USA*** said:
ABATTBQ87 said:
USA*** said:
- Reach out tot the Sanders Corp Center as see if the info is useful to them
- Reach out to the Former Student Assoc. and see if they may have an idea or use for it
- Reach out to the MSC or any of these orgs and see if they would want to do a video/clip with a narration/graphics of your gathered information about these men's stories
Sorry if too vague, just throwing stuff out that may help get others thinking. Perhaps a "Never Been Licked" kind of deal but with REAL stories...an Aggie BoBs?
Thanks for these suggestions. I'm working with the AFS on a couple of projects.
Funny that you mentioned the " Never Been Licked" story. There was a Japanese Aggie class of 38 who fought with the Japanese during WWII.
Heh...THAT would be an interesting story
Seiichi Sakamoto, class of 1938
As a Soviet prisoner of war in World War II, Seiichi Sakamoto was far different from the other Japanese soldiers.
The Texas-reared soldier graduated at the top of his class at South San Antonio High School and was a very proud Aggie.
Sydney Sako, who changed his name when he became an American citizen, served in the U.S. Air Force and later taught at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland AFB. A former president of the Japanese-American Society who helped in the Japanese booth at the Texas Folklife Festival, Sako died Wednesday of heart failure. He was 91.
"He still was a kind, gentle, understanding person, even with what he went through," said his daughter, Naomi Maulden.
Although he was born in Japan, his parents had lived in the United States for years and came to Texas when they returned from Japan. The young man graduated two years early from South San High School in 1934 as valedictorian and decided to attend Texas A&M.
After college, he wanted to learn Japanese and become a missionary. In 1940, he used his savings and traveled to Tokyo, where he enrolled in a special school for American-born Japanese who wanted to learn the language.
The following year, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and he was drafted into the Japanese army in 1943. After he had finished his physical training, he was sent to Harbin, a city in northeastern China, for Russian language training.
Russian forces captured Harbin in 1945 and took thousands of Japanese soldiers as prisoners. Sako was sent to a labor camp in Siberia. Released as a Japanese POW five years later, he returned to Japan.
He made his way to Tokyo and wanted to report to American counterintelligence his observations of Soviet construction projects in Siberia. When he entered the intelligence building, he entered an elevator and saw a familiar face inside: one of his brothers, in an American uniform.
His mother sent him the money he needed to return home. His application to become a citizen was denied, but he was allowed to join the Air Force. Racial restrictions on immigration were abolished in 1952, and he was naturalized two years later and changed his name.
A year after he became a citizen, a chaplain introduced him to an interpreter who became his wife, and in 1956, they returned to the United States.
Sako worked 32 years as a language instructor with the Defense Language Institute and Officer Training School at Lackland.
In November 1991, the local A&M Club named him Aggie of the Month.
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/article/Sako-endured-Siberian-camp-worked-at-Lackland-843213.php
