Paul T. Ono wrote on 1999-11-07 00:00:00.0
Comments: TO THE PARENTS: I will always remember your dear and precious son Mitsuru.
TO THE FAMILY: I will always remember your dear brother Mitsuru and will cherish his friendship, warm personality and smile.
TO HIS FRIENDS: I first met Mitsuru when we became classmates at the Japanese Language School in Santa Monia, CA in the spring of 1938. We attended classes together untill December 7, 1941 when WWII began.
Due to the war, and later signing by President Roosevelt of Executive Order No. 9066, our family had to relocate inland to Denver, CO for the duration of WWII. We found out later that Goto family had relocated to Fort Lupton, CO, and our family visited them on their farm in 1946. Mitsuru, his younger brother Ben and I sat in the melon patch and cut open fresh cantelopes and ate the melons and spewed the seeds at ground targets on the field. We had a good time talking about our friends and the good times we had in Santa Monica. We had dinner with them and returned home. This was the last time that I saw Mitsuru.
Mitsuru had enlisted in the Army in 1948, following graduation from high school. Following basic training he was sent overseas. Due to his Japanese linguistic ability, he was selected an interpreter with the 545th MP Co, 1st Cavalry Division then stationed at Camp Drake west of Tokyo, Japan.
About one month prior to leaving for Korea, he was commended by his commander for jumping into a swift river near the base of Mt Fujii to rescue an 8 year old Japanese girl who was fetching a pail of water and fell in the swift river. The 1st Cav Div was sent to Korea on 18 July, 1950 and landed at Pohang, S Korea and was sent northwest of Taegu to the town of Yong Dong to defend the key positions . On 23 July, Mitsuru was headed for the front line to interrogate captured North Korean prisoners his jeep hit a land mine. He was mortally wounded and that evening he died from the wounds.
Mitsuru was the 2nd soldier from the 1st Cav Div to be killed in action and make the supreme sacrifice. Later, when the 1st Cav Div returned to Camp Drake, Japan, they renamed their rifle range the "Goto Range" in honor of Mitsuru Goto. I had the honor of visiting his gravesite along- side his parents at the Fairmont Cemetary in Denver, CO in August of 1998. I also saw the Americian Legion, War Memorial Monument with his name inscribed at the cemetary. I will always remember the good times Mitsuru and I had in Santa Monica, in school and the last time together eating cantelopes in the field.
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