Innumerable tales of heroism and sacrifice have emerged from World War II. One such tale will be told to Japanese television crews when they descend on Hailey this weekend.
Retired U.S. Navy Commander Daniel Decker has been living in Hailey since 1985. During the war, he served as an officer aboard the USS Spadefish, an attack submarine credited with sinking 29 Japanese ships in the Sea of Japan and the China from July 23, 1944, to July 4, 1945.
U.S. submarines sank 1,113 Japanese merchant ships and 201 Imperial Japanese Navy vessels during the war.
Nagoya Broadcasting Network of Japan is coming to the valley to interview Decker about one ship in particular that was torpedoed by the Spadefish. The Tamatsu Maru, a troop transport, was carrying 4,820 sailors and civilians when it was attacked by the Spadefish on Aug. 19, 1944. Only 65 people were rescued before the ship went down.
"I have been told that the reason they are making this documentary is to show that war is evil, and this is the only reason that I have agreed to do it," said Decker, who will turn 90 in February. "Nobody in the military wants to fight, believe me. I joined the Navy because I wanted to get an education. I graduated from Annapolis Naval Academy just in time for the war."
Decker and 84 other seamen went on five patrols in the Spadefish, sinking three Japanese warships, 26 Japanese merchant ships and several small cargo vessels.
"All the boats in that area were considered enemies. It was a war," he said.
Decker was in charge of a deck gun, used to shoot the smaller ships below the water line before boarding them. After searching them for mine charts and other valuable information, they were set afire.
"We took a few prisoners. We could have taken thousands, but we didn't have the resources," Decker said.
The prisoners slept in torpedo tubes and polished brass on the boat.
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"We taught them some terrible things to say to the Marines when they got to prison," Decker said with a grin.
Decker said the Tamatsu Maru was part of a Japanese naval convoy of ships headed to Manila in the Philippines before heading into the South Pacific to fight against Allied forces. He said the Japanese television producers said they would be critical in the documentary of the Japanese military at the time.
"They said the military should have done a better job of protecting those ships," Decker said.
Following the war, Decker stayed on in the U.S. Navy as an aviator, helping to design anti-submarine aircraft. He was stationed from 1959 to 1960 at a U.S. naval air station in Atsuki, Japan, where he formed the first racially integrated Little League baseball team.
"The boys would learn one another's languages. You start them young and they'll be friends forever," said Decker, who never misses the televised Little League World Championships in Williamsport, Pa.
While living in Japan, Decker and his family had a maid named Kazako who lost her husband when his aircraft carrier, the Jinyo, was sunk in 1944. Decker and his crew had sunk the ship with four torpedoes.
"I never told her," Decker said.
Decker returned to the United States and worked on a missile program for the Pentagon before retiring with the rank of commander, completing a 25-year career in the Navy.
Decker said he has a "restless curiosity" and continues to study ideas about war and peace.
"We should never have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan," he said. "They were beat. Tokyo was burnt to the ground. We had them surrounded. We shouldn't have done it."
Decker also is critical of current military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"It's a disgrace. We have no business being over there," he said. "World War II was different. We were attacked."
No one who served on the USS Spadefish was killed in action, while more than 3,500 other U.S. submariners were killed on 52 other U.S. submarines during World War II.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
Hailey resident Daniel Decker served aboard the USS Spadefish submarine during World War II. He will be interviewed this weekend by Japanese television. Photo by Tony Evans
