<APPLAUSE>
Every time I see Unca Tojo spout off his ignernt prejudiced crap, I'm reminded of a lovely woman I was blessed to
meet and know, many years ago now...
Her name? In popular WWII history, she was known as "Tokyo Rose" - her real name was Iva Toguri...
She was in Japan, visiting elderly relatives, when Pearl Harbor happened - so she was stuck in
Japan. She was coerced into making English - language propaganda radio broadcasts in order to survive...
After the war the Americans imprisoned her under false pretenses, she spent years being hounded, and it was
not until 1977 that President Ford pardoned her...
She eventually moved to Chicago, opening a lovely Japanese mini - department store, "J. Toguri Mercantile" at
the corner of Clark and Belmont, south of Wrigley Field It prospered, and she raised a loving family... they bought
property cheap in that area when it was a dump, and became wealthy when the area gentrified... they more
than deserved their eventual good fortune...
I met her in the late 70's, she was good friends with an uncle of mine. After that, whenever I visited her store, she'd come
out and say, "Oh, Greg, HONEY, how are you!?"... we'd chat and have some laughs, a cup of tea and a cookie...
She was not one bit bitter, despite that bad hands she'd been dealt. She'd say, "You know, I have a nice life...", she
never mentioned the past bad things...
She was a friend and mentor to many. She helped many who were down on their luck - she was a saint IMNSHO...
At the age of 90 she was still in her store, working four days per week - she worked her ass off until a month before
she passed, she had BOUNDLESS energy, and a zest for life... her memorial service had HUNDREDS in attendance...
So we say to you UNCA TOJO - why don't you take a lesson from lovely Iva, instead of being the HORSE'S ARSE that
you are...
She had a STRENGTH of CHARACTER that you LACK...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iva_Toguri_D%27Aquino
"Toguri was born in Los Angeles, and was a daughter of Japanese immigrants. Her father, Jun Toguri, had come to
the U.S. in 1899, and her mother, Fumi, in 1913. Iva was a Girl Scout, and was raised as a Christian...
Tokyo Rose ceased to be merely a symbol during September 1945 when Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American
disc jockey for a propagandist radio program, attempted to return to the United States. Toguri was accused of being
the "real" Tokyo Rose, arrested, tried, and became the seventh person in U.S. history to be convicted of treason...
Toguri was eventually paroled from prison in 1956, but it was more than twenty years later that she received an official
presidential pardon for her role in the war...
After World War II ended in 1945, the U.S. military detained Toguri for a year before releasing her due to lack of evidence.
Department of Justice officials agreed that her broadcasts were "innocuous". But when Toguri tried to return to the
United States, an uproar ensued because Walter Winchell (a powerful broadcasting personality) and the American Legion
lobbied relentlessly for a trial, prompting the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to renew its investigation of
Toguri's wartime activities. Her 1949 trial resulted in a conviction on one of eight counts of treason...
In 1974, investigative journalists found that important witnesses had asserted that they were forced to lie during
testimony. They stated that FBI and US occupation police had coached them for more than two months about
what they should say on the stand, and that they had been threatened with treason trials themselves if they did
not cooperate. U.S. President Gerald Ford pardoned Toguri in 1977 based on these revelations and earlier
issues with the indictment...
On January 15, 2006, the World War II Veterans Committee awarded Toguri its annual Edward J. Herlihy Citizenship
Award, citing "her indomitable spirit, love of country, and the example of courage she has given her fellow
Americans".
According to one biographer, Toguri found it the most memorable day of her life...
Toguri died of natural causes in a Chicago hospital on September 26, 2006, at the age of 90..."
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