Face-to-face with the enemy
May 24, 2015, 10:41 PM | Updated: 11:22 pm
Members of the Old Guard arrive to place a flag in front of each headstone at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday. Flags-In is a time honored tradition that is reserved for Soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard). Since The Old Guard's designation as the Army's official ceremonial unit in 1948, they have conducted this mission annually at Arlington National Cemetery prior to Memorial Day to honor our nation's fallen military heroes. (AP)
(AP)
Fred Shiosaki is 91. It’s been about 70 years since he came back from World War II.
He’ll be part of a Memorial Day observance at his assisted living residence in Seattle – and he’s one of the happiest people you’ll meet. But there is one memory from the war that keeps coming back.
His unit was fighting in France, charging up a hill heading straight for the German lines.
“I still remember this. I hear somebody crying. It was a German soldier in a trench there and he had obviously been hurt. I thought, I ought to kick you in the head.”
After all, Fred had seen quite a few of his buddies die. Here he was in a position to take revenge.
“Be he looked like he was 15 or 16 years old. I looked down and I thought, God, he looks just like my little brother. I left him alone. I couldn’t do it. I guess maybe I had remnants of a conscience at that time.”
Fred showed me his collection of medals. There’s a Purple Heart, a Congressional Medal, even a Good Conduct Medal.
“The Army is like the Boy Scouts — they give medals for everything.”
Yet his most vivid memory was of something they don’t give medals for. Even as the bullets were flying, he was able to see a person instead of an enemy.
-
Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
