‘Special Report’ van Andreas van der Schaaf In het kader van ‘Het Gooi Bevrijd’ met Robert ‘Bob’ Izumi. (English text & info below) Die feitelijk 60 jaar (hij ging officieel pas in 2007 met pensioen!) in vele oorlogen (WW II, Korea, Vietnam) zijn land verdedigde en streed voor onze vrijheid. Het begon allemaal in 1944 toen hij gedropped werd op 7 juni in Normandie en kort daarna werd ingedeeld bij de 101st Airborne Division ‘G Comapny’ en opstoomde naar de Ardennen. Hier rond de kerst van 1944 begon het laatste grote offensief van het Duitse leger (The Battle of the Bulge).Robert Izumi was van Japanse ouders die ondanks dat ze US staatsburgers waren toch -na Pearl Harbor- in een interneringskamp werden gezet ‘as aliens’. De toen 14 jarige Robert besloot toch om in 1944 (net nog 17) zich in te schrijven voor het leger en werd vrijwel direct in juni naar Normandie verscheept..Hij ontving de ‘Medal of Honour’ van President Obama. “In fact In Band of Brothers Steven Spielberg mixed up a bit ’the activities and stories’ of not only ‘E (Easy) Company but also of G Company and D & I Company. In fact we should thank ‘The Whole’ military army of the United States. Because now it’s all about E Company..and that is not quite right” aldus Robert Izumi.(born 1925) Oh ja, hij zat ook naast Marilyn Monroe in de klas op ‘Emerson Junior High’ in Beverly Hills.
English text info: (whole interview is in English): special report by Andreas van der Schaaf about Robert ‘Bob’ Izumi who was in the Netherlands (‘het Gooi’) from the 2nd of May unitil May 6th where he and his wif and daughter were guests of honour during the so called ‘Liberation Week’. Robert Izumi has been a remarkable soldier. As a boy from original Japanese parents his family was put in a detention camp after Pearl Harbour. “we were regarded aliens”. Nevertheless he enlisted (almost eighteen) for the army in 1944 and was almost immediately send to Normandy were he arrived June 7th. In September that year he was placed in the 506th (101st Airborne division ‘G Company’) and joined forces with E Company (als D & I company) in December 1944 in Bastogne. Via Foy & Hagenau he moved into the south of Germany. After that war he sticked to the army and was with missions in Korea and Vietnam (where he got contaminated by ‘Agent Orange’). Actually he stayed for 60 years in service ! before really retiring in 2007! Born in 1925 he also sat next to Marlilyn Monroe at Emerson Junior High in Beverly Hills. President Obama handed him the ‘Medal of Honour’.In Holland this year he also met with ‘old buddy’s’ Gene Gailbreath and Jim ‘Pee Wee’ Martin who received from the Dutch Ministry of Defense the so called ‘Orange Laneyard’, 70 years after their ‘Operation Market Garden’ activities.
