| Jacob DeShazer | |
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Jacob DeShazer c. 1945 |
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| Born | 15 November 1912 West Stayton, (Salem), Oregon |
| Died | 15 March 2008 (aged 95) Salem, Oregon |
| Allegiance | USA |
| Service/branch | United States Army Air Force |
| Years of service | 1940–1945 |
| Rank | Staff Sergeant |
| Battles/wars | World War II * Doolittle Raid |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross Purple Heart |
| Relations | Florence DeShazer Paul, John, Mark, Carol Aiko and Ruth (children) |
| Other work | missionary |
Jacob Daniel DeShazer (15 November 1912 – 15 March 2008) participated in the Doolittle Raid as a staff sergeant and later became a missionary in Japan.
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DeShazer was born on 15 November 1912 in West Stayton, Oregon and graduated from Madras High School in Madras, Oregon in 1931. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1940, and rose to the rank of sergeant in 1941. On 7 December 1941, while on KP duty at a U.S. Army base in Oregon, DeShazer heard news of the attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio. He became enraged, shouting: "The Japs are going to have to pay for this!"[1]
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Staff Sergeant DeShazer, along with other members of the 17th Bomb Group, volunteered to join a special unit that was formed to attack Japan. The 24 crews selected from the 17th BG received intensive training at Eglin Field, Florida, for three weeks beginning 1 March 1942. The crews undertook practice carrier deck takeoffs along with extensive flying exercises involving low-level and night flying, low altitude bombing and over water navigation. Their mission would be to fly modified B-25 Mitchell bombers launched from an aircraft carrier to attack Japan.
The unit formed to carry out the raid on Japan soon acquired the name, "Doolittle's Raiders", after their famous commander, Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. S.Sgt. DeShazer was the bombardier of B-25 #16, the "Bat (Out of Hell)", commanded by Lt. William G. Farrow, the last of the 16 B-25s to launch from the USS Hornet on the bombing run over Tokyo.[1] The raid was a success, but part of the plan included ditching the airplanes in China after using all their fuel to reach Japan. The carrier-launched bombers couldn't return to their carrier; it was a one-way trip.
After bombing Nagoya in Japan, the "Bat" attempted to reach safe haven in China. DeShazer and the rest of the B-25 crew were forced to parachute into enemy territory over Ningpo, China when their B-25 ran out of fuel. DeShazer was injured in his fall into a cemetery and along with the rest of his crew, he was captured the very next day by the Japanese.[2] During his captivity, DeShazer was sent to Tokyo with the survivors of another Doolittle crew, and was held in a series of P.O.W. camps both in Japan and China for 40 months – 34 of them in solitary confinement. He was severely beaten and malnourished while three of the crew were executed by a firing squad, and another died of slow starvation. DeShazer's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Emperor Hirohito.[2] As the war came to an end, on 20 August 1945, DeShazer and the others in the camp at Beijing (Peiping), China were finally released when American soldiers parachuted into the camp.
On his return to the United States, Staff Sgt. DeShazer was awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart for his part in the Doolittle Raid.
During his captivity, DeShazer persuaded one of his guards to loan him a copy of the Bible. Although he only had possession of the Bible for three weeks, he saw its messages as the reason for his survival and resolved to become a devout Christian. His conversion included learning a few words of Japanese and treating his captors with respect, which resulted in the guards reacting in a similar fashion.[2] After his release, DeShazer entered Seattle Pacific College, a Christian college, and began studying to be a missionary, eventually to return to Japan with his wife, Florence, in 1948.
DeShazer, the Doolittle Raider who bombed Nagoya, met Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the attack on Pearl Harbor, becoming close friends. Fuchida became a Christian in 1950 after reading a tract written about DeShazer titled, I Was a Prisoner of Japan, and spent the rest of his life as a missionary in Asia and the United States. On occasion, DeShazer and Fuchida preached together as Christian missionaries in Japan. In 1959, DeShazer moved to Nagoya to establish a Christian church in the city he had bombed.[2]
DeShazer retired after 30 years of missionary service in Japan and went back to his home town in Salem, Oregon where he spent the last years of his life in an assisted living home with his wife, Florence. On 15 March 2008, DeShazer died in his sleep at the age of 95, leaving his wife and five children: Paul, John, Mark, Carol Aiko and Ruth.
On 15 April 2008, the Oregon War Veterans Association(OWVA) nominated Jacob D. "Jake" DeShazer for the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal noting his extraordinary impact on America as a war hero and for his heroic service to the people of Japan, where he is well known as a hero of peace and reconciliation. On 21 April 2008, the White House confirmed the nomination in a letter to OWVA's executive director, Greg Warnock. The White House's Deputy Director for Awards said that the DeShazer nomination for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which is the nation's most prestigious civilian award, and second only to the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor would be given "every consideration," by the advisory staff, who will provide the President with the recommendation. The medals are usually awarded on or near 4 July annually. About 400 Presidential Medals of Freedom have been awarded since its inception in 1945.
Warnock nominated Rev. DeShazer for the Congressional Gold Medal through Congresswoman Darlene Hooley's (OR CD5) office in Salem, Oregon. In the official nomination letters Warnock wrote, “At this time in our history, we feel it is ideal to honor a man who was a genuine war hero, who after his sacrificial service put on gloves of peace, and touched the entire world with grace and humility.”