we met Naomi-san on Mission 4, she showed us where her house was right here in this little village right in front of a beautiful white sandy beach. when the tsunami hit, nothing in this village was left standing. her house totally wiped out! her son survived on the rooftop of his elementary school, his daughter in the tunnel near the mountain, and her husband is still one of the missing.
naomi-san’s husband had a job. it was to close the gate in the case of a tsunami so the water doesn’t flood the village. while everybody was running towards higher ground, her husband ran to lower the gate. as he was lowering it, the firemen drove by and yelled at him to evacuate. he didn’t. he stayed and did his job which was to lower the gate. the tsunami came and he was never seen since then. it makes me so sad to see that the gate had only a little more until it was closed.
they made a memorial for him where he was last seen. i had the chills going up there but felt like i had to pay my respect to a true hero. i placed a beer down, i prayed, and if nobody was around, i would have broke down like a little baby. i just think about his lovely wife, and his 2 beautiful kids that are waiting for him to come home. i still think about naomi-san’s husband all the time.
we stayed at the naomi-san’s mothers house the night before. they treated us like family. after all they went through, they still had the courage to open their hearts to us. the stories we were told that night still gives me chicken skin. the stories still so fresh in my mind. i’m so amazed how strong the japanese are. it makes me so proud of my heritage.
Mission 5 starts in a few days. we will go around to the same areas and report to the world what’s going on. i’m hoping to give you all good news. We Are One Forever!
