Jacob Daniel DeShazer was a Christian missionary in Japan who participated in the Doolittle Raid as a staff sergeant.
10 Facts About Jacob DeShazer
1.
2.
On 7 December 1941, while peeling potatoes, Jacob DeShazer heard the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor over the radio.
3.
Jacob DeShazer was injured in his fall into a cemetery and along with the rest of his crew, he was captured the very next day by the Japanese.
4.
Jacob DeShazer was severely beaten and malnourished while three of the crew were executed by a firing squad, and another died of slow starvation.
5.
Jacob DeShazer's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by Emperor Hirohito.
6.
Jacob DeShazer was awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart for his part in the Doolittle Raid.
7.
Jacob DeShazer's conversion included learning a few words of Japanese and treating his captors with respect, which resulted in the guards reacting in a similar fashion.
8.
In 1959, Jacob DeShazer moved to Nagoya to establish a Christian church in the city he had bombed.
9.
Jacob DeShazer retired after 30 years of missionary service in Japan and went back to his home town in Salem, Oregon where he spent the last years of his life in an assisted living home with his wife, Florence.
10.
On 15 March 2008, Jacob DeShazer died in his sleep at the age of 95, leaving his wife and five children: Paul, John, Mark, Carol, and Ruth.