By Robert R. Schwarz
God's mercy always comes to us by way of
other
people …( anonymous )
More
than 50,000 veterans are homeless…
( annual
homeless assessment report to Congress )
June, 1969 , Mekong Delta
 |
| A wounded comrade being rescued by a platoon of Capt. Mukoyama ( in center at rear )...UPI photo by Shunsuke Akatsuka |
In June of
1969 in the 14th year of the Vietnam
War, 150 American soldiers of Company B, 4th Battalion of the 39th
Infantry, 9th Division, are led
silently through the Mekong Delta jungle
in search of their Vietcong enemy. Their three platoons are being led by Capt. James Hidefumi Mukoyama, Jr. , who will
became one of the youngest major generals in the U.S. Army .
Each man
carries from 25 to 30 pounds of gear,
which includes hand grenades and M16 semi- automatic rifles ; Capt. Mukoyama's
weapon is an AR15, a modified version of his men's rifles. The enemy which they are about to encounter
kills with the Russian-developed , semi-automatic and gas-operated AK-47 (also
known as the Kalashnikov ).
Since early morning
Company B has moved in a fan-shaped patrol with fox-like alertness, for this
particular enemy are guerrillas who operate in small units of perhaps 27 men who have shed military
uniforms and attack by ambush. Their strategy is simply—but always violently—to disrupt operations of larger American units
and then flee quickly.
The sun is much higher than when Company B started out
and has likely drawn the Fahrenheit up to 90 and the humidity to a Delta average of
84 degrees. Their captain, who has a
report that " the enemy is in the
area ", keeps the patrol moving aggressively through the dense jungle of palm
trees and impenetrable walls of bush-thickets. If anything diminishes the men's mission
focus, it is the sudden , occasional
monkey screeches and exotic bird
squawks. Nearby are the Delta rice
paddies and near them disease-ridden swamp
waters with snakes, leeches, and malarial mosquitoes. Here
and there the Vietcong have placed a skull
and crossed bones on it to warn their own men of a booby trap. But Company
B has discovered that some of the signs falsely indicate booby traps and purposely exist
to detour this American patrol closer
to harm's way . But after ten
months of combat in this delta, Capt.
Mukoyama's men are hardened to the environment and know how to cope with any threat.
Capt. Mukoyama would later recall that the constant pumping of his adrenaline left little room for fear or doubts about the value of this
patrol mission. Freedom is not free, he
would tell himself. Yet , as the men now neared the likelihood of a
fire fight, some of them no doubt experienced , if for a split second , a violent flashback of a past fire fight. For their captain, it was that ground-concealed hand grenade booby trap that exploded, mortally wounding one of his men and piercing Capt. Mukoyama's arm
with shrapnel . And there was that
tripped booby trap which wounded six of his
men , killing one of them— it was the only fatality suffered by his
company in Vietnam. [ see the dramatic
photo in this article of that soldier being
rescued , with Capt. Mukoyama in the
center holding his rifle ]
The Moral Crisis of Killing
 |
| Capt. Mukoyama at Fire Support Base at My Tho, Vietnam in June, 1969 |
(In 2015 , this captain will edit the publication ,
"They Don't Receive Purple Hearts
" , ©2015 Military Outreach USA . In
the publication , he and Joseph Palmer, another
veteran and the manual's author, share their first-hand knowledge about a
soldier's moral injury and the knowledge they gleaned from 79 experts and other sources. )
The
military culture, like any other culture, has its own sets of
rules
and codes. What makes the military culture different ,
however, is that it teaches, trains, encourages, and
rewards
the
killing of other human beings….Service members, of any
military,
are conditioned to act without considering the moral
repercussions
of their action; they are enabled to kill without
making
a conscious decision to do so. In and of
itself, such
training
is appropriate and morally permissible. ..( from "They
Don't
Receive Purple Hearts " )
The men of Company B keep firing and advancing until they are
about 20 yards away from the guerrillas ,
who soon retreat. The fire fight lasts 10,
maybe 15 minutes at most. There are no
American casualties—this time. Three dead, bloodied Vietcong bodies lie at the feet of Capt. Mukoyama . He stands over
them for a moment or two without any
compassion, seeing them —he would later admit—as lifeless animals .
( more from "They Don't Receive Purple
Hearts ) Conscience
can be overridden or suppressed by circumstance or emotional
condition.
…."The rush of battle " may cause conscience to be
"
blanked out". It may be only after the battle is over that one's
conscience will play on the mind and
begin to cause guilt or shame.
He quickly shouts orders to his platoon leaders: "
Reorganize your units ! Take care of any
wounded ! Redistribute ammunition! " Then , aware that in the wake of a combat victory
is when soldiers are most at risk of a counter-attack, he leads his troops away...
 |
| In Vietnam, a brigadier general awards Capt. Mukoyama the Bronze Star |
Decades later , Capt. Mukoyama remembers this scene during our interview, especially
what happened immediately after his evacuation orders to his men… " I'm saying all this stuff, and then I stop and look at
those three bodies at my feet and realize that something had happened to me.
Something had hardened my heart, where only moments earlier these were
live human beings , children of God ; they had
families, they had loved ones, they had emotions, and yet I was treating them like they were bumps
on a log. Then I remembered Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, where He told us to
pray for our enemies. So in the middle of
all this stuff going on, I just
said a silent prayer for the three Vietcong and their families—and
for myself. I didn't make a big ceremony
out of this. I didn't get on my knees. All of this maybe lasted 45 seconds,
but it remained me with me for the rest of my life. "
That captain today will, with a joyful tone, tell you that in that prayerful moment he avoided being permanently wounded morally.
It was a grace which would shape the
rest of his life….
November 7, 2015…46 Years Later
My
soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to Sheol
(
the world of the dead )…Thou has put me in the depths of
the
pit, in the regions of the dark and deep…( Psalm 88:3 , 6 )
 |
| Some of the 200 veterans on Nov7, 2015 in Arlington Heights, IL who heard now retired Major General Jim Mukoyama talk about the moral wounds of war |
Forty-six
years later, this captain—now a highly
decorated, 71-year-old retired major general, is standing before an estimated 200 veterans in a church
auditorium with new "marching" orders. He is there to tell them ,
among other encouraging things, how he
himself avoided a moral wound and how
they and/or their veteran buddies can
heal their moral wounds.
The occasion
is the Annual Arlington Heights ( IL ) Veterans Breakfast , and General Jim
Mukoyama is president and chief
executive officer of Military Outreach USA, a national, faith-based nonprofit
ministry he recently founded to help veterans and their families recover from
moral injuries. e H He On his Army dress
jacket are more than 20 military
decorations and badges, including the
Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal
with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Purple Heart, and four decorations from the Republic of Vietnam. Once asked for a description of the events
which earned him these honors, the general replied modestly, " Let me just say that I was in the wrong place at the right time and had great non-commissioned officers who made me look good. "
 |
| With Fr. Matt Foley, a former Army chaplain in Afghanistan and now helping the general with "Military Outreach USA " |
To his audience, he makes no mention of having been a victim of Agent Orange ( the deadly defoliation spray used against the Vietcong ) , which eventually led to a heart attack,
kidney transplant, and his current 80
per cent veteran disability. Nor will the veterans here learn about his B.A. in English literature from the
University of Illinois or that his retirement resume includes so much activity
with financial services and charitably
agencies , that it begs the question if he ever slept.
 |
| Not everyday can veterans gab with a general, like at this celebration breakfast for them ... |
One soon
notices that this retired soldier ,
however, does not fit the Hollywood movie profile of
a combat general. Those who interacted with him earlier at breakfast saw
a bespectacled , five-foot-four-inch man
with smiling brown eyes , and a genuinely cheerful and warm personality.
He takes
his audience back to that Mekong Delta fire
fight and sums it up with : "The concept is that when you have a
moral injury in combat , you don't have time to address it and think about it. So what do
you do ? You suppress it, and it becomes unresolved grief. Often it does not bubble up until these
veterans are 55 or retired, and then [ for the moral wound to heal], they must have coping skills such as performing a service for others, church involvement, or confession ."
He emphasizes the
importance of the morally wounded
veteran (or anyone wounded morally) to rebuild
a sense of worthiness , self-worth. The
absence of this , Jim Mukoyama cautions,
has proven to be a factor in suicide among veterans and also among men, women , and children who have
"no moral compass " or have discarded it and now have given up
hope. [ Though statistics about military suicides
widely vary due to a variety of methods
used to collect them, a recent
study found that the suicide rate for veterans was 50% higher than that among those
who had not served in the military. ]
A veteran in
the audience stands up and asks: " How do you approach a veteran who has a
moral injury?"
"The
first thing you do is get him registered with the Veterans
Administration," Gen
Mukoyama replies. Many in the audience now again look at their
breakfast program , which lists RESOURCES FOR VETERANS: Military Outreach USA,
( 877) 734-4244 or www.miltaryoutreachusa.org/ ; Road Home Program, The Center for Veterans
& Families at Rush Hospital, Chicago ,
(312 ) 942-8387 ; www.veteransroadhomeprogram/ ; and Veterans Crisis Line, Veterans
Administration, (800) 273-8255 [ press #1 ] , www.veteranscrisisline.net/ .
Afterwards,
the general shakes hands with veterans wearing smiles as broad as his. For most , interacting
this way with a two-star general—retired or not—is a first. For the general,
his mission is far from complete.
A Long March from Cub Scout to 2-Star General, 1953-1995
The "moral
compass" which Gen. Mukoyama believes defines a man or woman's life likely defined him while growing up in a
lower-middle class family in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood. There , he says, he
led the life depicted
in the still-celebrated paintings
of Americana by Norman Rockwell .
"Every Sunday we'd put on our best Sunday clothes and walk—as a family—to
church . I was baptized and confirmed and sang in the choir. " He was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout , had a
newspaper route, attended Schurz High School , and played the saxophone and
clarinet at Polish weddings. ( At a
guest appearance in 2015 at Schurz, he
admonished the students: "Complete
your education and compete in life. " )
Born in
Japan, his father immigrated here in 1918 and moved to Chicago in the early 1930's ; his mother, of Japanese
descent, was born in Madison, Wisconsin. In Chicago, the senior Mukoyama opened a retail gift store , which after 30 years
became unprofitable due to the
nearby large chain-owned
stores that had sprung up. "My father could have easily declared
bankruptcy but he didn't for the sake of family honor and his integrity,
" the general says. His father
belonged to the local chamber of
commerce and to a committee to help
settle Japanese Americans who had been
interned on the West Coast during the
World War II and had come to Chicago
"with nothing" . All of
this, he says, " Is a lesson I'll never forget. " Both his
parents and grandparents remained
married for 55 years.
Long before Jim Mukoyama wore an Army uniform, he had desired a military life. He got his
first taste of it in R.O.T.C programs at
his high school and the University of
Illinois, from which he graduated in 1966 and
commissioned a regular Army second
lieutenant and assigned to infantry unit .
Unknown to many of his friends, he reluctantly chose not to become an
Army chaplain. Nevertheless, in peacetime
or war, he never was known to be
lukewarm about what he believed was a calling to "serve God."
Jim Mukoyama laughingly recalls an incident when, as a mere
lieutenant, he was given red carpet treatment
during an R&R ( Rest & Recreation ) in Japan . He went to visit his family grave
site , "One of my lifelong missions
I had to fulfill, " he says. An
uncle of his knew the Japanese army chief of staff and, unbeknown to his
nephew, had arranged for a limousine to be
waiting for him as he got off the
Tokyo train.
Soon Lieut. Mukoyama
is sitting face to face with the chief of staff . "
I was just a
lieutenant ," he says during our interview , "and he's
treating me like I'm a general!
"
Japan was then experiencing a lot of anti-American sentiment
over a controversial defense pact
with Japan and the United States. Delighted that Lieut. Mukoyama's visit to Japan had somehow
made front page news in several Japanese newspapers, the general tells him,
" I want to thank you for what
your visit has done to promote
United States-Japan relations .Then, having learned that his American
visitor has had U.S. Army airborne training,
he gives him the Japanese Parachutist Badge, an enviable
distinction in the Japanese army .
"No one will believe
this, " the lieutenant tells the general. The next day , Lieut.
Mukoyama opens his hotel room
door and is handed an envelope with official Japanese army orders–in
English—that award the parachutist badge to this American lieutenant..
That day
Lieut. Mukoyama takes a stroll down the
pedestrian-packed sidewalks of Tokyo . He
has dismissed the prudent advice not to wear his American military
uniform, so as not to stir up unpleasant memories of the American military
occupation of Japan after World War II. He will show he's proud to be an American Army officer— and keeps strolling through throngs of Japanese pedestrians.
"People
would take double takes of me, " he says. " I had a Japanese face; I was a short
guy with black hair; and they saw my
name tag that said 'Mukoyama . '
"
Promotions Come Fast, then Unwelcome
Bravery Before Congress; ' Somebody Has
Got to
Stand Up ! '
After that, he rose fast
through the ranks and, in 1986 , became
the then youngest
general in the Army; and, two
years later, the first Asian-American
in United State history to command an
Army division. When asked later in
life what his biggest challenge had been
, Jim Mukoyama says, " I really
don't think there's been a lot of challenges. I've always felt that if I worked
hard and studied hard enough, I'd be successful in life. "
 |
| Hoisting Old Glory at his home near Chicago |
Now wearing
two stars on each shoulder, Major
General Mukoyama will make a decision
that impels him to retire with five years remaining before mandatory retirement. He has
been studying how the military was budgeting
its money and is convinced it is not in
the "best interests " of the country
and is also ignoring Army
procedures . He testifies to this before
a Congressional House subcommittee , but
not as an Army officer but as a civilian
(because of his membership with
the Army Reserve Association of
which he is president and founder ) . Members of his association had caught wind of the budget improprieties
and urged their president to tell Congress about it. " Somebody has got to
stand up ! " the members pleaded.
Gen.
Mukoyama did stand up . It so angered the Army Chief of Staff who , according to Mukoyama , "blackballed " him. " A year later, my career went down
the drain. I was history. I retired from the military under a cloud because I
testified that the military had made
political decisions and were making some budget cuts that was
to the detriment of our force readiness." His
testimony, however, was later validated by a
Government Accounting Office (GOA) study. " But the train had gone
too far down the track to turn things around," Jim says .
At the Army's retirement ceremony honoring Mukoyama's more that 30 years of
service, "All I got," he says with a melancholic expression, "was a handshake. "
But he quickly turns philosophical and adds with a sigh, " But God closes doors
and He opens them."
Jim had no idea that 30 years later a particular door would
open and usher in his deepest desire.
At Last, 'His Greatest Commission '
And we know that God causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, to those
who are
called according to His purpose…
(Romans 8:28 )
But there is no rocking chair or 18-hole links for Jim.
He is soon doing a beaver's work e
s of public service and white-collar
labor. There are those several years as
full-time vice president and chief compliance officer of a national stock
brokerage firm, also volunteering for ten years as an instructor for the
Military Ministry of the former Campus Crusade for Christ . Then came membership
in the New York Stock Exchange, and
later, a co-chairman post on the Patient Advisory Council for the mammoth
veteran's health care center in North Chicago . He joined the Willow Creek Community mega-church and
started a religious group for 30 to 40 veterans and their family
members.
For six years he and his wife do volunteer work at a hospice
center. The stress of caring for
dying people wasn't like war combat stress, but even for Jim it was
"most stressing. " He bonded with a 56-year Vietnam veteran like himself
who , while being wheeled around by Jim, would cry out, "Hey, I've
got a general pushing me around!
" The man would soon die of cancer.
"He was a fighter, " Jim says,
"and used to tell me, 'when I beat this, I'm going to become a hospice volunteer like you.
' "
His thoughts about the hospice silence Jim for awhile during our interview . He
finally breaks his silence with, "I've come to realize God has created all
of my seeming disparate parts and experiences
in my life into a mosaic, and that hospice duty was all part of it. "
The Big Door Opens
One day Jim is invited to
a round table discussion of
ten men
who met twice a month to tackle
their stated goal to " transform ourselves as individuals
to be better men and to use our
Christian values to influence the
transformation of our society."
Ever since Jim first heard of their goal , his heart
had been stirred: A meaningful
life of full-time Christian service had
been his dream. The group is named the Pinnacle Forum.
On a particular day, the men are meeting at the Lake Forest ( IL) Illinois headquarters of the mammoth Brunswick Corporation. Each man at this round
table is a successful leader in a particular
and major segment of the American culture: family, religion,
education, the media, business, government
, and entertainment.
An inciting question is
put to the men: " If you were king, what
would you do to realize our goal?"
When it's Jim's turn to speak, he begins to describe all
the many current afflictions —especially moral wounds—of veterans and their
families. The men pay attention to this
retired general with the distinguished , eclectic background .
"The answer to these tragic veteran problems is not bigger
government," he says with authority.
" It lies with the local community , spearheaded by houses of worship. " He gives
time for full impact of his words . Then his voice calls out for leadership: " Somebody has got to reach out to them ! "
The group gives their
collective fiat to Jim: " We're in ! "
It is the birth of Military Outreach USA—and the birth of
what Jim , with uncharacteristic emotion ,
would later call " my greatest commission. "
After a year of Jim Mukoyama's leadership, the military outreach
is active in 80 churches, and today
more than 400 churches have
signed on to its national network.
The goal of Military Outreach USA
and its cadre of volunteer workers is to enlist 20,000 thousand churches who reach out to veterans and their
families with near-comprehensive help that includes help for homeless veterans.
Reflecting back on
his entire life, Jim says, "All
these things God has woven together. "As a teenager I wanted to become a
minister. But I also loved the military.
I finally said to God, ' I guess you
don't want me to do the ministry thing, so I'll just move on with the military
thing. ' "
Fr. Matt Foley ,
pastor of St. James church in Arlington Heights and former Army chaplain in a combat zone of
Afghanistan and who today is a colleague of Jim, commented that , " General Jim has a tremendous drive to
assist veterans and their families in returning to their homes healthy."
Nowadays Jim and "K.J.", his wife of Korean descent , live in
an upper-middle class home in a quiet residential neighbor in Glenview,
Illinois. They've been married 40 years. Owing to their heritages, the home's
décor is touched here and there with tasteful
Asian art. K.J. has a master's
degree in gerontology and works as an activity associate at a rehab center. The
Mukoyamas have two children , both
adopted: a 36-year-old daughter who lives in Seattle and is an advertising rep
for Amazon , and a 35-year-old son who is a registered dietitian.
A Constant Spiritual Battle Cry through the Years: 'Cling to Your Faith '
We sat down and continued talking. When asked if the
military code of behavior had ever hampered
the religious callings he
had had since youth, Jim exclaimed,
"Not at all! I remained active in
church. " He said he encouraged his
soldiers to stay fit physically, professionally, attitudinally ( i.e.,
positive thinking ) , and spiritually.
" As I went
higher in rank, I was able to talk more to the troops about my spirituality,
but without proselytizing anyone. I
would tell them that whatever your faith is, cling to it. I only mentioned the name of Jesus if I was
personally asked about my own faith. When that occurred, one or more soldiers
would later tell me 'we're happy you
said that . ' "
What does he do for fun or recreation ? "Just being
with my wife, just to have physical time with her," he replied. " "It doesn't get any better than that. "
Does anything make him sad?
"When I do things I shouldn’t do—and we all do that every day. And
when I disrespect my wife, or don't
treat her lovingly, or when I fail to follow up on something I've promised
someone. "
Minutes Before Heart Surgery, ' Every Day Is a Great Day'
What about being
happy? " When I see God being glorified, like in nature such as a sunrise,
a baby being born , seeing people
serving others. A dozen times a day I
say , Every day is a great day!" He
recalled how he said this even when his
wife was driving him to the hospital after his heart attack four years ago. "When I had that heart attack and was
being wheeled into the operating room, I
asked myself, 'Can you say today is a
great day?' My answer was an unequivocal 'Yes, I can.' I had been given 40-plus years of borrowed time since
Vietnam,when many of my comrades died, and today I have a wonderful wife and children , live in
the finest country in the world and , most importantly, a relationship with my God through my
faith. " Those words
remain his life's mantra .
Just before
his surgery and after the doctor had asked
Jim some routine questions , Jim
repeated what he had told himself minutes ago. It prompted the surprised
physician to ask Jim , " What is your faith ? "
Jim expressed it this way: " Since you
asked… I am a Christian, Christ is my
savior , you are a skilled physician, your nurses here are skilled. But God's in charge, and whatever He decides
I'm okay with it. So, let's get on with
it. "
Soon thereafter, Jim was
to focus on his mantra when his kidneys
totally failed and he had to undergo dialysis
for three months until doctors found a right transplant donor. It was his daughter,
Sumi, whose kidney was a match for Jim's even though she was not his biological
daughter . "It was truly a God thing; He provided ," Jim said, glad that his mantra includes his gratitude
for family.
What would
Jim like people to say about him after he's been "called home "? Simply that he
was a man of faith. Perhaps more
than a few aging veterans would add that
Jim Mukoyama was, among many things, a front-line medic
who bandaged the wounds of many.
THE
END
All
comments are welcome.
rrschwarz71@comcast.net
© 2015
Robert R. Schwarz
