WWII

Hi, my name is Asha and welcome back to Right Now, a podcast about the world today. (Opening Music) Oh if you could see my wife’s face she’s wrinkling up her face because she says ohh, he could tell stories that go on and on. Thats Rex Ziak You will hear more from him in this episode. For now I am just talking about stories, like the ones that Rex can go on and on talking about. We can learn a lot from a story. Sometimes they teach a lesson, other times they can offer a perspective we didn’t know about. What’s important right now is what we can learn from the story told in this episode. It’s about healing, and its about miracles happening today after events in the past that caused grief and guilt. My other half is right here kind of behind me working at a desk, and her name is Keiko. She’s my wife, she’s a native of Japan. Keiko and I are really the co-founders and managers of OBON Society, the organization. My name is Rex Ziak. I grew up her in Astoria Oregon. For an education I travelled for about five and a half years in Latin America. I came back thinking I was an anthropologist but some people saw my photographs…I. Asked me to take some photographs for them and I became a freelance photographer, cinematographer for a documentary television, discovery channel and people like that. From there I, rather than pursue that I switched and became a historian. And then I met my wife and she told me a story… (Transition Music) This is where the story starts. It’s a story about the consequences of WWII, because when the Second World War ended in 1945, the effects it had on soldiers, families of soldiers, and the world, did not go away. Even today these consequences are felt, through financial, political, health, and mental issues. This story is told by someone who is not just impacted by these consequences, but working towards healing others impacted through their non-profit organization, OBON Society. This story starts when Rex begins to talk about what sparked this humanitarian effort. And she told me the story of how her grandfather had been drafted, and sent away to war in Burma. He just disappeared without a trace. Nothing came home to the family. No bones or buttons or anything just disappeared. And then she told me this peculiar story that sixty some years later after his death, her uncle received a phone call and it was from a hotel in Tokyo and they asked do you know this name? And recognized his name and Keiko’s uncle said thats my father’s name. They said we have something here with his name on it. It was dropped off by some tourists just dropped by the hotel and dropped it off about a half a year ago. And so the hotel sent him this box to Keiko’s uncle. He opened it up and here is this flag. Japanese flag, about a meter long and about two thirds of a metre high, white with a red center. Traditional Japanese flag covered with writing. Keiko’s uncle looks at it and what is this and he’s looking at this unusual this and he calls Keiko’s mother and says father, father came home, fathers here! Here is this object, to the family it was this miracle. Well when I met Keiko she told me about this and it was just haunting. Her mother spoke to the flag and said you have finally come home, father you finally came home. Father’s spirit is so powerful. He wanted, he kept trying to come home, he came home. And then I started doing a little research and I realized that what had happened is this was a tradition that the Japanese had during the war, completely unknown today. But before a young man would go to war, parents or aunts or uncles or grandparents or neighbours would buy a little flag they’d write his name on it then they’d all sign their names. And the Japanese would all write on this flag, and then he’d carry that with him. And so when he’s off at war, here in this pocket is this heirloom keepsake from home with everyone who cared about him so they’re with him in spirit and it was certainly this comforting item to carry. Well upon his dead the allied soldiers are constantly looking for souvenirs. It’s a tradition of war to bring home some memento. And so they searched the bodies and they found these flags and brought them home by the tens of thousands. And so this one in this one case to Keiko’s family this miracle that happened. That was the spark that set off our activity because when I heard that and Keiko and I explored it I explained to her that it wasn’t just one there’s many of them and she knew the impact it had on her family, we decided that were gonna try to bring other miracles to other families in Japan. And thats what the OBON Society does. Their vision is “A world in which everyone has the opportunity to heal personal trauma from war” (OBON Society). They return these flags to the families they belong to. How exactly does this work make an impact, and try to reverse the effects that World War II brought to families like Keiko’s? The next part of the story really shows this. Dion is her name. We gat contacted by this woman and her parents had died when she was young so she was really attached to this uncle of hers. And she got a phone call, he’s no in his 80-89 and she got a phone call. Hey bud fell he fell and shattered his hip shattered his leg it’s really broken badly. So up she goes to see her favourite uncle. She’s beside his bed and says bud your gonn go into surgery and h takes his wedding ring off his finger and she says uncle bud I’m gonna wear this and I’m gonna give it back to you someday. She loved this uncle and into surgery he goes. He dies in surgery. The next couple days they go to his apartment, they’re cleaning out his apartment an one of them opens up a box and this Dion she says oh I’ll take it back to Florida with me. She goes down to Florida to her home opens up this box takes out the shoes and little baby clothes. Here at the bottom of the box is this Japanese flag. So she takes out this flag and she looks at it and she starts googling and she starts realizing, well this was a battles field souvenir, Bud was in all these wars in the South Pacific. And she contacted us and goes well what do I do what can I do. And so we said that well we can try to return it to the family if thats what you want and she said yes she sent it to us. And so then were talking to her. And then out comes this trauma because she realizes that her uncle Bud, had killed that guy. And she just started feeling this guilt and there’s blood stains on the flag. And were here we do a search and we find the daughter of that soldiers and we tell this dion would you like to write a letter? Oh she was just traumatized. Bud probably killed him what am I gonna say to this daughter of this soldier. She’s just anxious as can be. And so we send off the flag to the lady and back comes a letter addressed to this dion with photographs of her as a baby being held by her mother and father she is so gracious and so thankful and just so appreciative of Dion sending this only memento to ever return of her fathers. Fabulous act of humility and such a healing act for her in Japan to receive this item now that her father is with her because the Japanese are very spiritual people and these items are alive and can see and thin, here is Dion who’s so traumatized from all this just so relieved and gracious and crying such gratitude for us making this traumatic moment so pleasant for her. This is just one of the stories of returning an item that Rex could have told me, there were just so many experiences and stories that came from returning these heirlooms. And this work changes peoples lives, which were previously changed by war. The soldiers daughter, the one who the flag was returned to got in a way reunited with her father after he passed away, through this flag and it’s spiritual meaning to her. Dion was also changed, with guilt and anxiety from the situation, at the end of this experience she was able to be relieved and grateful that the daughter could have this item. This was a story about not facts and events, but people. That’s one of the things that Rex talked about, how in the Second World War “these were just people” (Ziak). People who fought as soldiers, who’s lives were changed after they returned from war, who’s families maybe never got to see them return home. Today, those things haven’t gone away like we learned from the story of Dion and the flag. Thats why the Second World War is still relevant today, because the consequences are still part of the world and peoples lives. It’s the aftermath of war. The more i am involved in this and the more I think about what it is were doing, the more I realize that your generation you high school students today. You have to take control of this world, because the earth cant take another war, the earth cannot take another war. And our activity at Obon society is in part towards that goal of peace because what we show is that these wars dont end when the shooting stops. The wars go on on on in peoples head and in peoples hearts that lingering grief that revenge that doubt that guilt it continues and continues and were trying to show the cost of these wars the price that people pay and it is not worth it. I think that last bit tells an important idea from this story that “these wars don’t end when the shooting stops” (Ziak). It perfectly displays how the consequence, the price, the cost, of the Second World War are impacting the world today. (Transition Music) Thank you for listening to this episode of Right Now with me, Asha Calaminus. Thank you to Rex Ziak for being a guest speaker on this episode, and an important note that if you would like to contact the OBON Society about a personal item that you would like to return They can contact us and send them and we will do our best to find that family. If you enjoyed this episode of Right Now and would like to hear more, dont forget to subscribe to see when new episodes come out.