were able to help help get twenty
three churches started. Three of those churches were started from
(30:05):
their home. My father was just an incredible person with
a sense of honor and duty. He served his country,
but more important, he served his Lord. He had deep faith,
and during his time as a prisoner of war, he
was convinced that he needed to forgive his enemy, and
(30:28):
after that he spent his life spreading the message of
love and forgiveness. My father lived to be ninety five
years old. He passed away March fifteenth, two thousand and eight.
At my father's memorial service, my sister Ruth gave his eulogy, saying,
(30:50):
my father was given a full lifetime to try his
best to forgive his enemies and to love in all circumstances.
Who can measure the impact of his obedience, thirty years
of missionary service in Japan, helping to start twenty three
(31:11):
new churches, raising five children, honoring his wife of sixty
one years, preaching in countless churches across North America, and
all of us inspired and challenged by his story and life. Yet,
if my father were here today, he would not want
(31:32):
this to be about him and his accomplishments. He would
want Jesus to get all the attention and credit. He
would urge us to love each other, believe the Bible,
and say, yes, Lord, I will try to do what
you ask of me. He would say that following after
love works one hundred times out of one hundred, and
(31:57):
I am certain he would ask us this question, on
that final day, when you are called to meet Jesus,
what will you bring in your hands. Well after ninety eleven,
I felt God telling me to write a new book
about my father's story. I thought of all the reasons
(32:19):
I couldn't do it. I wasn't an author, a historian,
a military expert, a theologian, and I didn't have a
publisher and didn't know anything about writing a book. As
I prayed, I realized I needed to tell God I'll try.
Soon after, God led me to meet doctor Goldstein. Doctor Goldstein,
(32:44):
who has passed away now, is the best known historian
on the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Midway, as documented
in the books At Dawn We Slept, Miracle at Midway,
and God Samurai, which he co authored with Professor Gordon Prang.
While doctor Goldstein became my partner and co author of
(33:09):
our new book titled Return of the Raider, which tells
with historical accuracy the events of my father's story. I've
been working for over twenty years to make my parents'
story more available through documentaries, books, videos, and other media outlets.
(33:29):
The other day I heard from a man who was
having trouble with his marriage. He said he needed to
forgive his wife for something she had done, and that
he just couldn't bring himself to forgive her. He tried,
but just couldn't do it. He said. He read My
Father's story and will never forget finishing the book and
(33:51):
slamming it shut, saying if Jacob Deschaser can do it,
so can I. After all the torture and everything else
he had to endure, with the Lord's help, he was
able to find it in his heart to forgive. He
had a lot more to forgive than I do, so,
(34:11):
he said. He went back to his wife and told
her that he was willing to forgive her and that
he wanted to make their marriage work well. He said,
they got back together and that today their marriage is
better than ever. I hear from a lot of older
veterans who are concerned that the younger generation are missing
(34:32):
out on being told the stories from World War Two.
So parents when you are teaching your children about the
history of our country and the story of Pearl Harbor
and the Doolittle Raid, tell them also the story of
my father, Jacob Deschazer and Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, because their
(34:55):
stories are a lesson our country needs to hear today.
The best book for children on this topic is the
book titled Jacob de Chazer Forgive Your Enemies by Janet
and Jeff Binge. In conclusion, I would like to read
a message from Captain Mitsuo fuchitah. Remember Captain Fuchita led
(35:22):
the attack on Pearl Harbor. I am reading from a
brochure he wrote in nineteen seventy titled From Pearl Harbor
to Calvary. As an evangelist, I have traveled across Japan
and the Orient, introducing others to the one who changed
my life. I believe with all my heart that those
(35:45):
who will direct Japan and all other nations in the
decades to come must not ignore the message of Jesus Christ.
Youth must realize he is the only hope for this
troubled world. Though my country has the highest literacy rate
in the world, education has not brought salvation, peace and freedom,
(36:09):
both national and personal, come only through and encounter with
Jesus Christ. I would give anything to retract my actions
at Pearl Harbor, but it is impossible. Instead, I now
work at striking the death blow to the basic hatred
that infests the human heart and causes such tragedies, and
(36:35):
that hatred cannot be uprooted without assistance from Jesus Christ.
He is the only one who was powerful enough to
change my life and inspire it with his thoughts. He
was the only answer to Jacob Duchaser's tormented life. He
(36:56):
is the only answer for young people today, and he
signed it Captain Mitzo Fuchita, nineteen seventy. That's the end.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the terrific
work on this piece. And a special thanks to carol
Ico Dshazer Dixon, the daughter of Dolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer,
and she is the author of Return of the Raider,
a do Little Raider's story of war and forgiveness. And
my goodness, what a story he had. But Captain Fucheita's
(37:28):
story equally remarkable, because Fucheita read about this man forgiving
the torturers that did what they did to him, and
this caught Fuchiitah's attention. The next thing you know, he's
reading the Bible and the rest is history. And my goodness,
what Dschaser did, spending his life in Japan as a missionary,
the very place where he was tortured.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Oh my goodness, he's still my heart. And by the way,
I love what that married guy said.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
If Jacob de Shazer can do it, and that is
forgive someone like the torturer, so can I. And he
had a lot more to forgive than I do with
my wife. A remarkable story of forgiveness, love and war.
The story of Jacob Dchaser here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything on this show, including
your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
They're some of our favorites.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
This next story begins with the movie Pearl Harbor left
off two enemies. One led Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,
the other an American Dolittle raider who bombed Tokyo. Here
to tell the story is Carol Ico Deshaser Dixon, the
daughter of Doolittle raider Jacob DeShazer. She is the author
(00:43):
of Return of the Raider, a do Little Raider's story
of war and forgiveness.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Here is Carol Hi.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
My name is Carol Ko Deshaser Dixon, and today I'd
like to tell you this story of my father, Jacob Deschaser,
whose story has made a mark in history. I'm not
a historian and I'm no military expert, but when I
(01:13):
received the phone call from this radio station asking if
I would consider sharing my father's story, I knew I
had to say yes, I'll try so. On February twenty sixth,
nineteen forty, more than a year and a half before
(01:35):
the bombing of Pearl Harbor, my father joined the Army
Air Corps at Fort McDowell in California. He always wanted
to be a pilot and believed being a pilot would
be a great way to serve his country. However, his
dream of becoming a pilot was short lived. At twenty
(01:59):
seven years old, he was too old by military standards
to begin pilot's training. Instead, the military trained him to
become an airplane mechanic. When the training was complete, he
was stationed at McCord Field near Tacoma, Washington. At McCord,
(02:20):
my father worked as a mechanic on the North American
B twenty five Mitchell Baumber. Although he was forced to
give up his dream of being a pilot, he was
able to fly when the military began looking for Bombadere's
the Bambadere's main duty was to assist the pilot and
(02:43):
navigator to ensure that a bomb hits the target. This
excited my father and he applied and was accepted to
Bombadere's school. He was on Kitchen Police better known as
KP duty, and was peeling potatoes and listening to the
(03:03):
radio when a Japanese raid led by Captain Mitzu Futita
attacked Pearl Harbor on December seventh, nineteen forty one. His
initial shock turned to anger and then deep hatred toward
the Japanese. He heard himself saying, those Japanese, they are
(03:24):
going to have to pay for this. He wanted revenge
for the pain inflicted on his fellow Americans. Still, it
was with some surprise that he found himself in the
company of General Jimmy Doolittle and seventy nine other men.
(03:45):
Soon after, he heard General Dolittle explain that a secret
raid against Japan was being planned and volunteers were needed.
The mission would be dangerous and all might perish along
the way, but when asked if they would volunteer, every
soldier in the room responded without hesitation. Yes. My father
(04:12):
was a last man asked, and had a bit longer
to contemplate the risk. He was scared. He had no
idea how to do what was being asked of him,
and really just wanted to say no, thanks, I'm not
prepared for this. Maybe he was more scared of what
the others would think of him if he said no,
(04:34):
So he heard himself say yes, I'll go. Saying yes
to the Doolittle raid changed my father's simple, quiet life forever.
He was born in nineteen twelve and had grown up
on a farm in Madras, Organ He worked as a
(04:55):
sheep herder and raised turkeys. After high school graduation, there
was no money for college, and lack of employment opportunities
during the Great Depression led him to enter the army
so that he could make a living. He had grown
up in a Christian family, but he had already decided
(05:15):
that Christianity and the Bible were not for him. On
April eighteenth, nineteen forty two, four months after the attack
on Pearl Harbor, General Doolittle was Seventy nine other raiders
and sixteen B twenty fives were loaded onto an aircraft
(05:36):
carrier named the USS Hornet and set sail from San Francisco,
passing under the Golden Gate Bridge and sailing out onto
the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. Since the airplanes could only
carry a limited amount of fuel, the plane was for
the aircraft carrier to get as close to Japan as
(05:58):
possible and then to fly off the Hornet to attack
strategic targets in Tokyo, Yokohama, Yokoska, and Nagoya in the dark.
The airplanes had enough gas to get to China, where
they could land and be helped out by friendly Chinese contacts. Well, unfortunately,
(06:22):
the hornet was spotted far out from the coast of
Japan by Japanese fishing boats and the Doolittle raiders had
to take off the hornet and lift into the air immediately.
That caused them to reach their target in the daytime
and China at night time with no help as their
(06:42):
planes ran out of gas with no safe place to land.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And you've been listening to Carol ko DeShazer Dixon tell
the story of her father, Jacob, who was serving in
the Army Air Corps when Japanese attacks, Well, they just
decimated our navy and Pearl Harbor.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
And when we come.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Back, we've put you right in the cockpit and into
the shoes of Carol's father when we come back, more
of her father's story here on Our American Stories Folks,
(07:29):
if you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
a part of the Our American Stories family. If you
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make a donation a monthly gift of seventeen dollars and
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Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
(07:50):
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's our American Stories dot Com. And
we continue with our American stories in carol Ico Dschezer
(08:13):
Dixon's story about her father Jacob Let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
Still, the raid caught Japan by surprise and most of
the targets were hit. There was little physical damage done,
but the raid struck a powerful psychological blow to the Japanese.
Most of the raiders had to bail out over China
in the dark. A couple of the planes crash landed
(08:41):
with a few casualties. Two crews bailed out unknowingly over
a part of China that was occupied by Japanese forces
and were promptly captured and imprisoned. My father was one
of the eight men captured. General Doolittle and the surviving
raiders were assisted by the Chinese to return back to
(09:04):
the United States to a hero's welcome. You know, many
historians say the Doolittle Raid was an important turning point
in the war with Japan, but that meant very little
at the time to the eight men who became POWs
at the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army. The captured
(09:26):
Doolittle Raiders were held in solitary confinement in cramped prison cells.
They endured interrogation, threats of execution, beatings, torture, starvation, and
filthy prison cells that were infested with lice, bedbugs, and rats.
(09:49):
There was no heat in the cold winter months, and
the summers were muggy and hot with no ventilation, particularly
from the stench of the ben joe, which was a
hole in the floor serving as a toilet. All of
this increased my father's hatred for the Japanese. One of
(10:10):
the initial interrogation sessions brought my father into a room
where a group of Japanese officers began to question him.
Here is how he described his experience in his own words.
One of the officers, using lots of slang, said that
I had better talk. He said that these were mean
(10:32):
people and they would torture me until I did talk.
I had been blindfolded for more than twelve hours and
hadn't eaten all day. I had been asked questions at
every opportunity, but would always tell them that I wouldn't talk.
Sometimes they would tell me about places in America where
(10:53):
Japan had bombed and taken possession of property. Then they
would come up very close to my face and open
their mouths and laugh. I was then led into a
room and the blindfold was removed. A little Japanese man
of stocky build was standing behind a table, smoking a cigar,
(11:15):
rubbing his hands together and talking really fast in Japanese.
Several others were in the room. The man behind the
table said through the interpreter, I am the kindest judge
and all occupied China. I want to treat you real
(11:35):
good everywhere. I have the reputation of being the kindest
judge in all occupied China. I glared at the fat
fellow smoking the black cigar. The judge returned my glaze
and said, you're very fortunate to be questioned by me.
You just tell us what the truth is and I'll
(11:58):
give you a nice class of warm, sweet milk. He
asked me if Doolittle was my commanding officer, and I
answered I won't talk, and instead I gave him my name,
rank and serial number, because that was all I was
required to say under the Geneva Convention. The judge responded
(12:21):
to this by saying that I was Japanese property. The
judge continued, how do you pronounce h O R N
E T. I responded, that's hornet. The judge replied, that's
(12:41):
the aircraft carrier you flew off to bomb Japan. I said,
I won't talk. The judge continued, sixteen B twenty five's
took off the hornet and bombed Japan. Is this true?
I continued to respond, I won't talk. This must have
(13:02):
angered the kind judge greatly, because soon he struck the
table with his fist, saying, when you talk to me,
you look me straight in the eye. The judge was
growing angrier and pulled out his sword, holding it up
and looking directly at me. Said tomorrow morning, when the
(13:24):
sun comes up, I'm going to cut your head off.
I stood there silently. What do you think of that?
The judge asked me. I told him I thought it
would be a great honor if the kindest judge in
China cut my head off. The judge and others laughed
(13:46):
for the first time, and a little later I was
taken to my cell. I lay in the cell all night,
blindfolded in handcuffed without blankets. The next morning, at sunrise,
I was led out of my cell. I had no breakfast.
The blindfold was taken off and the handcuffs were removed.
(14:08):
I looked around for the judge with his weapon of execution,
but instead was loaded onto a truck with the other
prisoners and moved to another prison camp. Three of the
officers were killed by a firing squad. The remaining five,
which included my father, were sentenced to life in prison
(14:29):
in solitary confinement. My father endured these conditions for forty
long months, nearly three and a half years. He became
very weak, thin, and deathly sick, while burning with hatred
and resentment toward his captors. My father used to say,
(14:53):
my hatred for my enemy nearly drove me crazy. He
often cursed the prison guards, and in return they kicked
him and beat him. Eventually, one of the other Doolittle
readers died of malnutrition, and even the Japanese government became
concerned about the horrible conditions in the prison. An order
(15:14):
was given to provide better food. The four remaining prisoners
were offered books to read, and one of those books
was a Bible. Each of them were given only three
weeks to read it. When my father received his turn,
he was excited. He had turned away from any Christian
teachings from his childhood, from his parents and church, and
(15:38):
now he was being given a second chance to find
out what it was all about, and he wasn't going
to waste any more time. He had all day to
read with no interruptions. His plan was to read the
Bible from cover to cover and discover all the places
where the Bible contradicted itself. But as he read, his
eyes were opened to exactly the opposite. He saw how
(16:03):
prophecy in the Old Testament was revealed and fulfilled in Jesus,
and he became convinced that what he was reading was
the word of God. He read Romans ten nine. If
you confess with your mouth Jesus's Lord, and believe with
your heart that God raised him from the dead, you
(16:25):
will be saved. He felt those conditions had been met,
and he said yes to God's call on his heart.
His mind would often recall his favorite passages. Of particular
importance to him was First John. He had memorized all
five chapters and often meditated on them. He liked First
(16:48):
John because it spoke plainly about sin and forgiveness.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
And you're listening to Carol Ico Deschaser Dixon tell the
story of her father, Jacob my goodness, a life sentence
after being tortured and well belittled by a judge who
tried to extract information from him. And all he would
do was give his name, rank, and serial number to
that judge. And you can picture the scene in your head.
(17:15):
That's the joy of listening to a story like this,
as you get to create your own images in your
own head. I've got mine, I'm sure you've got yours.
And what this cell must have been like. It's unimaginable, actually,
how the Japanese treated our soldiers so inhumanely that it's
set a new standard for inhumanity. When we come back
this remarkable story of redemption and war and forgiveness, Jacob
(17:39):
Deschaser's story here on our American stories, and we continue
(18:08):
with our American stories and the story of Doolittle raider
Jacob Deschaser.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Here's his daughter Carol with more of the story.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
One day, when reading about the baptism of Jesus, he
had a strong desire for baptism himself. He looked up
out of a small high window of his cell to
realize that rainwater was blowing in, and he thanked God
for this provision as he stood under the rain and
accepted the baptism of the Holy Spirit, hatred for his
(18:41):
enemy's turn to forgiveness and love. One day, an opportunity
to demonstrate his faith appeared. He was being taken back
to his cell by one of the guards after a
short exercise period outside, and the guard started pushing him.
Hi yaku hi lucku, hury up, hurry up, the guard
(19:05):
shouted as he slapped him on the back with his hand.
When he came to the door of my father's cell,
he held it open a little and gave him a
final push through the doorway. But before my father could
get all the way in, he slammed the door and
caught his foot. He held the door against his bare
foot and kicked it with his hobnail shoes. My father
(19:29):
pushed against the door to get his foot free and
then jumped aside. The pain in his foot was severe,
and he thought some bones might have been broken. As
he sat in great pain, he felt as if God
were testing him somehow he felt anger and resentment toward
the guard and thought, Oh, surely God doesn't expect us
(19:52):
to love these real, mean ones in this world. But
then he remembered all the words of Jesus in Matthew
five forty four, who said, love your enemies, bless those
who curse you, do good to those who hate you,
and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
(20:13):
He also remembered one Corinthians thirteen four eight, the Great
Love chapter, stating love is patient, Love is kind. It
does not envy, It does not boast. It is not proud,
It is not rude, It is not self seeking, It
is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs.
(20:37):
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always preserves.
Love never fails. He decided, with the Lord's help, to
replace all the hatred in his heart with love. Wanted
(21:00):
to try this new approach on the guard. When that
same guard came to his cell the following day, he
bid him ohio kuzaimasu good mourning. The guard looked confused
and must have thought my father had spent too much
time in solitary confinement. But after many days of trying
(21:22):
to be nice to the guard, the guard finally smiled
and began to talk with him as much as they
could with his poor Japanese language skills. The Japanese guard
noticed the change in him, and instead of shouting and
beating him, he offered him a delicious, warm, sweet potato.
He thanked the guard, saying arigato, thank you, and then
(21:45):
thought to himself, God's way really works if we try
it out. Jesus was not an idealist whose ideals could
not be realized. When he told told us to love
one another, he told us the best way to act,
and it will work. His way will work out better
(22:07):
than any other way which could be tried. My father
had grown very weak during the forty month ordeal, suffering
from malnutrition and dysentery. He had counted over seventy five
boils on his body, and he was miserable. Now that
he had read the Bible and become a Christian. In
(22:28):
his prison cell, it struck him how much easier it
would be to die and go to Heaven than to
stay alive and suffer, he said. He lifted up his
hands and said, Lord, take me. I just want to
leave this suffering and to be with you. Then, he said,
he became aware of his hands. They were empty, and
(22:52):
he thought, I can't go like this. I've never done
anything for the Lord. Just think about it, to appear
before the creator of the universe. After all he has
done for me. He sent his son to suffer and
to die upon the cross to forgive us our sins.
(23:13):
He said, I didn't want to be there for all
eternity with empty hands, he said. He quickly put his
hands behind his back. He said, Lord, I don't want
to come to you with empty hands. Give me another
chance and I'll try. He knew he was a shy
public speaker. Well, God granted my father's humble prayer, and
(23:35):
he began to sense God's calling him to return to
Japan as a missionary. On August twentieth, nineteen forty five,
shortly after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which
ended the war with Japan, my father and four other
Doolittle Raider prisoners were released from prison and returned to
(23:59):
the United States. Their faces and stories were on the
front cover of the newspapers across the nation. Well, a
very beautiful woman named Florence Methini from Toddville, Iowa, noticed
the newspaper articles and under a picture of my father
(24:21):
she read with interest that he was considering attending Seattle
Pacific College to prepare to return to Japan as a missionary.
Florence had already told God yes to a life of
missionary service years before, and was already accepted to be
a student at Seattle Pacific College. Who knows, she said
(24:46):
out loud with a grin. Maybe I will get to
meet him some day and shake his hand. Well, she
did get to meet him and shake his hand, and
when he asked her to marry him, she said yes.
She recalls that my father was sincere, but not particularly
a good public speaker. He was rather timid and slow speaking.
(25:11):
He had been in solitary confinement for forty months, and
his thoughts and words came slowly and with much effort.
Seattle Pacific's president at the time, Hoy Watson, and the
entire SBC community, was a great source of encouragement and
helped my father gain the confidence, training, and support to
(25:35):
graduate in three short years.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
And you're listening to the story of Jacob Deschazer, as
told by his daughter Carol, and she's written a terrific
book called The Return of the Raider, a dolittle raider's
story of war and forgiveness. And my goodness, reading that
Bible while in prison, getting reacquainted with the faith that
he had not taken seriously at all, and now had
(25:58):
some time to really read the book and how it
applied to his life, and my goodness, what a change
in his life. Love your enemies, Bless your enemies. These
were words that he had to try and live by,
and he did, and he applied it to that prison guard,
and the difference in that relationship because of how he
dealt with rudeness and with meanness and with well just
(26:19):
bad treatment, teaches us all a lot about how you
can change another person's actions and heart itself. And after
he comes out of captivity, after we drop two bombs
on Nagasaki in Hiroshima decides, of all things that he
wants to return to Japan as a missionary. My goodness,
(26:40):
you just don't get more remarkable than that and beautiful
than that. And in that pursuit comes across a woman
who admires what he does. From afar and ultimately becomes
his wife. And some people would say, oh, what a
ridiculous story. That doesn't happen forty months in captivity. And
all kinds of things will happen to you when you
get out, all kinds of things, and especially if you've
(27:02):
got forgiveness with you, and in this particular case, most
assuredly with Christ with you. When we come back more
of this remarkable story, the story of Jacob Deschaser here
on our American stories, and we continue with our American stories,
(27:39):
and the story of Doolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer, as told
by his daughter. Let's return to Carol with more of
her father's story.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
My parents went to Japan as missionaries in December of
nineteen forty eight. News of the former American pow that
was returning to Japan made front page news all over Japan,
and my father was invited to tell his story over
and over in churches, factories, schools, mines, people's homes, and
(28:18):
public squares. Many Japanese became Christians, including several of the
Japanese prison guards. But perhaps the most amazing story is
that of Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who was the head pilot
that led the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He read
(28:39):
my father's testimony that was printed in Japanese on a
track that was distributed in front of a busy train station.
When he read that my father was able to forgive
because of what he had read in the Bible, Captain
Fuchita decided he wanted to see what the Bible said.
(28:59):
He bought himself a Bible. When he read about Jesus
dying on the cross and that he prayed Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do, he knew he
wanted that kind of forgiveness in his life. He became
a wonderful Christian an evangelist and became my father's friend
(29:21):
and brother in Christ. My parents had five children, three
boys and two girls, Paul, John, Mark, Carol Aico, and Ruth.
I am the fourth child. I was born in Coba, Japan,
and always considered Japan my home. I like to tell
(29:42):
people I was made in Japan. My parents gave me
a Japanese middle name, Iko, which means love. My parents
lived and ministered together in Japan for thirty years. As
career missionaries. They were able to help help get twenty
three churches started. Three of those churches were started from
(30:05):
their home. My father was just an incredible person with
a sense of honor and duty. He served his country,
but more important, he served his Lord. He had deep faith,
and during his time as a prisoner of war, he
was convinced that he needed to forgive his enemy, and
(30:28):
after that he spent his life spreading the message of
love and forgiveness. My father lived to be ninety five
years old. He passed away March fifteenth, two thousand and eight.
At my father's memorial service, my sister Ruth gave his eulogy, saying,
(30:50):
my father was given a full lifetime to try his
best to forgive his enemies and to love in all circumstances.
Who can measure the impact of his obedience, thirty years
of missionary service in Japan, helping to start twenty three
(31:11):
new churches, raising five children, honoring his wife of sixty
one years, preaching in countless churches across North America, and
all of us inspired and challenged by his story and life. Yet,
if my father were here today, he would not want
(31:32):
this to be about him and his accomplishments. He would
want Jesus to get all the attention and credit. He
would urge us to love each other, believe the Bible,
and say, yes, Lord, I will try to do what
you ask of me. He would say that following after
love works one hundred times out of one hundred, and
(31:57):
I am certain he would ask us this question, on
that final day, when you are called to meet Jesus,
what will you bring in your hands. Well after ninety eleven,
I felt God telling me to write a new book
about my father's story. I thought of all the reasons
(32:19):
I couldn't do it. I wasn't an author, a historian,
a military expert, a theologian, and I didn't have a
publisher and didn't know anything about writing a book. As
I prayed, I realized I needed to tell God I'll try.
Soon after, God led me to meet doctor Goldstein. Doctor Goldstein,
(32:44):
who has passed away now, is the best known historian
on the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Midway, as documented
in the books At Dawn We Slept, Miracle at Midway,
and God Samurai, which he co authored with Professor Gordon Prang.
While doctor Goldstein became my partner and co author of
(33:09):
our new book titled Return of the Raider, which tells
with historical accuracy the events of my father's story. I've
been working for over twenty years to make my parents'
story more available through documentaries, books, videos, and other media outlets.
(33:29):
The other day I heard from a man who was
having trouble with his marriage. He said he needed to
forgive his wife for something she had done, and that
he just couldn't bring himself to forgive her. He tried,
but just couldn't do it. He said. He read My
Father's story and will never forget finishing the book and
(33:51):
slamming it shut, saying if Jacob Deschaser can do it,
so can I. After all the torture and everything else
he had to endure, with the Lord's help, he was
able to find it in his heart to forgive. He
had a lot more to forgive than I do, so,
(34:11):
he said. He went back to his wife and told
her that he was willing to forgive her and that
he wanted to make their marriage work well. He said,
they got back together and that today their marriage is
better than ever. I hear from a lot of older
veterans who are concerned that the younger generation are missing
(34:32):
out on being told the stories from World War Two.
So parents when you are teaching your children about the
history of our country and the story of Pearl Harbor
and the Doolittle Raid, tell them also the story of
my father, Jacob Deschazer and Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, because their
(34:55):
stories are a lesson our country needs to hear today.
The best book for children on this topic is the
book titled Jacob de Chazer Forgive Your Enemies by Janet
and Jeff Binge. In conclusion, I would like to read
a message from Captain Mitsuo fuchitah. Remember Captain Fuchita led
(35:22):
the attack on Pearl Harbor. I am reading from a
brochure he wrote in nineteen seventy titled From Pearl Harbor
to Calvary. As an evangelist, I have traveled across Japan
and the Orient, introducing others to the one who changed
my life. I believe with all my heart that those
(35:45):
who will direct Japan and all other nations in the
decades to come must not ignore the message of Jesus Christ.
Youth must realize he is the only hope for this
troubled world. Though my country has the highest literacy rate
in the world, education has not brought salvation, peace and freedom,
(36:09):
both national and personal, come only through and encounter with
Jesus Christ. I would give anything to retract my actions
at Pearl Harbor, but it is impossible. Instead, I now
work at striking the death blow to the basic hatred
that infests the human heart and causes such tragedies, and
(36:35):
that hatred cannot be uprooted without assistance from Jesus Christ.
He is the only one who was powerful enough to
change my life and inspire it with his thoughts. He
was the only answer to Jacob Duchaser's tormented life. He
(36:56):
is the only answer for young people today, and he
signed it Captain Mitzo Fuchita, nineteen seventy. That's the end.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the terrific
work on this piece. And a special thanks to carol
Ico Dshazer Dixon, the daughter of Dolittle Raider Jacob DeShazer,
and she is the author of Return of the Raider,
a do Little Raider's story of war and forgiveness. And
my goodness, what a story he had. But Captain Fucheita's
(37:28):
story equally remarkable, because Fucheita read about this man forgiving
the torturers that did what they did to him, and
this caught Fuchiitah's attention. The next thing you know, he's
reading the Bible and the rest is history. And my goodness,
what Dschaser did, spending his life in Japan as a missionary,
the very place where he was tortured.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Oh my goodness, he's still my heart. And by the way,
I love what that married guy said.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
If Jacob de Shazer can do it, and that is
forgive someone like the torturer, so can I. And he
had a lot more to forgive than I do with
my wife. A remarkable story of forgiveness, love and war.
The story of Jacob Dchaser here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!