jon shirota

War heroes are generally thought of men who had fought the enemy in the battlefields.  There are those who fought the enemy, not with rifles, but with pencils and paper.  This is a story of one of those unusual, unsung heroes.

Ernie Pyle was a war correspondent during the Second War.  He wrote about the war from the battlefields which he shared with his fellow Americans in North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.  He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and was recognized by the President and Generals; most importantly, by the average American soldier and sailor for his willingness to share their harrowing experiences.

CHRONICLES OF OJII-CHAN, is written about an American from the perspective of an Japanese enemy who learned that an enemy is not someone one hates personally, but someone who had been pictured as the treacherous, unforgiving enemy.

Grandpa Ojii-chan has written about his combat experiences with the Americans on the island of Ie Jima, off the coast of Motobu, Okinawa.  He lost one of his legs in the battle, and is surprised when one of his conquerors rescues him.  He learns that America's most famous and beloved war correspondent, Ernie Pyle, was killed on Ie Jima and that it could have been he, Ojii-chan, who had shot him.

Guilt-ridden, Ojii-chan asks his granddaughter, Reiko, to translate his chronicles revealing Ernie Pyle's death and to it send to an American newspaper.

There is today, a beautiful Ernie Pyle Memorial Park in Ie Jima.