Frank Fujita
| Frank Fujita | |
|---|---|
Frank Fujita as a sergeant
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|
| Nickname(s) | Foo |
| Born |
October 20, 1921 Lawton, Oklahoma |
| Died | 1996 (aged 74–75) |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Rank | Sergeant |
| Battles/wars | |
| Other work | Author |
Frank Fujita (October 20, 1921 – 1996) was a Japanese American soldier of the US Army who, during his service in World War II became one of only two Japanese American combat personnel to be captured by the Japanese. Part of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery of the 36th Infantry Division (which was later known as the "Lost Battalion"), Texas National Guard, he was captured during the Battle of Java when the Dutch surrendered.
A prisoner held in Japan for three and a half years, Fujita later published a memoir of his experience, Foo: A Japanese-American Prisoner of the Rising Sun. His work, along with those of John David Provoo and W. F. Matthews, fellow 'Lost Battalion' prisoners of war, has served as a useful historical reference for the experience of American prisoners of war held in Japan.
Fujita's father was born in a village near Nagasaki, Japan, and after learning English while at school he was sent to the United States to learn American methods of agriculture. Arriving in June 1914, he took a Western name and became embroiled in gambling in Los Angeles. He worked for the Salvation Army before training as a chef on the Rock Island Rail Road. He met his future wife, Isa Pearl Elliott, in a hotel within Rock Island, Illinois, and the two were married in 1919.
Fujita was the second of five children, born on October 20, 1921 in Lawton while his father worked in the food industry in Oklahoma, enhancing his income further with gambling wins and moonlight in artistry and sign painting. Fujita and his siblings were encouraged to absorb the culture of the United States and become "one hundred percent American." Fujita joined the American Boy Scouts upon moving to El Reno, and survived well under his father's healthy income during the Great Depression. It was at this time that he earned the nickname "Foo", based on a childhood pet. His drawings of this cat attracted local media interest from The Abilene Reporter News in 1937, a local newspaper from Abilene, Texas. He obtained work as a cartoonist for a local school newspaper, and as a stage hand in various theatre plays.
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