{"id":20417,"date":"2017-11-28T11:50:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=20417"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:50:32","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T18:50:32","slug":"missoula-marine-honored-for-returning-fallen-enemys-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/11\/missoula-marine-honored-for-returning-fallen-enemys-flag\/","title":{"rendered":"Missoula Marine honored for returning fallen enemy\u2019s flag"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Flag\"<\/a>

Kyodo via Reuters<\/p>

World War II veteran Marvin Strombo, center, meets with Tatsuya Yasue, brother of Sadao Yasue, to hand over a Japanese flag Strombo found on a battlefield in 1944, in Higashi-Shirakawa Village, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo on Aug. 15.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Missoula City Council and all in the audience at Monday night\u2019s council meeting stood to honor Missoula veteran Marvin Strombo for the compassion he showed a Japanese family who lost a son and brother in World War II.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Strombo fulfilled a commitment he made seven decades earlier to return a Japanese flag found on the body of an enemy soldier after a ferocious 1944 battle on the island of Saipan.<\/p>\n

In a ceremony on Aug. 15, the 72nd\u00a0anniversary of Japan\u2019s surrender, Strombo delivered the flag to the brothers and sisters of Sadao Yasue.<\/p>\n

As was the custom in Japan, the flag was carried into battle, covered in messages from his family and friends. \u00a0After being mortally wounded, Yasue apparently covered himself with the honor flag.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAs I reached out to take the flag, I made a promise to him that someday I would try to return it,\u201d Strombo said in August.<\/p>\n

On Monday night, he was speechless \u2014 caught by surprise \u2014 at the City Council\u2019s standing ovation after Mayor John Engen proclaimed Dec. 17 Marvin Strombo Day in Missoula.<\/p>\n

In his proclamation, Engen noted that Strombo enlisted in the Marine Corps during World War II, and \u201chas served God and our great country faithfully\u201d all of his 93 years.\u00a0Engen talked about Strombo\u2019s long quest to return the honor flag to its rightful owners, and how that search was stymied until about five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the help and assistance of Marvin Strombo\u2019s family, friends, the Obon Society and the people of Japan, it was learned that the deceased soldier\u2019s name was Sadao Yasue,” Engen said.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>The Obon Society is a nonprofit group that helps American veterans return artifacts to relatives of Japanese soldiers killed in World War II.<\/p>\n

Now, after traveling to Japan, \u201cMarvin Strombo has been able to honorably meet Sadao Yasue\u2019s family and friends and return the honor flag to its proper resting place, allowing closure for the family\u2019s grief and the return of Sadao Yasue\u2019s spirit,\u201d Engen said.<\/p>\n

When he met the soldier\u2019s sibilings in August, Strombo learned that Yasue was the oldest of six children raised in a mountainous tea-growing town in central Japan.<\/p>\n

About 180 friends, relatives and neighbors signed the honor flag before Yasue went to war, wishing his safe return. Those signatures ultimately helped bring the flag back to Yasue\u2019s family \u2014 the only tangible remembrance his brothers and sisters have of their oldest brother.<\/p>\n

Yasue\u2019s sister, who like Strombo is 93, was overwhelmed with emotion when one of her brothers placed the flag in her lap and she saw the signatures of so many lost friends and relatives and thought again of her brother\u2019s wartime death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis flag will be our treasure,\u201d one brother said.<\/p>\n

The emotion with which Yasue\u2019s family greeted the flag made the 10,000-mile journey worth the effort, Strombo told reporters at the August meeting in Yasue\u2019s hometown.<\/p>\n

On Monday night in Missoula, Strombo\u2019s children devised a ruse to get him downtown for the City Council meeting, so the mayoral proclamation would be a surprise.<\/p>\n

They succeeded, and the tears again came quickly.<\/p>\n

Sherry Devlin is a longtime Missoula journalist who writes\u00a0occasional stories for\u00a0Missoula Current<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0where this story originally appeared.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n