About a month before this story took place, atomic bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing about 210,00 Japanese citizens. WW2 was officially over but Navy ships remained stationed off the coast of Japan, there were lingering hostilities and perhaps some that remain today. A Crosslake, MN. man was serving as a Navy seaman aboard the USS Clifton, a fleet tanker. His crew felt the impact as the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and they went on shore to visit the decimated city some time later.
Around September 16, 1945 the typhoon Makurazaki struck Kagoshima Bay, Japan, and nearly destroyed the Clifton.The crew worked to keep the pumps going and stay afloat. A sailor spied a small fishing boat in the waves and every now and then a head popping up from inside. Some wanted to "get rid of him" and others thought he should be left to die out there. A Lt. O'Hara volunteered to go out into the strong waves to save the fisherman and Midlo said he would go with. The frightened man was rescued and eventually sent ashore. The rescue didn't sit well with Midlo's shipmates and both he and O'Hara asked for and received transfers to other ships.
"It changed. It wasn't the same," Midlo said of the atmosphere on the ship. "All those guys were trying to stay alive and we were out there trying to save a Japanese guy,"
Midlo was discharged in 1946 and in 1957 wrote a Japanese newspaper to see if he could find out what had happened to this man that he helped pull out of the raging sea. Midlo received a letter in Japanese from the fisherman and a photo of his family.
This rescue and other war experiences changed Midlo's life forever. "I think it was the best thing I ever did in my life, other than marry my wife," Midlo said quietly as tears welled up in his eyes.
Midlo, now 86. would like to meet the fisherman or his family. A more practical wish is that he could one day walk on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan.
"Once a sailor, always a sailor"
Watch my blogs for a reprint of the actual translated letter from the rescued fisherman.
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I can't wait to see the translated letter. Tell us to if he gets to walk on the USS Ronald Reagan. Tell Midlo "if you know him" that I appreciate his service to his country. Fortunately we showed our appreciation to the WWII vets. I wish the vietnam guys could have experience the same reception.
The letter is up now. Really cool - I wanted to share this. Ray and his wife are thinking of selling their home on Whitefish Lake and moving to a one-level in Brainerd. Hope to help them out with all that. Going through their stuff is how the story here all came about. Ray has Yen that is slightly burned from when they went into Hiroshima after the bomb.
Letter From a Japanese Fisherman