2 of 4

Each man eagerly read it for his allotted three weeks. The light in DeShazer's cell was dim, but he read the entire Bible several times and the Old Testament prophets six times. He memorized passages like the Sermon on the Mount, 1 Corinthians 13, and much of 1 John, among others. The Bible's message made its way into his heart. On June 8, 1944, DeShazer prayed for forgiveness, trusted Christ, and experienced the joy of salvation.

Obedience became DeShazer's key word. "Love your enemies" included even the cruel guards he hated so bitterly—especially the one who had pushed him into the cell, closed the door on his foot, and then kept kicking DeShazer's bare foot with hobnailed boots. DeShazer began speaking respectfully and kindly to his guards. It took time, but eventually they responded in kind.

In June 1945, the prisoners were transferred to a Peking prison used for Japanese soldiers. Though conditions were worse than ever, DeShazer experienced deep moments of prayer when his cell seemed filled with God's light. When he learned that the war was over, to his amazement he felt God telling him to return to Japan to share the love of Christ.

He prepared himself by getting a degree from Seattle Pacific College, where he met and married Florence Matheny, and together they sailed for Japan as Free Methodist missionaries. When they arrived in December 1948, they were surprised that a large crowd greeted them at the docks. The press had picked up on his story, and the Japanese had come to see what they had been reading in the papers: a tortured, hate-filled Doolittle bombardier was now returning to serve his former persecutors with love.

Meanwhile, Gen. Douglas MacArthur had sent a message via his staff chaplain to the president of the Bible Meditation League (now known as Bible Literature International). MacArthur asked the league to print something that might help heal the wounds between Japan and the United States. The league printed 1 million pamphlets of DeShazer's testimony, I Was A Prisoner of Japan, for distribution throughout the country. The kamikaze of God had scattered DeShazer's story, and since "the wind blows where it pleases," he wafted one of those tracts down into a most unlikely hand.

Commander Mitsuo Fuchida was the lead pilot of the 360 planes that attacked Pearl Harbor. He gave the order to attack, and then shouted the famous attack signal, Tora! Tora! Tora! (Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!) Fuchida had been carefully chosen for this task. He was a fearless flier, expert at dive-bombing and torpedo-launching, who at age 39 had racked up more flying hours than any other Japanese pilot.

Fuchida also felt that an intuition guided and protected him. Upon returning from Pearl Harbor, he inspected his plane and found 20 large antiaircraft holes and the main control wire barely held together by a thread. Although he was not in any sense "religious," this was the first of a series of near-death incidents that made him believe something was watching over him. The successful attack against the United States made Fuchida a national hero, earning him an audience with Emperor Hirohito himself. This, mixed with typical Japanese military patriotism, added to his sense of destiny.

next page... |  2 of 4

share this page

December 3 2001, Vol. 45, No. 15