TOKYO: When US Marine Marvin Strombo found a Japanese flag on the body of an enemy soldier during World War Two, he took and promised to one day return it to the family of his fallen foe.
That vow was fulfilled on Tuesday, exactly 72 years after Japan’s surrender, when Strombo, 93, handed the flag to the brother and sisters of Sadao Yasue.
Yasue, the eldest of six children from a farming town in central Japan, followed a common practice of carrying into battle a Japanese flag covered with messages and the signatures of family and friends.
Strombo said he found the flag on Yasue’s body after a 1944 battle on the island of Saipan, the site of fierce fighting in the Pacific war.
“I finally realized that if I didn’t take it, somebody else would have and it would be lost forever,” Strombo said in an interview provided by US forces.
“So the only way I could do that, as I reached out to take the flag, I made a promise to him that some day I would try to return it,” said Strombo, who traveled to Japan from the US state of Montana.
Strombo said he had intended to return the flag soon after the war but did not know how. About five years ago he was put in touch with a non-profit group that helps US veterans return artifacts to relatives.
The group tracked down Yasue’s family, who welcomed the flag with tears.
“It was a very emotional moment,” Strombo said, noting that he was especially moved by the response of one of Yasue’s sisters.
“I saw her holding that flag, about broke my heart, you know,” he added. “That’s the reason I was glad I returned it too.”
US WW2 veteran returns flag to family of fallen Japanese soldier
US WW2 veteran returns flag to family of fallen Japanese soldier
Nearly 540 migrants rescued off Crete
- Under standard EU procedure, all will undergo health checks before having their asylum claims processed
ATHENS: Nearly 540 migrants crammed on a sailing boat were rescued on Friday south of the island of Crete, the Greek Coast
Guard said.
The 539 would-be asylum seekers were rescued by a patrol vessel of EU border agency Frontex near the small island of Gavdos in the Libyan Sea, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.
So far, the Coast Guard has recorded nationals from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, and the Palestinian territories aboard the boat, the spokeswoman said.
BACKGROUND
The 539 would-be asylum seekers will first be taken to the Cretan city of Rethymno.
They will first be taken to the Cretan city of Rethymno, she added.
Under standard EU procedure, all will undergo health checks before having their asylum claims processed.
The port they had sailed out from was not immediately clear, the spokeswoman said.
Migrants have been trying to reach Crete from Libya for the last year, as a way of entering the EU.
