Forgiving Our Enemies: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima—and Calvary

BreakPoint with Chuck Colson ^ | December 7, 2004 | Chuck Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

Sixty-three years ago today, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor —an action that dramatically altered the course of history. Jacob DeShazer was on KP duty in California when he first heard the news. Furious at what the Japanese had done, he resolved to retaliate personally. And in April 1942, he got his chance—as a B-25 bombardier when Doolittle’s Raiders attacked Tokyo.

During that fateful run, DeShazer’s plane ran out of fuel, and the crew bailed out over enemy territory. DeShazer was captured and spent the next forty months as a POW—including thirty-four months in solitary confinement. Three of his buddies were executed, and another died of slow starvation.

With plenty of time to think, Jake wondered: What makes people hate each other? And he also wondered: Doesn’t the Bible say something about loving our enemies?

He asked his jailers for a Bible and eventually got one. He read it with fascination, re-reading some parts six or more times. Then, ten days into his study, he asked Christ to forgive his sins. He remembers, “suddenly . . . when I looked at the enemy officers and guards . . . , I realized that . . . if Christ is not in a heart, it is natural to be cruel. . . . [M]y bitter hatred . . . changed to loving pity.” Remembering Christ’s words from the cross— “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”—he asked God to forgive those who tortured him, as well.

Fourteen months later, in August 1945, paratroopers liberated DeShazer from his prison cell. After the war, a chaplain on General MacArthur’s staff wanted something to help heal the animosity between the United States and Japan. He approached Don Falkenberg of Bible Literature International, who had read DeShazer’s testimony shortly after his release. And soon the story was being circulated as a booklet called, “I Was a Prisoner of Japan.”

But here’s where the story gets interesting. Japanese Navy pilot Mitsuo Fuchida was Chief Commander of the historic December 7 raid on Pearl Harbor . He had advised against attacking the American base, but when given orders to proceed, Fuchida led the assault.

Eventually Fuchida logged more than ten thousand combat hours. But his closest brush with death was on the ground in Japan. He was in Hiroshima the day before the atom bomb was dropped. His life was spared because orders had come to go to Tokyo.

When the war ended, Captain Fuchida returned to his family farm near Osaka. Later, stepping off a train in Tokyo, he was given a copy of Jacob DeShazer’s booklet. Intrigued, he began reading the Bible. And despite his Shinto heritage, he accepted Christ as his Savior.

How marvelous are God’s ways? An American airman is taken prisoner, is converted, and his testimony leads his captors’ ace pilot to Christ. Over a thirty-year span, Captain Fuchida and Sergeant DeShazer traveled together throughout Japan. Together and separately, they saw tens of thousands of Japanese converted.

Learning to love our enemies is so important, something every Christian must strive for. But when we’re fighting deadly enemies, as our nation is today at war, doing so is a miracle—a miracle of restoration and healing that can come only through faith in Christ.

[Mr. Silverback]

A minor correction: Colson refers to Fuchida as an "ace pilot." Though Fuchida was by all accounts an oustanding pilot (with 10,000 hours already logged by the time he was chosen to lead the Pearl Harbor attack), he flew one of these...

...the Nakajima B5N "Kate"...

...and was not an ace. The Kate was a torpedo bomber, but was often used for level-flight bombing of land targets, as it was by Fuchida 63 years ago today.

I found this interesting tidbit here, an account of an encounter between Fuchida and an American Pearl Harbor survivor on Maui:

Two years after Joe became a pastor, Mitsuo Fuchida came to Maui. ...After much turmoil and debate, Joe decided to go and listen to Commander Fuchida. He listened with awe as Fuchida told of becoming a Christian. After Fuchida's talk was over, Dr. Joe Morgan went up and introduced himself to the man who had led the attack that changed his life.

Mitsuo Fuchida immediately bowed and said one word in Japanese. "Gomenasai." He said simply. "I am sorry."

What happened next was as an important moment as any other in history. Fuchida reached out to shake Joe's hand and as Joe clasped his former enemy's hand in his, he realized all the anger and animosity toward this man and his country were gone. God had replaced them with forgiveness.

Joe Morgan and Mitsuo Fuchida shook hands, not as enemies, but as brothers in Christ.

There are a bunch of great links at the source doc, including a web version of DeShazer's original "Prisoner" tract and Fuchida's 1953 Christianity Today article about his conversion.

[Mr. Silverback]

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[joesnuffy]

Joe Morgan and Mitsuo Fuchida shook hands, not as enemies, but as brothers in Christ.

For everything there is a season....a time to kill and a time to heal....a time to fight and a time to refrain from fighting...a time for war and a time for peace....to paraphrase from Ecclesiastes...

So when an al Qaida terrorists comes up to you and says "please forgive me I am so sorry for killing your countrymen...I was wrong...I am a Christian now"....forgive him he is now your brother

But until such a time...if you are in the military...its your job blow the Islamofacist bassturds straight to hell..kill every one of them you see and do it with a vengeance...as is the right of the state not the individual.

Pray that God steadies your aim and shoot true..and when your enemy is dead...don't give it another thought...because you done good....the pacifist peace creeps are liars and are working with the enemy and care nothing for our nation, your life, or the lives of your brothers in arms or the nation that gives them prosperity and shelter.

imo

[Mr. Silverback]

Agree completely.

[mtntop3]

Forgive the sinner, but not the sin.

[VOA]

Amen to that...

...at the same time, I do contemplate what sort of internal discipline it takes to
forgive someone who has acted as a monster...but then has a demonstrable repentence.
The story about Corie ten Boom's internal struggle to shake hands and
accept the repentant German prison guard (at a post-WWII church service) is something
I don't know if I could have pulled off...

[VOA]

took a bit of hunting, but here are some links on another WWII (and post-script) story...
There was an episode on TV (Dateline?) a few years back and even then
the main torturer "The Bird" was still hiding out and apparently unrepentant.

http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/02apr/zamperini.htm

http://www.italystl.com/ra/1370.htm

http://usctrojans.collegesports.com/sports/c-track/spec-rel/021804aaa.html

http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/louis_zamperini.asp?option=print