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the
>s U. S. forces moved slowly westward after Pearl Harbor attack, the 14th Naval District Intelli' gence Office (DIO) was primarily concerned with seCU rity functions in the Territory of Hawaii, where "P proximately half the population was of JapanesC ancestry. As a collateral mission, however, DIO invest' gators were charged with collecting strategic inform tion. The raw intelligence data were then passed °n to CinCPac through the Joint Intelligence Center' Pacific Ocean Areas (JICPOA). Photographs, tnsp5’ beach information, and knowledgeable informants we supplied to the fleet for operations in the Solon,0'xS’ the Marshalls, the Marianas, and the Philippines as1 Pacific war moved forward.
By directive, the search for strategic intelligence 1 the DIO was stepped up early in 1944. As an invesC^ gating officer on the DIO staff, this writer was assig°e to the Okinawa desk in a general partition of resp°n sibilities for potential objectives. Other officers
assigned to the Japanese mainland, the China coast Philippines, and so on. Information obtained by ^ investigator was turned over to the cognizant desk processing and preparation for submission to Although Okinawa was perhaps only a glean1 some planner’s eye in early 1944, my assignment ^ that desk had advantages. Nearly half of the pe°P. of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii were known to be in11X11 grants or descendents of immigrants from Okina*^ Many had visited their homeland after coming Hawaii for work on the plantations. We though*11 , might have photographs and maps of significance, perhaps oral information about beaches, seawalls, other strategic items.
February 1944, I was sent to the "big island” [Wau) to interrogate prospective informants. Most
(Ha them
Out
inf0:
-------------------------- —
die dlree diaries, prepared after shell-collecting expe- ^o°ns t0 Okin P "
Japan^ ^0o^s were some 1902 charts made by the ^itten
Hnese hydrographic office. Interspersed in the type
were workers on coffee plantations and turned t° be of Okinawan extraction. As a whole, the ^ tniation I picked up was of little value. (After all, tion been studying current velocities and direc-
a°n’ beach gradients, and tidal data with the eyes of ^P^btous planner.) Most of the photographs ex- thelted bY those questioned had been obtained during , lr homeland visits and depicted family groups or r^e societies.
lujuate ’n the same month, after returning to Hono- f Was handed a promising package by a fellow •j,^est*gator. He had interviewed one Ditlev D. thz‘jjUn1, an aScd Dane who wTas a proofreader for shell °n°^u Advertiser. Thaanum had been a scientific hn0v,C°IleCtor ^or more than 50 years and was widely Sct ias a conchologist. He gave the investigator a
tl0ns t0 Okinawa in 1925, 1928, and 1932. Bound
ir°tn ^a^es were many photographs of beaches taken Utad °hshore. These, he told the interviewer, were disc t0 identify the locations where important shell ^Veries had been dredged.
offshCtailed *n tbe typ^dtten text of the diaries were aitd °ff dePtbs m fathoms of many points in the bays shor 1' CtS tbe arca’ identified by distance from the hiariesme.and bP visible landmarks. A report on the ted tr\ W,ltb photos and charts reproduced, was submit- JICP,
My work at the DIO was interrupted in August 1944 by assignment to temporary additional duty as a Japanese prisoner-of-war interrogator on the Leyte operation. Returning to Honolulu in November, I heard scuttlebutt that Okinawa might be an upcoming objective. On a routine liaison trip to Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet (ComPhibsPac) headquarters at Pearl Harbor, I asked the assistant intelligence officer if he had heard about the Thaanum diaries. He hadn’t, and he expressed a desire to see the books. They were shown to a group of ComPhibsPac intelligence officers on 1 January 1945. Their immediate reaction was that the owner must be interviewed. When I told them
EAST CHINA SEA
OKINAWA
KEISE SHIMA
final
value as an informant seemed apparent. On the
llttutu Ziina 1LU ilia auuicaa ailU priOIlC i***- .
Waiting for a plane at San Francisco, I rounded 0 my notes and overlays at the 12th Naval District ligence Office. ComPhibsPac had told me to be - j before 24 January. I reached Pearl Harbor on the 2^ and handed over my report. After it was shown to , Admiral Richmond K. Turner, he came out and as "Can this man travel?”
Six days later I met Dan as he stepped off the clip? at the Honolulu Naval Air Station. He was surp11
. the
to see me; he thought I was stationed at San Dieg°- ^ Navy had phoned him from San Diego, he s3’^’jjys.
the
tP
the
ship was scheduled to be at Eniwetok about 4 Febo^ and Langford was to get on board as soon as p°sS1
staff had moved out in the USS Eldorado (AGC-U)-
Thaanum was nearly 80 years old and of poor memory, they were disappointed.
But, I pointed out, the diaries actually had been typed and bound by Thaanum’s brother-in-law, a resident of Japan at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. He had accompanied Thaanum on all his shell-hunting expeditions. Another contact with Thaanum revealed the identity of his associate—Daniel Boone Langford. He was reported to be working at a Japanese relocation camp on the U. S. mainland.
Captain B. O. Wells, ComPhibsPac intelligence officer said that Langford should be interviewed immediately. But, he said, it must be done without involving the security of the Okinawa operation. I was ordered to go to the mainland to do the job. First, however, I was briefed by JICPOA and ComPhibsPac regarding the specific information desired. The interrogation was to be conducted under the pretense that it was a routine search. The questioning must cover the Japanese coast, Taiwan, and other areas where Langford had collected shells.
I first met Dan Langford on 11 January 1945 at the Gila River Relocation Project, south of Phoenix, Arizona. The 63-year-old civilian had been located by the 11th Naval District Intelligence Office at San Diego. He was employed at the camp as a sanitary' inspector. The project director made a private office available where I could spread out my charts behind a locked door.
A friendly, talkative man, Dan became even more friendly when I told him I had spent four years in Tokyo in the late Twenties. It turned out that we had worked for the same English-speaking newspaper there, although at different times.
As the interview proceeded, I was impressed by Langford’s retentive memory and his apparent detailed knowledge of the beaches around Okinawa. He talked, and I wrote notes for three days, as well as making overlays on my hydrographic charts. Most of these centered on the Okinawa area where he had spent more time. He characterized it as one of the most productive shell-hunting spots in the world.
My rough notes from the Gila River interview reflect the type of information Dan could impart. An example concerns Keise Shima, a small group of three islands located five miles west of Naha:
"Nagannu Shima—sand spit—would not be awash at high tide, but typhoon might cover whole spit with waves. Informant had walked all over outer reef at low tide. Exposed at low tide about 1 foot. Width of outer reef estimated at average of 100 yards— outer reef drops off abruptly to depth of about 1 foot, then slopes rapidly to much greater depths.
Q
North side of spit steep and rocky, about 6 °r foot elevation. West half covered by low bushe* (tournefortia) 2 or 3 feet high. East half barfO’j covered with sand. Outer edge of atoll very jagEea and uneven—surf not bad except in high wit^5. Entrance channel (indicated by overlay) has fn3tV> coral heads, submerged at low tide, but is negotiate by craft up to 3-foot draft.”
(The Keise islands were taken on D-Day, f°ul^ deserted, and "long toms” were emplaced and used t0 bombard the Naha region for several weeks afterwaW Based on the information I was getting, Langt0^
------------------ _ ----------------------- ---------- — -
day of interviews, I questioned him about his heal1 Upon being told it was good, I asked him if he woa be willing to help the Navy later if his services ^c requested.
"Gosh, Van,” he said, "I would do anything l1 jj out in this thing, but I hope they don’t put me beh'n no desk.”
In his conversation, Dan was addicted to Midwest "durns” and "dangs” — and "nohow.” Despite the & that he had been a teacher of English for two deca and had some knowledge of German and Latin, he expressions such as "I didn’t nohow want to go-” was well versed in the technical terminology of ent° mology and biology.
Back in San Diego, I told the DIO that Dan m1# be needed and left his address and phone nun1 ^
_ ltd
bad
asked if he could come and see them for a few Within an hour and a half he was on a plane to ^ West Coast. There he was asked to sign some PsPf[ (one was a contract for $100 a week as a civilian but Dan didn’t know it). Then he was flown t0 Francisco and put on a plane to Hawaii.
By this time Admiral Turner and his ComPh^, „
ibla
I was ordered to deliver him, but first he was sche^^ to go to the Army’s Schofield Barracks for a bne on 1 February.
'^ell.
we dredged right along there in 1932. It’s
abi
a^°ng that canal in the morning and shot my fast right ’ ' ”
£ ‘
on Okinawa could be used for construction
into it.
Br
Approximately 60 staff officers of the U. S. Tenth mY assembled for the briefing as plans neared com- ^tl0n for Operation Iceberg, the assault on Okinawa.
e tall, bald Langford entered the room dressed in ne^ khakis without insignia.
A a cluest'omng was opened by Commodore rew G. Bisset, Navy Civil Engineering Corps, who as attached to the island commander’s staff for the Petation. Pointing to a large chart of the Naha, j lnawa waterfront and harbor area, he asked, "Mr. aifgford, do you know anything about this area?” th i s‘r>” replied Langford, "I know how it looked e ast time I was there in 1932.”
^ ter a few questions about the general details of lef . or> the commodore pointed to a spot on the Slcle of the harbor entrance as shown on the chart. he ° J0u happen to know how the bottom is along he asked.
„^0sh yes,” was the reply. "It’s black, sticky mud.” d° you know?” asked the commodore.
^ve fathoms deep and we lost two dredges in ,L amned sticky bottom,” replied Langford.
"A hat dredge were you using?”
handmade thing we designed ourselves,” said ?.^°fd- ’'A blacksmith in Naha made it for us.” hat were you dredging for?”
,, a shells.” '
the ^Cnt^emen,” said the commodore, turning to face g0jnOt^Cr officers in the group, "If this is true, we’re
Put ^ t0 ^ave t0 move that dock we planned. We can’t tt there ”
ther' hangford,” asked the commodore, pointing to it ^ art> "What about this canal? What do they use water in it clean?”
$tjnp °sh n°,” said Langford. "That’s the durndest, ln^est canal you ever saw, full of dead cats and Wal^and garbage. Many a time I’ve come out and
On tj|£adier General George J. Nold, an Army engineer tiuj^ e "henth Army staff, asked Langford whether the
ffie jnpn Midges and other building needs. Not likely, ffie s °rmant replied. The scrub trees he had seen on BefUt lern Part °f rhe island would not be suitable, the m■ ,r.e che group dispersed, one of the officers in the t *tar^ government group asked Langford how ^oked^aneSe reSard Okinawa natives—whether they ’’H n , Wn on them or considered them Japanese. sider 1 ’ replied Langford, "the Japanese don’t con- them I,6 ^hinawans as Japanese; they hardly consider 0t)e 1Urnans. To the Japanese, Okinawans are only tch above us, and they think we’re barbarians.”
Foul weather delayed our departure from Hawaii for a full day, but Dan was eager and excited when he and I finally got on board a Naval Air Transport Service C-54. I found out why about five hours later when we made a fuel stop at Johnston Island. As we came in over the beach, Dan saw the water rolling over the surf. He made signs to me over the prop racket that it was a good place for seashells. He wanted to go to the beach immediately after we landed, but I restrained him.
Both of us were tired when we arrived at Kwajalein at 0530 the next morning. I had to argue with the air priorities officer about getting to Eniwetok. Finally, impressed more by my top secret officer messenger mail for Admiral Turner than by Dan, the officer put us in a jeep and headed for a Marine DC-3 which was warming up at the end of a runway about a mile away. We were driven at high speed along the beach, and I looked back to see if Dan was holding on in the rear seat. There he was, eyes beaming, pointing out the beach to me. When we reached the plane, he said he was hoping during the whole ride that we would miss the takeoff. He had been waiting for years to try out the beaches in the Marshalls, but never could because the Japanese wouldn’t allow visitors.
Dan’s hopes were not to be realized. The officer driving us knocked at the closed door of the plane. It was opened. After some discussion, two lieutenants (j.g.) were thrown off with their gear, and we were put on board. We stopped at the Roi Island airstrip, then at Engebi, before reaching Eniwetok. At the port director’s office, I left Dan outside and asked him to watch our sacks of guard mail. Some of it was highly classified, and I had been ordered to keep it always within sight. Dan said he would stay with it, so I went inside. The officer-in-charge was out to lunch and no one seemed to know whether we could get a boat to the Eldorado. Then someone mentioned that she was at the other end of the lagoon and getting underway. I screamed for action. The startled lieutenant on duty suggested, "Maybe you can use the crash boat.” He began calling it on the voice radio; it was berthed about a thousand yards offshore. I went outside to see about Dan. The bags of mail were lying on the sand —but no Langford. I looked down toward the fleet landing but failed to see him. Then I looked along the beach and there was Dan, wading out in water over his shoes. He was looking for shells. When I got to him, he had his pockets full of wet shells, and he wasn’t tired anymore. He said he had forgotten about the guard mail.
We boarded the crash boat with our gear. The spray from the 35-knot speed soon drove us into the cabin. Dan immediately stretched out and went to sleep on
thii^
planes. He told him, "Mr. Langford, don’t you
on
evtf
borrowed time, and this is the best show I’ve
seen.
Arm)''
"Upon the eve of your departure I take this
d y
a bunk. When we approached the other end of the lagoon, the Eldorado wasn’t in her charted anchorage but was going through the lagoon entrance about two miles away. In ten minutes we were running 200 yards off her starboard beam. I asked the skipper to call her on the radio and tell them we had an important passenger and guard mail. Soon we moved alongside, and a Jacob’s ladder was thrown over the side.
Dan had an overseas cap but would never wear it, keeping it folded in his belt. I told him he had better put it on before we boarded. He did, but he put it on sidewise, Napoleon-style. After straightening it up, I pointed to the Jacob’s ladder and asked him if he could climb it. Swells were pushing the crash boat up and down. Dan grinned and said, "You go first, Van. I can make it if you can.”
So it was that Dan Langford joined the amphibious command ship, which was headed for Iwo Jima and then Okinawa. Unfortunately for me, my orders were endorsed, the guard mail receipts were signed, and I was sent back to the fleet landing in the crash boat. Dan looked confused and hurt when I climbed down the ladder. I never saw him again.
Back in Honolulu, however, reports began to seep through to me about his activities. Commander Joe Pearson, intelligence officer on Rear Admiral William
H. P. Blandy’s staff, came back and told me Dan put aboard the USS Estes (AGC-12) for the Iwo jltai operation. Once, he said, while they were off Iwo, air raid was underway over the transports. He fou(1 Dan hanging over the rail staring up at the attacking you ought to have your helmet on?” Dan laugh^ him and said, "Commander, I’m already living
After Iwo Jima, Dan went on to Okinawa. Dufl1^ the trip he was often in conference with staff off>tttS On 4 April, three days after the initial landings Okinawa, Dan wrote, "A letter once in a while wou be mighty welcome, but do not misunderstand me am having the most glorious time imaginable. I ” no idea how much longer this will last, but it can last too long to suit me.” .1
Writing from the USS Teton. (AGC-14) Rear Adm1 John L. Hall’s flagship for Amphibious Group 12, said, "This is the third ship I have been on and bn Sam has a mighty' fine bunch aboard. Was ashore t< and had the pleasure of collecting my first shell trip . . . unless they keep me under guard I shal out on the reef occasionally ... I am hoping s°
day we may be out on a reef together.”
The Navy subsequently loaned Dan to the and he joined the XXIV Corps on its movement acr° the island. For a time he lived in a tent with correspondents. Don Senick, Fox Movietone man, , a tent-mate with Dan for a period. He told me Dan refused to go to a foxhole during air raids, si],^c he was too old to be crawling around in hole5- ^ was the craziest old guy I ever saw,” reported Se°\| The Army didn’t think so. After the operation^ well underway, Major General John R. Hodge, manding the XXIV Corps, wrote Dan:
of
portunity of expressing to you the appreciatin'1^ the XXIV Corps for the valuable services which ; have so willingly and devotedly rendered out in the invasion of Okinawa Shima.
"Your knowledge of the native dialect an- familiarity with native customs and the terrain been of inestimable value in the planning and & tion of this initial landing on the 'sacred 50 Japan.’ ^
"The officers of my staff and others who ha' ^ associated with you have expressed nothing ^ut ,) highest praise and admiration for your friend!)
helpful attitude.
all
w'i5*1
"As you take leave from our ranks, we you Godspeed and good luck.”
j ------------------------------------- “ ---------------------------------- 7
born ^ked f° Sa^ r iat was t^ie ^rst wb*lte child
bim ,ln ^ county- LLis native individualism brought
in/p^ Went t0 Hawaii. He eventually got a job teach- t;, ^gUsh to the natives. In 1897 the Hawaiian na-
tlVg j. llall VLo. Ill iO y! L11C I 14W ailall lltL
for 1C^n t ^now much English, and the requirements ^eachers apparently were not extensive.
^ ^oved the outdoors and was particularly fasci-
e<a by shells :_________ t_j____ ••
^ 1907 i .
h0ri0r ’ anc* ^an was 25 years old. He graduated with
he tIS’being third in a class of 47 people. Afterward he st ° a )°b with the board of agriculture, where jv . H years. His specialty was plant quarantine. Thaant^le t’me °f Langford’s employment, he and lands 'p1 bunted shells throughout the Hawaiian Is- speciesloSetber, they discovered more than 800 new and sS sklells. They made careful notes of all of these, Mu*. 016 °b tbe notes were published by the National ^ in Washington.
^hadk^ Hawaii in 1919 and went to Japan, where een promised a job by some American friends.
an came back from Okinawa in May 1945. After
*n ^onolulu, working part time for the Office
trateg'c Services, he was again picked up by the
vy and sent to the trust territories as staff entomolo-
0j.St’ He was stationed in Guam and Truk for a couple
years but wrote me later from his home at Hayama,
oVg' When the politicians and missionaries came
Cr> * came out with the Navy. We always have an
tra bowl of rice and a mat on the floor for Navy men Th ■ r ■
■ nat is one of the great pleasures we enjoy.”
pj an Langford died 28 May 1954 at his home at ^ayama, where he had lived for many of the 22 years spent in Japan before the war. Prior to his passing, str CVer’ * bad learned much about the life of this ge and unforgettable character.
0 2 SO<^ shanty on a barm ln North Dakota,
Vn
01 IIat0 conflict with his father, so he left home at
cachers apparently were not extensive.
Han '
Patad'^ S^C^S ancl Insects. Hawaii is a shell collectors’ for 1SC! anc^ ^an sPent a lot °f bis spare time looking sban^C'menS tbe exquisitely tinted and beautifully in , sbells that can be found along the beaches and InC shal*ow waters offshore. the° p16 course °f bis expeditions about Oahu and Tjla°t er Islands of the group, Dan met Ditlev D. hada"Um> a quiet scholarly man 15 years his senior who ing same insatiable curiousity about shell collect- ffiey f C an<^ ^an Hked each other from the start, and fears a friendship that lasted for more than 40
had baanum eventually married Dan’s sister, who of tk°”?e 0ver from the mainland with other members arnily a few years after Dan arrived.
He Thaanum opened up new fields for Dan.
Pursu^fan t0 see sbeH collecting as a serious scientific Plied f Reeling the need for more education, he ap' 0r admission to the Normal School. This was
The job turned out to be that of a copyreader on the Japan Advertiser, an American-owned, English-speaking newspaper in Tokyo. He soon moved up to a position as reporter and was assigned to cover the waterfront area in Yokohama.
After two years with the Advertiser, Dan moved over to the Japan Times, which offered him a salary increase. But in 1922 he was fired, so in the fall of that year, he applied for a position as English instructor at Keio University. The dean of the university frankly told Dan he wasn’t qualified for the job, but he could have it on a probationary status simply because there was no one else available. It took a war between the U. S. and Japan to dislodge him from the position 20 years later.
Since Dan worked only six months of each year, he spent most of his free time hunting shells. He traveled as far north as Sakhalin and as far south as Okinawa in search of shell specimens. He amassed an extensive collection of marine shells, which he sold just before the war for a large sum. Fortunately, he had the money deposited in a U. S. bank. During many summers he worked as an assistant to a U. S. entomologist stationed in Japan. At intervals he did entomological research for the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association.
Thaanum came to Japan in 1925, and he and Dan made their first trip to Okinawa and other islands of the Ryukyus group. The two conchologists made later expeditions to Okinawa in 1928 and 1932. After each of these trips, Dan typed two copies of their notes, including accounts of their day-to-day experiences. He pasted in photographs and charts and then bound two copies of the diary. One copy was sent to Thaanum in Hawaii.
The 1932 edition of the diary was entitled "'Japan ’32” and had a subtitle, "Japan—Never Again.” The preface read as follows:
"Memories of ’32 fill me with a smouldering rage. To one who is a casual visitor and not acquainted with Japanese police officials, their childish actions and silly questions are so absurd that it is all considered a big joke with mental reservations as to their lack of intelligence. But for one who must remain over here for years, it is no joking matter.
"The excuse and apology made by officials for libelous press attacks on foreigners, especially Americans, are unwelcome. All are pictured as enemies, potential or actual, and to them are ascribed all obstacles in the path of the peaceful and profitable development of the country.”
Dan inserted a translation of an article in an Okinawa newspaper: "Higher detectives glitter their eyes on the four Americans who are taking photos of the land
was told about the war between the U. S. and Japan’ and then he didn’t believe it.
In June 1942, Langford was sent back to A meric1 Along with many other prisoners, he boarded the
Swedish exchange ship Gripsholm on 17 June
and sea. They say they are collecting sea shells and inspecting the landscape . .
Incidents described in the 1932 diary reflect the deterioration of U. S.-Japanese relations and explain why few Americans were allowed to visit Okinawa throughout the Thirties.
On earlier expeditions to Okinawa and other Japanese beaches, Langford had been allowed to hunt shells with impunity. After all, Emperor Hirohito himself was an eminent student of marine biology. Speaking fluent Japanese, Dan often took occasion to subtly point out this similarity of avocations to people who questioned his shell-hunting activities on Japanese beaches.
On Monday morning, 8 December 1941, Dan left home to attend his classes at the university. He had read no newspapers, heard no radio reports. It was still 7 December in Hawaii. Two military policemen picked him up. He was taken to a prison with no clue as to why he was seized. He was kept in solitary' confinement from then until June 1942, with no contact with the outside world. It was not until May 1942 that he
To Langford, having lived in Japan since 1919, this 1927 Tokyo street scene was commonplace, with American tourists clearly in the driver’s seat there as throughout Asia. But, five short years later, the ride was just about over for all Westerners—and Langford's diary bitterly recorded the growing anti-American sentiment.
and
reached New York in August via an around-the-wod^ passage.
Of the trip home, Dan recalled only one inciden ■ explaining, "I was still dopey from six months 111 solitary'.” He related the story:
"You know if there’s anything I hate, it’s seeing good seashells draped around the neck of S0^C durned female. Well, I hadn’t seen any shells six months. So one night there was a dance up °jj the first-class deck of the Gripsholm. I went up in was wandering around when I noticed these she on a woman. I moved a little closer to see "'jj1 they were. Gosh, they were a rare species of 3 hitian land shells. I couldn’t take my eyes off of etn' I’d never seen more than three of that species all my life, and they were in collections. And here she had a whole string of ’em around her neck, had a low-necked dress on. I guess I should W said something, but I wasn’t used to talking. s°^ edged right up to her with my eyes fixed on ^ biggest shells, which were at the bottom of c 1 string.
"I don’t know what that durned woman thoug
like
Folio
adding:
had in mind, but she yelled. The guy who had een with her came a-running with his fists up. So S°t the hell away from there, but gosh, I would to have got my hands on those shells.”
3wing his return to the mainland, Langford was ^ployed as a consultant by Army Intelligence in ashington for about six months. Apparently his value Qln^0rrnant for amphibious intelligence was not rec- eniZe<^ at that early stage of the war. Later he was ^Pfoyed at a Japanese relocation camp in Arkansas. RelCn c^osech he was transferred to the Gila River y, °Cacion Project. Here he was first interviewed by the Svy as outlined above.
his n association with me during the war and in Hany letters both during and after the conflict, Dan in u °r<^ was reficent about his marital life. A story tey1 C ^eW ^or^ P-*ath dated 21 December 1954, hied3 ' t*aat a Pethi°n h°r probate of his will had been 1Ia Surrogate’s Court, Manhattan. cjQe petition, filed five months after his death, dis- chat he had left $41,000 to his common-law wife held °^ered to trade her life for his when the Japanese ^ him as a suspected spy during World War II. Cc°rnpanying the petition was a letter which asked ^223 trUSt ^ Set UP ^°r Chiyoko Sasaki, who "since forti ^3S ^een a tme, loyal and faithful wife in all but e' The letter further disclosed that his legal wife ttyoSerted and abandoned” him in 1922 and took their children with her. They had been married in Hilo, a^aii in 1914.
Qy ^etter Langford wrote that when he met
a d^?^° *n 1922, he was "unemployed, penniless and was on.
The Beachcomber and the Beachhead 71
"At the outbreak of the war I was seized by the military police and kept in solitary confinement for six months. Chiyoko went to the police and demanded that they release me. She told them she was the head of the family. At that time this loyalty was a supreme crime and punishable by death without trial.
"I was under suspicion as a spy. So she demanded to give her life for me. Few human beings would make such a sacrifice. Fortunately for her, they refused her demand.
"It is only fair to acknowledge that whatever property I have accumulated is the result of her efforts, work and privation, and without her would not have existed.”
It was a strange coincidence that took Dan Langford to far-away Okinawa years ago when no one in his right mind would have dreamed that some day we would give 22,000 American lives and millions of dollars to capture the island. How much he contributed to our conquest of the objective can be measured, perhaps, in a letter he treasured until his death. Dated 4 May 1945, it reads:
"From: Commander Amphibious Forces, U. S. Pacific
Fleet
To: Mr. Daniel B. Langford
Subj: Services
1. Your services to this Command and associated Army units, based upon intimate knowledge of certain Japanese territory and the Japanese people, has been invaluable.
2. The Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet, wishes to express his appreciation for the enthusiasm and efficiency with which you discharged valuable services to your country.”
' R. K. TURNER
A 1925 graduate of the University of Missouri journalism school, Commander Vanzant worked in Japan from 1925 to 1929 as advertising representative for the Tokyo newpaper The Japan Advertiser. He returned to the United States in 1930 and worked as publisher and advertising representative for publications in Texas until called to active duty with the Navy in 1943 as an intelligence officer. After World War II he reverted to inactive status and became editor and publisher of the Gaines County News in Seagraves. Texas. He held that post until 1967 when he began his present job as representative of Pioneer Book Publishers, Inc., of Seagraves, Texas. His duties entail editing and publishing county history books. Commander Vanzant continued his Naval Reserve affiliation until retiring in 1961.