ELKADER, Iowa -- In 1943, 17-year-old Robert Buckner joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Two years later, Buckner was involved in the bloody campaign to take the island of Iwo Jima, capturing vital airstrips that gave damaged bombers returning from raids on Japan a much-needed place to land.
When the war ended, Buckner was part of the occupation forces on Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan.
"We were stationed just outside of Kumamoto, which was a large city that was also the capital of the region," Buckner said.
In early 1946, Buckner and some other Marines went into a small peasant village located on the outskirts of the city. It was basically a feudal village, formerly owned by a landowner who controlled what the villagers could grow and how much they would receive for their efforts,
"I saw a Japanese flag by a hut," he recalled. "A Japanese woman was standing next to the hut, and I asked her if I could buy the flag. She obviously didn't understand me, and from Japanese propaganda during the war, she probably thought we were some kind of monsters."
Through a series
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"I realize now that she was really intimidated by us," he said.
Returning to the United States, Buckner settled down, got married and continued his education. Like millions of other World War II veterans, he just wanted to get on with his life. The Japanese flag was put in a box, half forgotten, for several years.
Buckner eventually became superintendent of the Central Community School District in Elkader. During his tenure as superintendent, he learned more about his souvenir.
"About 25 years ago, a group of Japanese visited our school," he recalled. "I showed them the flag I had, and I was told that the writing on it appeared to be a family history record, which was apparently common in Imperial Japan."
Buckner occasionally found a use for the flag when he would speak to history classes about the war, using the flag as a visual aid. For the most part, however, it remained stowed away in a box in the upstairs of his home.
Beginning a few years ago, the ex-Marine began seeing articles in various publications concerning veterans returning war souvenirs to the relatives of their former enemies.
"I saw that some were returning flags, if the relatives could be found," he said. "I remembered what the Japanese tourists had said about the flag and the family history that was recorded on it, so I decided to see if the family could be found."
It was a highly doubtful shot, since Buckner did not know the name of the village where he got the flag, and the city of Kumamoto had grown to a population of 670,000.
Last June 5, Buckner packaged up the flag and sent it to the mayor of Kumamoto.
"I sent a letter along with the package, asking the mayor if he would help find the family," Buckner said. "I realized chances were slim, but I thought it would be worth the effort."
The task was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. The needle, however, was a very large one.
On Aug. 5, Buckner received a letter from Mizuho Fukushima, the granddaughter of the woman Buckner bought the flag from. As it turned out, the mayor of Kumamoto knew exactly what family owned the flag because Fukushima was the leader of Japan's Social Democratic Party and a member of the House of Councilors, the upper house of Japan's Diet (congress).
The flag had belonged to her father, who was 12 years old when Buckner and his comrades visited the village in 1946. Although her father had died in December 2008, Fukushima said her family was grateful to receive the relic from the past.
"My mother is very pleased to see the flag," she wrote to Buckner. "I was moved by the strange stroke of fate. The flag revealed a trace of history and untold fact of my family. The flag will be a precious commemorative.
"My father has died, and that fact makes me think deeper about the facts and thoughts of the people who wrote down names and messages (on the flag) then. Please take good care of yourself."
Buckner was pleased that his gesture brought such good results.
"Thinking about it, it's really amazing that in two generations a woman from that small peasant village could rise to become a leader of a political party in Japan," he said. "It shows how far they progressed, going from a near-feudal system to a thriving democracy in a little over 60 years.
"Getting the flag back to the family gives some closure to things. I'm just happy it found its way back home."
