Wounded Tiger
Page 41
“He took our shame so we could share his honor. It was the only way to restore perfect balance and harmony.”
They both continued to study each other.
“The living God who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them says, ‘A son honors his father, and a servant respects his master. I am your father and your master, but where are the honor and respect I deserve?’”
Noboru listened intently.
Fuchida sighed deeply. “I’m not proud of what I’ve done or how I’ve lived, but I will devote the rest of my life to bringing respect to the one who rightly deserves it.”
“What about your reputation? Don’t you care what people think about you now?”
“On the last day, all the opinions of all the men in all the world will mean nothing. If it will mean nothing then, it means nothing to me now. I’ll give account of my life to God alone, not to anyone else. I’m not interested in saving my own face, but rather in saving the face of the one whose image was marred and deserves to be restored.”
Noboru’s eyes lowered, he put the knife back into its sheath, and he snapped into a deferential bow, like a swordsman acknowledging being outmatched. “I apologize to you Captain Fuchida.” He held his posture. “I spoke in ignorance.”
“Noboru, whether you realize it or not, he is your master as well. He says, ‘From the rising of the sun even to its setting, my name will be great among the nations.’”
Noboru slowly straightened upright. “I accept your explanation, but I don’t understand what or who you’re talking about. Perhaps someday I will.”
The two nodded to each other with the mutual respect of warriors.
Chapter 134
Mid-June, 1950. Tokyo.
Jake drained the last of the orange juice from his upturned glass, then set it hard on the table with a smack. “Ahhh. Now that is good.” His taut skin and haggard appearance from his long fast were no match for his lively spirit as sunlight lit the breakfast table.
He’d broken fast only a couple of days earlier, and his strength was returning. Although he hadn’t sought publicity, the news of what he was doing touched the hearts of many Japanese who had known of Buddhists fasting as part of their own discipline before, but who had never heard of someone, especially an American, fasting for their own nation and spiritual well-being.
With John on her hip, Florence poured pancake batter onto the griddle.
Jake tore up some toast on Paul’s plate when the family was startled by a crisp knock on the door.
“I’ll get that,” Florence said, wiping her hands on her apron.
“No, it’s OK. I’ll get the door, you keep working on breakfast,” Jake said as he got up. “That’s more important to me right now.”
He opened the door.
“Hi,” the man said in English, “I’m Mitsuo Fuchida.”
“Welcome,” Jake said with a deep smile as he reached out to shake his hand. “I know very well who you are. Please come in. I guess you know that I’m Jake.”
As Fuchida came within view of Florence, she suppressed a gasp.
“I was sent by ...”
“I know who sent you,” Jake interrupted as he gave a brief, glowing look at Florence. “Please sit and eat with us.”
Fuchida gave a slight bow and entered. “Thank you.”
Jake closed the door behind him as Fuchida took off his shoes and said, “You’re like a ray of sunlight to me. And you’ve put a smile on the face of God, my friend.”
Looking down, Fuchida smiled and shook his head. He glanced into Jake’s blue eyes. “No, he’s put a smile on my face.”
The formerly sworn enemies could only gaze at each other in wonder at all that had happened to each of them, how they had begun so very far apart as mortal enemies, and had now ended as brothers.
Chapter 135
Fall, 1950. Marshfield, Massachusetts.
Peggy in a tan overcoat, red knit cap and scarf walked beside her friend down the city sidewalk on a busy Saturday. The trees were in their fall glory of brilliant oranges, reds and yellows. Peggy carried a single book and her friend toted a bag of groceries in her arms.
“Hey, Peg, did you see the paper?” her friend said as she struggled to pull a folded newspaper from her bag. “Look at this.” She held the paper so both could see. “It says the fella who attacked Pearl Harbor is sorry. Heard about some girl who lost her parents. Poor kid. Anyways, it’s a great story.”
Peggy took the paper with interest as they continued in the flow of shoppers down the Main Street sidewalk.
“Listen, I gotta run and get this pot roast in the oven. Got company coming over tonight! See you Sunday!” She cut between two cars, looked both ways, and crossed the street, leaving Peggy reading the paper by herself as she unconsciously walked down the sidewalk.
Coming to a public waste bin, she stopped, smiled, folded the paper and dropped it in the can, whispering in Japanese, “Where there is darkness, may I always bring light and where there is sadness, joy.” She breathed in the cool air and enjoyed the view of a long row of trees in blazing fall color. Still speaking in Japanese, she said, “Thank-you, dear Lord, for making this happen. Only you could have done this.”
EPILOGUE
A man on crutches hobbled down a long, hilly road between two rice fields. Five years after he first confronted Fuchida, Noboru bowed his only knee to the one he, too, could call his Master.
Flames of the burning banner “PEACE ON EARTH” reflected off the face of Shigeru as his sober eyes followed the sparks high into the night sky. After the war, Shigeru finally came to know the same peace as that of his captives.
Reverend Dianala shook hands and smiled to townspeople leaving his little church in the mountains. Following the Hopevale massacre, he and a few helpers buried his missionary friends in the mountains. He continued to serve the people of his village to the age of 112.
Watanabe waved his men backward into the jungle as they fired in retreat. A shell exploded nearby, throwing him into the air. In April, 1945 Captain Watanabe was killed by allied mortar fire on the island of Negros, the Philippines.
In full pilot’s gear, Genda climbed into an F-104 jet fighter. Minoru Genda became a member of the new Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and was later elected to four terms in the Upper House of Councilors.
Amayo smiled broadly as she carried a tray of hand-made daifuku into a room of friends, including Jake and his family. Amayo became known as a woman whose face beamed with joy.
On a grassy bank in front of flowering bushes, Jake, Florence, Paul and John squeezed together beside Yoshimasa with his wife and child as a photographer aimed his camera. Jake’s former guard found the treasure he had long sought, and he and Jake remained friends.
After Jake prayed when he feared his heart might stop in July, 1945, his heart continued to beat another 1.8 billion times. Jake fulfilled his vision and served the people of Japan for the next thirty years helping establish over twenty new churches.
A young lady in a red knit hat slowly blended into the throng of warmly dressed weekend shoppers on a busy upstate Massachusetts sidewalk. Peggy Covell declined interviews and publicity her entire life. She didn’t want the death of her parents to cause others to think badly of the Japanese people, whom she deeply loved.
Fuchida and his wife carefully placed a rabbit into a wooden cage on their farm. Mitsuo Fuchida turned down the offer of the post of the first Chief of Staff of the Air Self-Defense Force, choosing rather to spend the rest of his life traveling the world telling others what God had done for him. Unashamed.
But for you who fear my name, the Sun of
Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.
And you will go free, leaping with joy like
calves let out to pasture.
- Malachi 4:2
NOTES
[1] Literally, “Heavenly sovereign, ten thousand years.” Figuratively, “May the Emperor reign for ten thousand years.�
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[2] Thank you very much.
[3] A foreigner or outsider, often used pejoratively.
[4] A traditional Japanese board game similar to chess.
[5] literally “eight cords, one roof,” i.e., “all the world under one roof.”
[6] A curved, slender sword of the samurai warrior.
[7] This was the USS Arizona.
[8] Modern Taiwan.
[9] Water buffalo.
[10] Modern Indonesia.
[11] Modern Cilacap, Indonesia.
[12] Modern Taiwan.
[13] 10,000 feet.
[14] 100 to 200 feet.
[15] Bamboo practice sword.
[16] Based on the seven virtues of rectitude (or integrity), courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honor, and loyalty.
[17] Modern Nanjing, China.
[18] “Shimmata.”
[19] Military police.
[20] Latin for “after the action,” a legal term for a retroactive law, prohibited in most countries.
[21] “I feel sorry for them” or “Oh, those poor boys.”
[22] Absence Without Official Leave.
[23] Red sun circle.
[24] Greek.
[25] “Stop!” in Japanese.
[26] “Stop or we’ll shoot!”
[27] Literally “stomach cutting.” Ritual suicide whereby a samurai warrior accepts responsibility both for his own failure or shame and for his carrying out his own punishment. Often performed in a formal ceremony.
[28] “Hurry up!”
[29] “Good morning!”
[30] Modern Beijing, China.
[31] “Ken” means “sword,” as in “Kendo”.
[32] “Mokusatsu.”
[33] “Office of Strategic Services.” This Allied espionage agency was a precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. government.
[34] A twin engine transport that could carry up to twenty-eight troops.
[35] Roughly $120,000 USD, adjusted for inflation.
[36] Roughly $650,000 USD, adjusted for inflation.
[37] The Shinto shrine in Tokyo where it is believed that the spirits (kami) reside of soldiers and those who have given their lives for the Emperor of Japan.
[38] “Watakushi Wa Nippon No Horyo Deshita.”
[39] “I Was a Prisoner of Japan.”
[40] A confection consisting of a sweet rice cake with a filling.
[41] “Tora, tora, tora.”
[42] The practice of committing seppuku at the death of one’s master.
WOUNDED TIGER SPONSORS
I will remain forever grateful to those who lent a hand to me when I needed it most – first, to Tyler and Ian Bennett, my sons, and to Stan and Carolyn Bennett, my parents, and to Leo DeLisi, Don Gilleland, and John Langlois. Without you, this journey would have been immensely more difficult and prolonged.
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WOUNDED TIGER
THE MOTION PICTURE
Wounded Tiger was written first as a screenplay for an epic motion picture and remains a solid vision I am fully committed to and for which I have made great preparations. Selling or optioning the rights to a studio would result in a total loss of control of the story, so, to produce Wounded Tiger as a motion picture I have opted to raise equity capital to partner with a studio while retaining appropriate creative control in order to protect the integrity of the story.
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