Jacob DeShazer, a farm boy from Oregon, joined the army Air Corps at age 27. He had always wanted to be a pilot, but when he did not qualify, an opportunity opened to become a bombardier. By luck of the draw, Jacob found himself as one of the 80 men participating in the famous Doolittle Raid over Japan shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
During the raid, Jacob and his fellow crewmen bailed out over China and were taken captive by the Japanese as prisoners of war for more than three years. In that Japanese POW camp, every day facing torture and death, Jacob's path changed when his request for a Bible was fulfilled. Jacob came back to the Christian faith in which he was raised, and made a vow to God in his prison cell that if he survived he would return to Japan, not as a warrior but as a missionary.
The Jacob DeShazer story is not only about the bravery of a soldier during war, but also about how powerful love and forgiveness can be when given to the enemy.
About the Author: Donald M. Goldstein is Professor Emeritus and former Director of GSPIA's Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies at the University of Pittsburgh. A veteran of the Korean War, he is a retired Air Force officer who served for 22 years. He has taught courses in history, public administration, political science, arms control, national security, theory and practice of international affairs, American foreign policy, international relations and military history.
Dr. Goldstein is the author of over 50 articles and 21 books including At Dawn We Slept, which was runner up for the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 and on the Best Seller List of the New York Times for 47 weeks. He won two Peabody Awards for historical work with ABC and was the winner of the National Association of Public Administrators Teacher of the Year as well as the Chancellor's Distinguished Teacher at the University of Pittsburgh. He serves as a consultant for NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, the History Channel and NHK (Japan). He earned a BA in History and a MA in History from the University of Maryland. He also holds MS in Political Science from Georgetown University and in Public Administration from George Washington University. Goldstein earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in History from the University of Denver in 1970.
Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon is the first daughter of Jacob and Florence DeShazer. She spent most of her childhood being home-schooled by Florence and attending military and missions schools in Japan. She graduated from the Christian Academy High School in Japan in 1972. She then attended Aldersgate College in Saskatchewan, Canada, where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Christian Education. At Aldersgate, she met and married a Canadian, Ken Dixon from British Columbia. They were married in Tokyo, Japan, by her father on December 19, 1974. The couple spent one year living in Tokyo with the DeShazers assisting their missionary work, teaching English and studying Japanese. During this time, Carol Aiko gained a greater appreciation for her parents, their ministry and all the sacrifices they had made for her and her siblings. She is very passionate about her parents' legacy and feels strongly that their story is something she wants the world to know more about. She is presently working to make her parents' story more available through documentaries, books and other media outlets.
