My Grandfather: One Japanese Man at Vimy Ridge.

If you go to the Vancouver Aquarium at Stanley Park, you'll find a war monument for Japanese Canadians who fought for Canada in the first world war. Yes, you read that right; Japanese men who fought for Canada in WWI.

Among the men listed on the Japanese Canadian WWI War Memorial is my grandfather, Masuro Tamashiro. (That looks a lot like him... second from the left in the middle row).

Today is the anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge. The reason why I'm writing this is because my grandfather was there. He was actually at Vimy Ridge with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces... and he wasn't the only Japanese man there either.

I'm in awe of the fact that my own grandfather was at Vimy Ridge during a defining moment in Canadian history. In fact, 196 Japanese men volunteered for service in the first world war.  Of the 196 volunteers, 54 were killed, 93 were wounded (including my grand dad) and 49 returned home to Canada safely. 

More than 10000 Canadian soldiers were killed or wounded during the battle. How a 5 foot, 3 inch man from Okinawa managed to survive, I'll never know. I doubt that he even knew how to speak English. But somehow he and many of his fellow Japanese Canadian soldiers came home.

So today, is his day. I didn't know him well but I still am thankful. 

Below is an actual copy of his volunteer record from the Canadian Archives.

Comments

[Kevin]

To your grandfather: "thank you".

[Steve Otf-Yahweh]

My grandfather Sergeant Masumi Mitsui is sitting beside yours. He is at the far left center.

"August 2, 1985

During World War One, 196 Japanese-Canadians volunteered to fight for Canada. At Vimy Ridge, fought over four days in April, 1917, one of them, Sergeant Masumi Mitsui of Port Coquitlam, led his troop into battle with such distinction that he was awarded the Military Medal for Bravery. Of those 196 volunteers, 145 were killed or wounded. That remarkable Japanese-Canadian contribution was honored by the construction in 1920 in Stanley Park of a striking monument, surrounded by cherry trees, with an electric flame that was to burn forever.

But the flame was switched off shortly after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. It would stay off for more than 40 years. Like so many others, Masumi Mitsui and his family had been forced from their home during the Second World War and scattered in internment camps across the country. Their farm, their house and all its contents were confiscated. He was so enraged he threw his medals down, onto the desk of the confiscating officer.

But time healed this wound: on August 2, 1985—19 years ago today—Sgt. Mitsui, now 98, one of two surviving Japanese-Canadian soldiers who had served Canada so bravely, was brought in to turn the light on again.

Mr. Mitsui died in 1987, five months short of his 100th birthday."
Source: http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/sunspots_aug.htm

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