The past is the past. We have to move on. The USA was right in granting him citizenship. After all, he converted to Christianity.
My grandfather must be rolling in his grave.
At least US citizenship isn’t granted on the basis of racial purity as is with the Japanese.
We elected a muslim after 9-11...our government has been infested with commies since the ‘20’s...what other result could one expect.
Besides, at least one of his kids moved to the states. I suspect this had something to do with his becoming a citizen.
But your are correct - our immigration policy today is totally insane.
I don’t see what the big deal is. He was a legal naval combatant fighting for his country at the time. If you read the wiki article, it goes on to state how he came to reject the bushido code he believed in as a Japanese citizen, converted to Christianity and came to respect and believe in American values of the country he eventually adopted as his own...
I agree that our immigration policy is messed up and we shouldn’t have let this guy in. But, not because he killed Americans in a war. He was a Soldier doing his job.
Why so horrified? The man acted honorably by any standard. It was his government which decided to attack us, not him. He simply performed his duty to country, a value which is pretty universally respected, or used to be anyway. I’d be much more horrified to read about a coward or deserter becoming a US citizen.
You link to the examiner blog a lot, but it is really a crappy site full of flash and trackers. Do you have a better source for this story besides the examiner blog? If not, could you just post the entire blog instead of making folks go there and pick up malware?
I can see both sides...How could the U.S. govt do this? But, then if, by 1966, he had renounced the gvt that HE SERVED AS A MILITARY MAN....and, then becoming a Christian, becoming a pastor? It's an enormous amount to think about.
I must say...when I heard it...I thought: Uh-oh...Urban legend. But...what do I know? If it's true I'd love to read more about it...ALL ABOUT IT.
This sounds like an epic movie with a fantastic ending.
I'm still wondering about the urban legend thingy.
This is what happens when you make peace.
It is rough. I guess folks feel he repented?
Here - Much better than the examiner blog.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsuo_Fuchida
Mitsuo Fuchida 3 December 1902 30 May 1976) was a Japanese Captain[1] in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber pilot in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known for leading the first air wave attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Fuchida was responsible for the coordination of the entire aerial attack working under the overall fleet commander Vice Admiral Nagumo.
After World War II ended, Fuchida became an evangelist Christian preacher and frequently travelled to the United States to minister to the Japanese expatriate community. He became a United States citizen in 1966.[2]
I’m with you. God may forgive him, but I won’t.
I read Fuchida’s story many years ago so this is not news to me. In an interview, he respected the United States and it’s soldiers and during war, you have to obey the commands of your superiors. Unlike in America, the hierarchy of Japanese culture is in the senpai’ or senior class that you HAVE to obey. I know...I co-translate Japanese animes for a fansub group.
He became a US citizen not only because of his children but he also believed that in America, Christianity is more accepted than it is in Japan where the prevalent religion is in the shinto’. I will give him a pass on this. I have an issue and real problem if he preached against the United States but he didn’t.
Heard this story the other day...must be going around. It did shock me.
I can see both sides...How could the U.S. govt do this? But, then if, by 1966, he had renounced the gvtmt that HE SERVED AS A MILITARY MAN....and, then becoming a Christian, becoming a pastor? It’s an enormous amount to think about.
I must say...when I heard it...I thought: Hmmmm...Urban legend. But...what do I know? If it’s true I’d love to read more about it...ALL ABOUT IT.
This sounds like an epic movie with a fantastic ending.
I’m still wondering about the urban legend thingy
The U.S allowed the Loyalists to come back to their homes.
We made former Confederates U.S. citizens again.
A former Nazi ran our space program.
The point is that wars end. Bitterness remains for sure, but you move on as best you can.
But I totally get how this will make some vets very upset.
After the war, Fuchida was called on to testify at the trials of some of the Japanese military for Japanese war crimes. This infuriated him as he believed this was little more than “victor’s justice”. Convinced that the Americans had treated the Japanese the same way and determined to bring that evidence to the next trial, in the spring of 1947, Fuchida went to Uraga Harbor near Yokosuka to meet a group of returning Japanese prisoners of war. He was surprised to find his former flight engineer, Kazuo Kanegasaki, who all had believed had died in the Battle of Midway. When questioned, Kanegasaki told Fuchida that they were not tortured or abused, much to Fuchida’s disappointment,,,, then went on to tell him of a young lady who served them with the deepest love and respect, but whose parents, missionaries, had been killed by Japanese soldiers on the island of Panay in the Philippines.
For Fuchida, this was inexplicable, as in the Bushido code revenge was not only permitted, it was a responsibility for an offended party to carry out revenge to restore honor. The murderer of one’s parents would be a sworn enemy for life. He became almost obsessed trying to understand why anyone would treat their enemies with love and forgiveness.
In the fall of 1948, Fuchida was passing by the bronze statue of Hachiko at the Shibuya Station when he was handed a pamphlet about the life of Jacob DeShazer, a member of the Doolittle Raid who was captured by the Japanese after his B-25 Mitchell ran out of fuel over occupied China. In the pamphlet “I Was a Prisoner of Japan” DeShazer, himself a former U.S. Army Air Force Staff Sergeant and bombardier, told his story of imprisonment, torture and his account of an “awakening to God”. It was from this experience that Fuchida reportedly decided to pursue a post-wartime role as a Christian missionary.
In 1951, he, along with a colleague, published an account of the Battle of Midway from the Japanese side. In 1952, Fuchida toured the United States as a member of the Worldwide Christian Missionary Army of Sky Pilots. Fuchida remained dedicated to a similar initiative as the group for the remainder of his life.
They guy wasn’t a terrorist murderer,, he was a Navy carrier pilot,, doing exactly what carrier pilots do. He came to embrace the Christian roots of American culture and to embrace it, and spread it. Give it a rest.