Thursday, July 26, 2001

Banner is returned to family, providing
link to Japanese soldier killed in WWII

By Mark Oliva, Okinawa bureau

Mark Oliva / Stars and Stripes The Ganaha family poses with Marine Gunnery Sgt. Brent Cook after he returned a banner belonging to their brother, Ryoku, who died in China during World War II. The banner was given to Cook by former Marine Glen Gambill, who picked up the banner as a battlefield souvenir during the Battle for Okinawa.

CAMP FOSTER — Takashi Ganaha’s eyes welled when he walked into the Marine headquarters building Monday afternoon.

Before him was a faded six-foot banner, a link to his older brother Ryuko, who he lost during World War II.

Takashi Ganaha, 69, and brother Tadashi, 62, and their wives traveled to this Marine camp on Okinawa by invitation from Marine Corps officials.

The meeting marked the fulfillment of a promise Gunnery Sgt. Brent Cook made to a former Marine, to return a banner and a Japanese battle flag picked up at the Battle of Okinawa.

“I thought it was fate more than anything,” Cook said. “You could see the tears in their eyes. They got a hold of something they never knew they’d see.”

Cook was on recruiting duty in Missouri two years ago when Glen Gambill, 84, of Ava, Mo., handed him the tattered war relics, asking him to find the families of the soldiers whose names appeared on the flag and the banner.

Cook approached Stars and Stripes and the Okinawa Times recently to begin the search.

“When I first saw the banner in the newspaper, I was so surprised, and I immediately took out the picture to see if it was the banner for my brother,” said Takashi Ganaha, a retired schoolteacher.

“It was identical and I was so sure that it was the banner sent from our uncle in Osaka for my brother,” he said.

The banner dates to January 1943, when Ryuko Ganaha was conscripted into the Japanese Imperial Army, according to Takashi.

An uncle from Osaka had the banner made for the 20-year-old.

The family posed for a photo with Ryuko before he headed for duty in China.

The photo was one of the last reminders of Ryuko. He was killed in action April 21, 1944, while in China.

The Japanese Imperial Army fell to the U.S. Marines, and soon after the Gahana family was forced from their home in Nakijin, near Nago, into a refugee camp.

They lived there for a year, and one of the few personal possessions they carried with them was the family photo with Takashi, Tadashi and Ryuko next to the banner.

The photo was the sole reminder.

The banner, like Ryuko, was believed lost forever.

Tadashi’s wife, Shizuko, said she wished her mother-in-law had lived to see the banner returned.

“When I first learned about it, I thought of my mother-in-law,” Shizuko said. “She used to tell me about her son who was sent to China. How happy she would have been if she was here today.”

She said that another member of Ganaha family also served in the war.

Fumiko Ganaha, Ryuko Ganaha’s younger sister, now Fumiko Unten, 75, was in the Princess Lily Troop, a student nurse corps.

“I would like to say my heartfelt thank you to the person who had kept this banner in such great care,” Tadashi said. “It is amazing that the 58-year-old banner is in such a good condition. How happy my parents would be to see this banner had they still been alive.”

The man he offered thanks to was Gambill, who was a 28-year-old Marine corporal during his 100 days on Okinawa.

The day after Cook returned the banner, he called Gambill.

“The family just wanted to say thanks. They were very excited,” Cook told Gambill . “It just closed a chapter in their life.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Gunny,” Gambillsaid. “I’m glad we could do it. I really appreciate you going through all that trouble.”

Still, Cook told Gambill his search wasn’t over for the families of the soldiers whose names appear on the flag.

“It’s encouraging, but it’s going to be difficult,” he said, of locating the families. “I hope someone will see the flag and say, I know that name. Right now, I’m hopeful.

“I feel good about it,” Cook added. “It was like when you hear the Marines’ hymn and the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up … it was the same feeling. I think it closed a chapter in (Gambill’s) life too.”

As for the banner, it’s back in the Gahana family home.

“I will offer this banner to our family altar and report to our parents that their son’s banner has come home after a 58-year journey,” Tadashi said.

Chiyomi Sumida contributed to this report.

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