War hero, POW, and missionary preaching forgiveness—all terms describing Jacob Daniel “Jake” DeShazer. This World War II veteran gained international fame as one of the bombardiers in the first air strike over Japan after Pearl Harbor.
Staff Sgt. Jake DeShazer was born November 15th, 1912, in West Stayton, later graduating from Madras High School. On December 7th, 1941, DeShazer heard news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and decided to enlist in the US Army Air Corps.
He volunteered for a special unit formed to attack Japan called “Doolittle’s Raiders” after commander Lt. Colonel Jimmy Doolittle. In April 1942, the Raiders launched the first air strike in retaliation for Pearl Harbor.
After bombing Nagoya, Japan, DeShaver’s crew was captured by the Japanese when their aircraft ran low on fuel, and they bailed out over China. DeShaver was severely beaten and starved in solitary confinement while being held in a series of prisoner-of-war camps for three years.
As the war ended in 1945, DeShaver and others in the prison camp were rescued by American soldiers.
While held captive, a guard gave DeShaver a Bible, which convinced DeShaver to become a Christian.
After returning to the US, DeShaver attended Seattle Pacific College, a Christian university, where he met his future wife, Florence, and they were married in 1946.
In 1948, the couple moved to Japan to become missionaries. They preached forgiveness and set up a Christian church in the city DeShaver had bombed.
In 1977, DeShaver and his wife retired in Salem. DeShaver died in 2008 at the age of 95. Friends and relatives remember DeShaver as an unpretentious man with a dry wit and deep faith. History books remember him as a soldier who was imprisoned by the enemy but later advocated peace.