My grandfather passed on an heirloom Samurai sword to my dad this year. My dad has always held a lot of sentiment for this sword. Little did anyone know that it is also worth quite a bit of money. But to us, that is totally beside the point. Between my aunt and I, we got a pretty good rendition of how Grandpop got this sword. I share it with you below for your amusement and in tribute to him and everyone who served in the military so that we can celebrate all the freedoms we enjoy.
How the Japanese Samurai sword came into the possession of Colonel Harvey Clyde Hoffman (US Army Retired). [Story told by Dad to some family October 7, 2007 and transcribed by his daughter, Betsy Feltman.]
The 161st Station Hospital assigned to Eickleburgs 8th Army, stationed in the Philippines at Cebu City on Cebu Island, during WWII was scheduled to go in on the invasion of Japan. The bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and the 161st Station Hospital was then sent in as part of the occupation force to the country of Japan. The paratroopers who were the first to land in the occupied country had the Japanese swords surrendered to them. The paratrooper officers contacted the 161st Station Hospital to request that they be allowed to meet and have a social time with the nurses and officers. The paratrooper officers said they would bring swords for the officers of the 161st Station Hospital. When they arrived they had the swords and the swords were put in another area. Later the officers of the 161st Station Hospital were told they could go in and pick a sword, just one each. Dad was a Captain at that time and he got to go in and pick a sword. He looked at the swords and picked the one he liked. He has the sword he picked currently in his possession. (It is currently in my father’s possession…if he hasn’t sold it on e-bay or lost it…)
[Follow-up story told to and written by granddaughter Jennifer Scott on November 21, 2007.]
Jennifer- So Grandpop, the story says you looked at all the swords and picked the one you liked. What made you pick this one?
Grandpop- Laughing.
Jennifer—Did you go looking for the one with the most jewels in it?
Grandpop-Laughing. No, I looked them all over and opened them all up. I liked this one the most because this one had the most nicks on it so I figured it had been used to kill someone. I could tell it had been used a bit. I liked that it had all the buckles and straps and what-do-you-call-them so you could tie it to your belt or around your waist. They told us that if those pieces come off, you’ll never get them back on again.
Speaking of telling stories and writing them all down, I should have told you this one rather than the one about the sword.
This was on the Island of Leyte. Colonel Limon Richardson was in charge. There was a guy named Findlay who was in charge of supplies and should have had a yellow striped painted on his back. Colonel Richardson assigned Findlay to take some men and go up to the north to get bamboo for the roofing of the hospital they were building there. You know, they had built the walls with wood but needed bamboo for poles for the roof then they would put leaves and stuff on to make a roof. Well, none of the Americans had ever got that far up north and Findlay was scared and couldn’t carry out his assignment. So I ended up taking 45 pistols and loaded up two six by sixes—that’s that they called the big trucks because they had six wheels on ‘em—and went up the only road there was go to up to the north. There were American guard stations along the route, but finally we got to the last station and the corporal there told us, “no patrols beyond this point. You’re on your own if you go beyond this station.” Well, I had a job to do so I had to go do it and the Lord took care of me. We made it safely to a village and the head of the village came out to talk to us. We didn’t know whether they were going to kill us or what, but the head of the village told me “You’re the first American that has ever been here”. He then proceeded to tell Grandpop, who was a Captain at the time, that they had a Japanese fellow in the prison. They had caught him rummaging through some of their garbage looking for something to eat and they captured him and put him in jail until they could find someone to tell them what to do with him. The head of the village asked Grandpop to give him permission to drag him out into the town square and have him hung.
Grandpop asked to go see the prisoner. When he saw him the prisoner was very, very thin and he bowed over and over and over to Grandpop.
Grandpop told the head of the village to keep him where he was and feed him and that he’d send out a government team to interview him and decide what to do with him—that there were special teams to do just that. When Grandpop got back to camp, he did just that.
They got their bamboo loaded up and headed back to camp.
When they got back to camp, Colonel Richardson told the men to Jettison the bamboo—we’re going to invade Japan. So they did just that—jettisoned the bamboo as they weren’t going to need the hospital they were building there, and they all got on board their ships. Grandpop was on the lead ship of the Armada of Eickelburg 8th Army division out of Leyte.
The Japanese had given up before their ships arrived, and they were told the Japanese pilots were going to take them through the waters filled with land mines. They had no choice but to trust the Japanese pilots—there was no other way for them to navigate through the waters. The Japanese pilots were very observant and they did it—they led the ships through the mined waters.
When their ships pulled into port, all the little Japanese kids were sitting on the docks with two fingers raised in a V as a sign for victory. This made Grandpop laugh.
This led to the memory of another story—it was very cold in Japan in the wintertime so Grandpop and some men needed to go get some coal. They took interpreters to help them get 2 truckloads of coal. When they got to the village where they were supposed to get the coal, the villagers said “we have none”, but Grandpop had seen a huge pile of coal at the entrance to the village. He had the interpreters tell the villagers that they would get paid for the coal—that the government would pay them for it and told them to go load it up onto the trucks. This took place in Finch Haven—they got the coal and brought it back. By this time it was time to go home—Grandpop’s service time was up and they tried to get him to sign on for 3 more years but it was time to go home.
Jennifer—Were you married at this time? Were you and Grandmom already married? So there was something to go home to, right?
Grandpop- Oh yes…I got married (I missed what he said here—either the year, or how long before he left he was married, or what his rank was when he got married or something to that effect) before I left for duty.
What cool stories!! Your GrandPop sounds like an amazing man. I think it’s wonderful when families can preserve the stories of their ancestors. Thank you for sharing.
I had one of those grandpas too! He passed away on April 6th. so your stories remind me of him!
We all wish he would tell us more of these stories, but I can understand that for every fascinating and interesting story there are probably as many or more painful or horrifying stories as well that he keeps inside and all to himself.
My father was a sgt stationed at the 161st Station Hospital, he passed away 2 yrs ago and I just learned he was awarded the bronze star. I am currently researching military records learning all I can about where Dad was at. etc. Thank you for your wonderful story.