FEATURED VETERAN

Yasumi Omatsu, 442nd Regimental Combat Team

A Father's Story: Yasumi Omatsu

Yasumi Omatsu would have made a first-rate rifleman in World War II. His scores at the M-1 shooting gallery during basic training earned him a Sharpshooter medal, just below the top rank of Expert.

Instead, Omatsu (who also went by James) was assigned to the headquarters company of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and placed in the intelligence and reconnaissance platoon. With his background in surveying and civil engineering, he became an artillery spotter where, instead of guns, his weapons were a telescope, a magnetic compass, and the principles of trigonometry. With two points and an angle, he could locate an enemy as accurately as any sharpshooter.

Instruments in hand, Omatsu trudged through Italy and France in five major campaigns, earning in the process a Bronze Star medal, the fourth highest military award given for bravery, heroism, or meritorious service.

Omatsu denies he did anything brave, however, saying he wasn't part of an infantry unit. His oldest son, a retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander/O-5, disagrees.

"In many ways he is modest about his accomplishments," said Michael Omatsu. "I know that being a spotter was a very dangerous job -- enemy snipers would try to locate a spotter position and take them out."

Not that danger was ever far away. Once in France Omatsu went to wash up at a stream before going to bed. While he was gone, a German shell smashed into his room, exploding right at the spot where his jacket had been draped.

"If I was sleeping there, I would have been either killed or wounded," Omatsu said. Years later Omatsu would show his sons shrapnel he saved from that bombing. Michael said, "I remember as a kid holding these pieces of the shell in my hand, feeling their jagged edges, and thinking just how lucky he was to have not been at the wrong place in the wrong time."

At the war's start, however, the time and place seemed very wrong for the Hawaii-born Omatsu. Although he had gladly come to his country's aid serving with the Hawaiian Territorial Guard, war hysteria cut that assignment short.

"After one month, we were all discharged because we had Japanese blood," Omatsu recalled.

Undeterred, Omatsu found work with the Corps of Engineers until government policy changed, allowing him to become part of the 1,686 Japanese American volunteers who made up the segregated, Japanese American unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

"The reason why I volunteered was because I wanted to be loyal to the U.S. government," Omatsu said, "and I think that's the way to show we are loyal."

Such allegiance reaped an unexpected benefit.

After Pearl Harbor, Omatsu's parents were having problems at their mom-and-pop store in Kalihi. Some GIs were taking things from the store without paying for them. During basic training Omatsu sent his parents a white and red "service flag" with a blue star signifying a member of their family was serving in the war. Omatsu's mother displayed the flag prominently and the next time a GI came in for some "free" goods, he got a surprise.

She grabbed the guy's hand and she pointed at the star and said, "Not only you fighting for Uncle Sam. My own son is also fighting," Omatsu said. Startled, the GI dropped everything and left.

Sending that flag home was "one of the best things I did for my mother," Omatsu added.

And perhaps the best thing he did for his children was to talk openly about his war experience. It is no surprise that all four sons also chose to serve in the military in some capacity. The youngest is currently deployed in Afghanistan with the Hawaii Army National Guard.

It is because of their father's story and legacy, that they serve their country freely.

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