The Hunt for Taizo Sakai - The Most Important POW on Iwo Jima Taizo Sakai was the Japanese communications officer for General Tadamichi Kuribayash on Iwo Jima. As the brutal battle wound down in mid-March 1945, nearly every one of the more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers were dieing; Sakai came to believe suicide was dumb, and that life was worth living. He surrendered early in the morning March 17, 1945 barely clothed, with nothing to eat or drink. He befriended two American soldiers who fed and clothed him, gave one of them his treasured family photos. He became the most important Japanese POW taken on Iwo Jima. For 63 years, both the Americans remembered their friend Taizo Sakai. This video tells the story of Stephen Lopardo (San Diego, CA) finally finding the Sakai family and returning the photos he gave to his father. Now in 2008-2009 Sakai's story has been shared by General Fred Haynes with President Obama, Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden and John McCain as an example of how if you treat prisoners humanely, it is the most effective intelligence gathering tool. Moreover, respect for human rights is the only right thing to do. The Japanese were the worst mortal enemy Americans had ever faced, one that first used airplanes and suicide bombing as a weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. In this case, an enemy soldier emerged from a cave from the worst battle of WW II, and instead of being tortured, he forged a human bond of friendship with 2 soldiers, a bond so strong, that it carried on into the hearts of two generations of two families into the next century. Both soldiers and their sons carried on a search from into 2008 for their long lost friend, a friend they had known for only several hours. Lt. Hutch Harnsberger transported Sakai to safety that day and considered saving his life the great thing he ever did. Steve Harnsberger - email flood31 at gmail dot com
