Dorian de Wind's Open Salon Blog

‘Letters to the Heart’: Remembering Japan’s Great Tragedy

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:03:41 -0500

Tomorrow, Sunday,, March 11, is the first anniversary of one the most devastating disasters in recent times, the Great Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011.

The broadcast, internet and print media have already started reminding us of the incredible dimensions of the tragedy that left 19,000 dead and missing and tens of thousands homeless -- their lives shattered or changed forever -- and informing us of how the recovery is progressing and how the survivors are coping.

During the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, there were innumerable stories of death, desperation, unspeakable grief and human misery coming from the earthquake and tsunami stricken region. For too many of these unfortunate people, the passage of time -- whether one year or fifty years -- will not diminish their grief and pain.

For example, Australian Broadcasting Corporation correspondent Mark Willacy visited the tsunami zone and the Fukushima's nuclear no-go area "to catch up with people he met right after the calamity."

He tells us about Keitara Fukuda whom he met right after the tsunami as he searched frantically for a trace of his children outside their obliterated primary school:

His nine-year-old son Masa'aki and 12-year-old daughter Risa had evacuated from the school after the earthquake and were standing outside with fellow students when a mass of black churning water rushed down the river valley from the ocean six kilometres away.
They were swallowed by the tsunami, along with 10 teachers and 72 other students.

Willaci continues: "Every day Keitaro Fukuda kneels before the altar in his living room. It's decorated with stuffed toys, kids' artwork, and photos of his two dead children," and shares with us Fukuda's translated words: "Whenever I have a meal, I realize they are not here. I miss them so much ... Because it's just my wife and me now, it's so very quiet. We used to have such a cheerful and noisy home with our children here."

There are tens of thousands such stories -- the memories will never fade, the pain will never diminish.

But there are also stories of heroism, charity, humanity and kindness by individuals, organizations and nations -- including the Unite States.

The latter, through its military, immediately stepped up to the plate to provide invaluable humanitarian relief and assistance to the victims.

The U.S. military "Operation Tomodachi" to help Japanese communities hardest hit by the quake and tsunami is a salient example.

One of the primary and immediate missions of the U.S. task forces was to reopen the Sendai airport to enhance the relief efforts.

Amazingly, even before the U.S. relief forces arrived in the city of Sendai, an American woman living in that Japanese city had already started telling the world -- through a series of heart-warming e-mails to her family and friends -- some about the tragedy which she herself had survived, but mostly about the countless inspiring and unsung acts of kindness, compassion and humanity that she observed among the survivors: the human spirit displayed by her own neighbors and total strangers in times of tragedy and chaos.

The woman is Anne Thomas, an English teacher who has lived in Sendai for 22 years and continues to live and teach there.

Anne Thomas walking among ruins

Just a few days after the earthquake, I happened to read one of her first "from the ground to the heart" letters -- as they came to be known later -- in Ode Magazine.

Touched by the letter, I commented that, faced with the almost unfathomable human tragedy in Japan, how difficult it would be to come up with "positive news," or with "new inspirations and new visions" on the disaster, but that with her letter Thomas had done exactly that.

In that letter, Thomas tells us about the stoic nature of the Japanese people, their concern and caring for each other and for others -- perfect strangers -- their humanity, their continuing respect for the law and for orderliness even during such desperate circumstances and about the writer finding beauty and hope amid chaos and misery.

Anne Thomas praying in Ishinomaki

Thomas continued to write her "letters to the heart," never expecting them to go viral or to be reprinted on-line and in newspapers the world over.

Nor did she ever imagine that her letters would be published in a book until a designer and writer named Brian Penry suggested to Thomas that her letters were extraordinary and that she should collect them in a book.

The result is Letters from the Ground to the Heart -- Beauty Amid Destruction, a book in which "Anne makes the stories of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances profound -- capturing our collective, global empathy." It's now available at Lulu.com and Amazon.com .

On this first anniversary of that horrific event we will be copiously reminded of the statistics of death, suffering and destruction -- as perhaps we should. However, it may also be good to be reminded of the acts of kindness witnessed by Anne Thomas during a time of utter devastation and compiled in a book that is described by a reader as:

[A] collection of heart-warming letters, but be warned, they may bring a tear to your eye. Each letter paints a picture of hope in the life's simple pleasures - finding a shop selling rice, being able to wash after so long without running water, a farmer friend delivering eggs. It's these little moments that news coverage, although excellent, fails to cover. Anne brings it all to life and makes you thankful for what you have. And then you feel the need to help. The book is also an insight into the Japanese and how their culture shapes the way they cope with disaster...

Best of all, proceeds from sales of this book benefit survivors of the Japan earthquake and tsunami.

To learn more about this book and to donate, please click here

The Forgotten Crash at Taillefontaine, France

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 09:11:23 -0500

Lt. Claude H. Weid

The ring, a circle that has no beginning and no end, has been a symbol of undying love, fidelity, loyalty and of life itself through the ages.

But the ring can also represent patriotism, bravery and sacrifice as in a military service academy ring, a combat aviator's ring, the ring on a fallen soldier's finger -- a Ring of Honor.

As we observe Veterans Day and honor all the men and women who have worn the uniform of our Armed Forces, what could be more appropriate than to share a story of patriotism, sacrifice, dedication and of a Ring of Honor.

The date is May 23, 1945, just 15 days after Germany surrenders in World War II.

An Army Air Corps C-46 "Commando" aircraft with a crew of four and carrying 40 wounded American soldiers and repatriated prisoners of war to hospitals in the Paris area -- and, then, finally home -- plunges from the skies just outside the village of Taillefontaine, near Paris, with one of its two engines on fire.

All on board are killed, including the wounded on their way to recovery and home.

For the next 57 years, residents of the French village of Taillefontaine place flowers at the site of the horrific crash, not knowing who or how many had perished, but knowing the Americans have died for them and adopting them as their own.

However, in our own country, almost six decades would go by before the story of the men who gave their lives in that field in France is told.

In fact, the crash and the men's sacrifices go unheralded for so long that it could rightly be called "The Forgotten Crash."

But I am getting ahead of myself.

As fate would have it, and as Jacqueline Tschirhart Pailthorp tells it, in December 1999 she receives a Christmas card from a long-time friend living in a small town in France.

Included with the card is a note from her friend's husband, Daniel Cartigny, a French World War II veteran who fought with the U.S. troops.

The note takes Jacqueline's breath away: A young boy who lived near the C-46's final resting place, found a pilot's ring and "ID" bracelets at the crash site around 1950. After safeguarding them for nearly 50 years, he now wants to return the mementos to the surviving family members.

Pailthorp's friend could not have come to a better person with such an entreaty.

Jacqueline Pailthorp comes from a very patriotic French-American family. She is the daughter of American veteran, Arnold Tschirhart, from Hondo Texas, and Lucie Tissot, a French farmer's daughter Tschirhart met while serving in France during World War I. After returning to Texas for a short time, the Tschirhart family sails back to France where Jacqueline is born and where she lives through the horrors of the Nazi occupation during World War II.

She sees her older brother, John Tschirhart, a Texas-born American, escape to the U.S. from Nazi-occupied France in 1941, where he joins the Army Air Corps and becomes a B-17 bombardier, eventually flying 35 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe. (Tschirhart, now 91, lives in Austin, Texas, area and is a highly esteemed member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars)

Upon receiving the note, Pailthorp immediately goes to work. She travels to France, talks to dozens of people who have witnessed the crash and collects the ring and other items.

The ring, badly crushed and missing its stone, as a result of the crash, has the words "Turner Field" engraved in the band.

Using those two words and other information, Pailthorp spends the next year tenaciously investigating the crash, contacting numerous Pentagon officials and painting a clear and complete picture of the "Forgotten Crash" and its aftermath, including identifying the owner of the ring.

The ring belonged to Lt. Claude H. Weid, the co-pilot of the doomed C-46. You see, Weid had graduated from pilot training at Turner Field, officially known then as Turner Army Airfield, near Albany, GA.

In the summer of 2001, Pailthorp sends the ring to Lt. Weid's surviving identical twin brother, Clyde R. Weid, who was a B-17 pilot during World War II with many missions to his credit.

The ring is of incalculable sentimental value to the Weid family as bodies were not recovered from the crash and Lt. Claude Weid was initially buried in a cemetery in France along with the remains of six other fatalities from the crash.

Referring to the Weid family, Pailthorp says, "So you can see how we became a family ... There were no words to express how much it meant to all of them especially Clyde, having the last thing that was with Claude before his death."

Ruth Lloyd, the sister of the pilot of the ill-fated plane - Rex Pond - wrote to Mrs. Pailthorp at the time: "Thank you for all you have done to bring this information to life and bring life to so many that have waited for the unknown ... 57 years is a long time to wonder just what happened, I thought about it a lot, but there were no answers."

Mrs. Pailthorp's mission, however, was not finished. She continued to work with family members of the crash victims and with Cartigny, who initially made her aware of the crash and the ring, to memorialize the men who gave their lives for freedom.

Among other things, Pailthorp was instrumental in the construction of a monument on a hill overlooking the site of the crash in Taillefontaine, France, honoring and commemorating the American heroes.

The beautiful monument, made possible by donations from the crash victims' families, French Veterans and other military, civic and government organizations, was dedicated nine years ago, on June 22, 2002.

During the ceremony, attended by families of the fallen men, villagers and numerous American and French dignitaries, Daniel Cartigny recounted the tragic accident and paid tribute to his "American friend," Pailthorp -- also attending the ceremonies -- for her efforts and dedication. Referring to the fallen Americans, he concluded, "Today, they are among us and can sleep in peace. They are not forgotten."

All because of a Ring of Honor, and a French-American lady whom her brother, John Tschirhart, rightly calls "a great patriot who, through diligent research, solved a 60-year-old mystery."

Notes:

1. The author is grateful to Mrs. Jacqueline Tschirhart Pailthorp, from Glendora, CA., for providing the material for this story, including the photographs.

2. Clyde R. Weid, Claude Weid's twin brother died on April 28, 2004, at the age of 82. He also served his country during the Korean War.

3. Harold G. Weid, older brother of Claude Weid, died earlier this year at the age of 90.

4. The other three crewmembers on the ill-fated flight were Lt. Rex Loyal Pond (pilot), Sgt. Herbert Hill and Sgt. Edward Vermillion. A military doctor, Capt. Amos Plante, was also on board.

Our Most Recent Fallen Heroes in Afghanistan

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 23:08:14 -0400

The last time I interrupted your week (or weekend) to share with you the sad statistics on the mounting number of U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan was exactly two months ago.

In “The Human Side of our Afghanistan Casualties,” I tried to point out how:

" [I]n the national news media, the names and the numbers of our fallen heroes are often buried deep inside the bowels of the printed pages or relegated to running text at the bottom of our TV screens, and lost among the latest scandals-du-jour and the latest partisan 'gotchas.'”

Not much has changed in the last two months, so I will repeat what I wrote then:

"Such a 'drip-drip' of coverage tends to veil the gravity and the tragedy of our losses and tends to lull us into a false sense of complacency, if not downright apathy.

It’s only when some publications, such as the Stars and Stripes, publish the Associated Press summaries of our casualties along with detailed information on each of the most recent casualties, that the cumulative human aspects of those losses really hit home."

So, again, I would like to share with our readers the latest numbers, the latest sacrifices and, more importantly, some of the names and faces behind the numbers and statistics.

But before I do so---and I find it regrettable that I have to say this---I am not doing this because I am “for the war” or “against the war.”

I am not doing this because I agree or disagree with the conduct or direction of the war.

I am not doing this for any political purpose.

I am doing this because I sincerely believe that, no matter how many other “important developments” compete for our attention, we must never lose sight of, never become jaded about, the sacrifices that our brave troops continue to make in Afghanistan and---notwithstanding the fact that combat operations are supposed to have ended there---in Iraq.

First and not yet included in the AP statistics to follow, three of our troops were killed by homemade bombs today, Friday, in Afghanistan. The identities of those troops have not been released yet.

According to the Associated Press, as of yesterday, Thursday, at least 1,145 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion of that country in late 2001---at least 927 of those deaths were as a result of hostile action.

The latest casualties:

Lance Cpl. Kevin E. Oratowski, 23, of Wheaton, Ill.

Sgt. 1st Class Edgar N. Roberts, 39, of Hinesville, Ga. (Roberts died at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds sustained in Afghanistan)

Sgt. Martin A. Lugo, 24, of Tucson, Ariz.

Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Collin Thomas, 33, of Morehead, Ky.

Cpl. Christopher J. Boyd, 22, of Palatine, Ill.

Lance Cpl. Cody S. Childers, 19, of Chesapeake, Va.

Spc. Christopher S. Wright, 23, of Tollesboro, Ky.

Lance Cpl. Nathaniel J. A. Schultz, 19, of Safety Harbor, Fla.

Pfc. Alexis V. Maldonado, 20, of Wichita Falls, Texas.

Pfc. Justin B. Shoecraft, 28, of Elkhart, Ind.

Sgt. Ronald A. Rodriguez, 26, of Falls Church, Va.

Lance Cpl. Robert J. Newton, 21, of Creve Coeur, Ill.

Sgt. Jason D. Calo, 23, of Lexington, Ky.

Spc. Pedro A. Millet Meletiche, 20, of Elizabeth, N.J.

Sgt. Steven J. Deluzio, 25, of South Glastonbury, Conn.

Spc. Tristan H. Southworth, 21, of West Danville, Vt.

As I have written before, the bullet, the rocket propelled grenade, the bomb, or the IED that kills our heroes does not differentiate whether our hero is---as in this latest report---19 or 33.

Neither does it care whether the name is---as in this latest report---Oratowski, Roberts, Meletiche or Maldonado; or whether the hometown---as in the latest report---is West Danville, Vt. or Wichita Fall, Texas.

They were Army and Marine Corps; they were Rangers, SEALs, Stryker Cavalry, Armor, and Engineers---they were Americans.

They are all heroes, and don’t let anyone tell you differently.

No Outrage at the Pentagon's 'Ground Zero'

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:08:58 -0400

In an opinion piece at the beginning of the weekend, Petula Dvorak at the Washington Post takes us back to 2002, “a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the horror and disbelief of that terrible day still very fresh in our minds,” when “right next to the spot where 184 people lost their lives in the Pentagon, the military opened a sanctuary where Islam could be celebrated.”

She tells us that this sanctuary is not two blocks away, not one block away, but a mere 30 steps “from the place where terrorists crashed the nose cone of American Airlines Flight 77 through the wall and killed Pentagon secretaries and military officers, soccer moms and Little League dads…”

No, this “sanctuary” is not a mosque; it is a chapel that is used by many faiths.

Yet, it is a place where “Muslims can unroll their prayer mats once a day and give praise to Allah,” and where on Fridays an imam comes in to conduct a service.

How can this be?

What an outrage!

What an insult to “patriotic Americans everywhere, and especially to the families of those who died that day and the good men and women who are risking their lives for their country in the fight against terrorism!”

But Dvorak tells us that there has been no outrage. “No hyperventilating by cable news anchors. No outpouring of hateful rhetoric on blogs and Web sites.”

She quotes personnel in the Pentagon chaplain’s office as saying: “Nope, never heard a word about it…No one has had a problem with it.”

And she adds that, according to officials, neither the families nor the friends and colleagues of those who died or were injured in the horrific 9/11 attack have ever complained to the Pentagon about the inclusion of Muslim services.

No one is outraged?

How can that be?!

Iraq: ‘The Long Goodbye,’ by The Stars and Stripes

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:08:58 -0400

As the last combat troops pull out of Iraq, that great little “military” newspaper, the Stars and Stripes, has published a series of articles examining and attempting to answer the questions:

After “[s]even years, $748 billion, 4,414 American servicemembers killed [a]nd more than 113,000 Iraqi civilians dead…After all the death and destruction — and rebirth and rebuilding — what difference did America really make in Iraq?”

And, did the U.S. accomplish the goals stated by President George W. Bush when we invaded Iraq, “to disarm Iraq, to free its people, and to defend the world from grave danger”?

Starting this past Monday and concluding today, with five sets of daily articles, the Stars and Stripes has, in my opinion, if not fully answered the questions, at least given Americans a lot to think and ponder---and to keep in mind "the next time.”

These are the articles. They are superb!

Monday, August 16. DAY 1: The soldiers

“As U.S. combat troops exit Iraq, unresolved issues left behind in country facing uncertain future,” by Heath Druzin.

“Personal victories, personal sacrifices,” by John Vandiver

“Is Iraq worth fighting for?” by John Vandiver

Tuesday, August 17. DAY 2: The wounded

An American and an Iraqi soldier, each gravely wounded in the war, battle to recover.

“Back home, but still fighting,” by Leo Shane III

“I chose the right way, and no one rewarded me,” by Heath Druzin

Wednesday, August 18. DAY 3: The politicians

A veteran, and a veteran politician, navigate new battlegrounds.

“Murphy’s missions: Experiences in Iraq led veteran to Congress,” by Leo Shane II

“’Chameleon’ Hassan al-Alawi survives, thrives,” by Heath Druzin.

Thursday, August 19, DAY 4: The widows

One war widow tries to move on and another tries to survive.

“Eddy Garvin’s girl: ‘At some point, it just gets easier,‘” by Nancy Montgomery.

“Male-dominated, war-ravaged country offers little hope for Iraqi widows,” by Nancy Montgomery

Friday, August 20 DAY 5: The hometowns

A Baghdad neighborhood is divided by strife while an Ohio town pulls together

“Zanesville remembers,” by Megan McCloskey

“The violence has waned, but the fear remains,” by Heath Druzin

Thank you, Stars and Stripes.

But, most of all, our gratitude to the brave men and women who served in Iraq, so many still serving there, and who have sacrificed so much—all too many making the ultimate sacrifice—and to their families who stayed behind and who also sacrificed.

Finally, let’s not forget the innocent Iraqi men, women and children who have died and suffered as a result of the War.

Image: Courtesy Stars and Stripes