Letter: Remember forgiveness at Christmas

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

Sixty years ago -- Dec. 7, 1941 -- Commander Mitsuo Fuchida led the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor. Fuchida later described the sinking of five American battleships and the death of 2,300 Americans as "the most thrilling exploit of my career."

As a result, Sgt. Jacob DeShazer of the U.S. Army Air Corrps volunteered to join a special squadron -- "Doolittle Raiders" -- to take the war directly to the Japanese in a bombing raid over Tokyo. DeShazer's plane ran out of fuel, and he spent the next 40 months as a prisoner of Japan. DeShazer wrote about his confinement in "I Was a Prisoner of Japan."

Even though the two men had been enemies, Fuchida had admired the courage of the Doolittle Raiders and read a synopsis of DeShazer's biography. He admired DeShazer's Christian testimony and obtained a Bible. Fuchida was struck by Jesus' words "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)

Fuchida later wrote. "I was impressed that I was certainly one of those for whom Jesus had prayed. The many men I had killed had been slaughtered in the name of patriotism, for I did not understand the love of Christ."

Today, our individual actions may not be on the same level as Fuchida's, yet we have all done wrong things. During this Christmas season, may we remember the forgiveness that awaits us, as well.

Merry Christmas!

MARSHA D. NORTON