Soldier for Life: Ranger Tom Tsubota
HONOLULU, HI (Jonnie Melillo Clasen) – Tom Tsubota, the oldest WW II Merrill’s Marauder, who turned 102 on Jan. 14, is recovering at Straub Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii after suffering a heart attack earlier this week.
“On Monday (January 23) he went into the hospital with a mild heart attack,” said his son, Leighton, 64, the youngest of Tsubota’s three children who all live in Hawaii. “As soon as he can start walking, he’ll be coming home, which we hope will be in a couple of days.”
Fluent in Japanese, Tsubota is the only one of the 14 Japanese American — or Nisei — interpreters still living who served in Merrill’s Marauders. Their language skills were crucial to Merrill’s Marauder success in the China-Burma-India Theater, known today as the “forgotten theater of WW II.”
http://www.shadowspear.com/2017/01/soldier-for-life-ranger-tom-tsubota/
