WWII Army soldier’s jacket reunited with his family

Tadashi Furuike’s WWII military jacket

A Japanese American art and history store owner was strolling through eBay for old Japanese GI-Joes when he came across this WWII-era jacket. Most of us will immediately recognize the insignias as significant. If real, this staff sergeant’s jacket came from the storied 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and belonged to a man who earned a Silver Star and a Purple Heart.

The 442nd RCT you’ll remember was constituted mostly of Nisei (first generation Americans born to Japanese parents), many of whom had family in FDR’s internment camps. Among units of its size, the 442nd is the most decorated unit in Army history. In less than two years of combat in the European Theater of World War II the RCT earned eight Presidential Unit Citations (five of those in a single month!). Among the eventual 14,000 men who would serve in the RCT during the war, 21 earned Medals of Honor, 33 earned Distinguished Service Crosses, and 560 Silver Stars. This places this jacket’s original owner in a relatively small group of heroes in a regimental combat team filled with them.

Fox News reports;

A World War II veteran’s jacket has been reunited with his family thanks to the efforts of one man.

Army Staff Sgt. Tadashi Furuike, a native of Hawaii, served as part of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a World War II unit composed almost entirely of second-generation Japanese American soldiers, from 1943 until an honorable discharge in 1946.

He was awarded two Purple Hearts along with a Silver Star for bravery in killing and wounding 60 enemy service members.

His lost military jacket was returned to his family after decades missing, British news agency SWNS reported.

Paul Osaki, 60, bought the jacket and medals for $500 in 2000 while searching eBay for pieces for his Japanese American art and history store, according to the report.

“We were selling the Japanese American G.I. Joe doll, which you couldn’t buy in stores anymore, so we had to find them on eBay,” Osaki told SWNS. “I happened to put in Nisei, which is second generation Japanese American, and this jacket popped up and I could tell it was real, mainly because the name that was written in it, Tadashi Furuike, was such an unusual Japanese name. When I opened it, my store partners and I were wowed, not just because of how good of shape it was in, but because of all of the insignias and ribbons on it. To think that one of the Nisei in the 442nd actually wore it. It was an awe moment.”

The jacket was in his store until 2009 when he closed up shop, according to the report.

A decade later he began to search for the decorated war hero’s family.

Osaki found the email of Furuike’s daughter, Donna Furuike.

Tadashi Furuike during the war

“I told her who I was, that I found this jacket on eBay and I think it might be her father’s and she didn’t respond for a while,” he told SWNS. “Finally, she responded ‘Yes, Tadashi’s my father’. That was all, but those few words were more than enough.”

Donna Furuike received her dad’s jacket around Veteran’s Day 2019.

“When I was opening the box I kept thinking, ‘Wow, dad, this is your history. I wish you were here to open it instead of me’. My second thought was, ‘Wow, this is my dad’s jacket! He wore this!’ His handwritten name is right there,” she told SWNS. “He was a small man with a lot of fire in him. Then I started crying. I had a lot of emotions going through me, mostly excitement, anticipation and sadness that he wasn’t there to share in it.”

The memento brings Donna to the great spirit of her dad, who died in 2018.

“I can see him looking down at his jacket in his lap with a grin on his face, shaking his head, probably remembering the history he had with it or wrapping his mind around the fact that his jacket survived so many years and is now a collector’s item,” she said. “I imagine seeing him laugh and smile saying he’s a collector’s item too.”

Now in her possession she has the bond that will keep her family together.

“I’m so happy to have a part of dad back with me,” Donna said. “Paul’s opened my eyes to a part of dad’s history he rarely shared with me. To know that my dad played a part in what the 442nd did for America is amazing. Words cannot express my awe for those soldiers. What a great educational gift to pass down to future generations.”

The author of this piece does not do S/Sgt Furuike’s bravery in combat any justice with him earning “a Silver Star for bravery in killing and wounding 60 enemy service members.”

Caught behind enemy lines he leads his squad in an assault from behind (and surrounded by enemy) on a machine gun position taking aim at the rest of his unit. When those enemy scatters, he’s already laid a trap (again, he’s behind enemy lines and surrounded) and ambushes the retreating Germans. Unbelievable!

Here’s the Staff Sergeant’s incredible Silver Star citation;

Silver Star
AWARDED FOR ACTIONS
DURING World War II
Service: Army
Battalion: 2d Battalion
Division: 34th Infantry Division
GENERAL ORDERS:
Headquarters, 34th Infantry Division, General Orders No. 142 (September 29, 1945)

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Staff Sergeant Tadashi Furuike (ASN: 301014729), United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action against the enemy while serving with Company E, 2d Battalion, 442d Regimental Combat Team, attached to the 34th Infantry Division, on 4 July 1944, in Italy. When their attack was met with extremely heavy enemy fire of all types the company was forced to withdraw. Sergeant Furuike’s squad lost contact with the remainder of the company and were forced to spend the night in enemy territory. When the squad attempted to find an escape route the next morning, they discovered several of the enemy digging in on the reverse slope of the hill. Noting an enemy machine gun position, Sergeant Furuike deployed his squad and then with accurate fire killed one of the gunners and wounded another. The main body of the enemy troops, sensing an attack, attempted to withdraw to a wooded area to the rear. Sergeant Furuike and two comrades, however, laid such heavy and accurate fire upon the enemy that only four of them escaped. The courage and aggressiveness displayed by Sergeant Furuike was instrumental in killing and wounding 60 of the enemy and his actions reflects highly upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States.

Caught behind enemy lines he leads his squad in an assault from behind (and surrounded by enemy) on a machine gun position taking aim at the rest of his unit. When those enemy scatters, he’s already laid a trap (again, he’s behind enemy lines and surrounded) and ambushes the retreating Germans. Unbelievable!

Our eternal thanks to Mr. Osaki for giving the jacket back where it belongs.

Category: Army, Valor