OBON SOCIETY
Newsletter

Every item sent to OBON SOCIETY arrives with a story. From time to time OBON SOCIETY
enjoys sharing extraordinary stories about amazing people we have the honor to meet.
Talking with Dr. Mark Shelton is like talking to a gentleman from thelast century. He grew up in a rural part of northern Louisiana, left hometo attend medical school, returned back to his hometown as a primarycare physician and immediately went to work caring for his former highschool classmates. And also his classmate’s parents and grandparents.
Now, thirty-four years later he continues to care for his classmates….and their children and grandchildren. With no interest in chasing
lucrative opportunities or prestigious employment he is perfectly
content caring for the many generations of neighbors in his Louisiana
hometown.
“I feel ne," he told us in his polite. Louisiana drawl, "I would like tocontinue working until I’m ninety- ve.”Dr. Mark Shelton with wife Jennifer and grandchildren

In addition to caring for his community he also provided care for his father
in his nal years. It was during one of these medical check-ups when Dr.
Shelton blind-sided his father with a deeply emotional question.
He asked, "Dad, how long has it been since you saw Uncle Ralph?"
Without any pause to calculate his father replied, "Seventy- ve years.”“Uncle Ralph” was his father’s only brother. They were a couple years
apart in age, but inseparable. Whether they were pond shing, hunting
squirrels or shooting baskets, these two brothers were together. It musthave given their parents great pride when the local high school team won
the championship thanks to the combined e orts on the court of bothbrothers.

Dr. Shelton’s father, James Leo and his hunting dogs.

Dr. Shelton’s father (photoleft, lower right) and Ralph(center) along with theirrelatives answered the callof duty after graduating fromhigh school.
Ralph enlisted in the Armyand became part of the Air
Corp. He quickly
transitioned from "shootinghoops" on the basketballcourt to shooting enemy
ghters as a tail-gunner in a
B-29 bomber. Teenagers
grew up fast in the 1940’s.

Dr. Shelton’s father (far left) was not quite
as tall as his younger brother Ralph (thirdfrom right) in this April 16th, 1942. newsstory.

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Joseph Ralph Shelton

fffifiRalph Shelton (center) James Shelton(bottom right) and other relatives
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December 2021

The B-29 was the fastest, highest- ying bomber
in the world. By the time Ralph joined the crew
their mission and strategy had changed. The
government had replaced the type of bombs that
explode with “ re bombs.” These “incendiarybombs” contained highly ammable, gasoline jelly
that ignited upon impact.

It was war.

Some crewmen from a B-29 Flying Fortress. Ralph Shelton is second from the right.

Most B-29 attacks involved hundreds bombers, each carrying
between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds of incendiary bombs.
Setting cities on re was the surest way to halt Japan’s production ofweapons and supplies.
More than 60 Japanese cities were targeted. These cities,approximately the same size as America’s Detroit, Seattle, Dallas
and Atlanta, were constructed of wooden structures instead of steel,brick and cement. The ancient, wooden cities exploded into ames.
With thousands of incendiary devices falling to the north, south, eastand west, there was absolutely no way for the anyone to escape.

It was war.

B-29’s dropping incendiary bombs.

Japanese anti-aircraft gunners tried to defend
their cities from these attacks but their guns
rarely reached the high- ying B-29’s.
Unfortunately, on May 14th 1945 Ralph’s plane
was hit and crashed. The military noti ed his
family that he had been “killed in action.”
However, unknown to the military at that time,Ralph, along with several other crewmen, hadparachuted to safety, but were later captured andimprisoned.
The crew was tried, sentenced and ultimately
punished for crimes against the Japan. This levelof jurisprudence and legal proceedings was not
imagined to have existed in war-time Japan.
Their tragic fate was revealed in this letter thefamily received a year after the war ended. (left)

It was war.

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Letter provided by Dr. Shelton from their family archives

James Leo Shelton never recovered from theloss of his younger brother. The lingering griefplagued his mind until his nal day.
At some point in time James Shelton had
obtained a Japanese ag. Perhaps this Yosegaki
Hinomaru was given to help remind him of thewar that was fought, the victory that was won
and the tragic sacri ce his brother had made.
Several years after his death this ag came into
the possession of Dr. Shelton who kept it safe,
exactly as his father had done.
Yosegaki Hinomaru sent to OBON SOCIETY by Dr. Shelton

One day Dr. Shelton was watching the popular PBS program
called "Antiques Roadshow" when he happened to see aYosegaki Hinomaru displayed. He immediately went to hiscloset and found his father’s old Japanese ag.
After a little research on the computer Dr. Shelton found OBON
SOCIETY and agreed with our mission. He contacted us, weexplained the procedures and he sent the ag to our archivists
in June of 2019.
From there the search began.
OBON SOCIETY scholars and researchers deciphered thewriting, which contained little besides names. With theiruncanny skills they determined the owner of this ag to beMr. Shigenori Arae, who resided in the far north of Japan.

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The island of Hokkaido is forested, mountainous but contains
excellent agriculture land and is surrounded by great shingwaters. The scattered communities and towns are isolated
from one another by great distance and by deep snow drifts
during the long winters.

OBON SOCIETY researchers traced the ag to thenorthern prefecture of Japan called Hokkaido.

OBON SOCIETY assisted inarranging the Returning
Ceremony on November 6th,2021 in the Kitami City
mayor’s o ce.

The elder sister brought
along a large, framed
portrait of her brother thather parents had
commissioned to be
painted after his death in
Guadalcanal. This portrait
kept his memory alive
within the family for morethan seven decades until
his Yosegaki Hinomaru
nally returned.

Accompanying the 93 year
old eldest sister, were two
younger sisters. A fourth
sister, su ering from medical
issues, could not attend theceremony.
Her brother, along withhundreds of other local
Hokkaido boys, had been
sent to Guadalcanal. Less
than 20% returned home
after the war.

To remember thedevastating loss of morethan 80% of their localyoung men the community
constructed a simple
monument in their memory.

Mr. Shigenori Arae is seatedin the front row, middle.

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Kazuko Nakamata receives her brother’s remains

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An OBON SOCIETY sta member, who happens to reside in Hokkaido, led the search e ort. This isslow and tedious work but eventually a sister was found who not only identi ed her older brother but
also vividly remembered seeing him o at the train station when he left home for the last time. She
recalled he shouted out the window for her to take care of the parents, then waved his hands as thetrain pulled away. She watched the white gloves he wore until the train was out of sight.

The eldest sister
explained, "Notrace of my brotherever returned
home….no bones— nothing everreturned. Now it is
as if I am meeting
my older brotheragain."

She went on toexplain, “I willkeep this ag
together with otherprecious memories
of my ancestors
and think about mybrother…..I truly
appreciate all thepeople who helped
my brother returnhome.”

When she touched
his ag she wassurprised by theenormous weight
she felt in herhands. This was,she explained, hisspirit letting herknow he was homeonce again.

After su ering a life-

long grief the eldest
sister stated, “I wish
there were no more
war in the world.”(Left to Right) Sisters Sanae Kudo, Noriko Watanabe and Kazuko Nakamata

Dr. Mark Shelton explained, “This is one of the most rewarding things I have done in quite a while… you know I thinkclosure is just so important. Clearly, for the sisters….. getting some living piece of their brother who they haven’t seen in
75 years… It’s all about them…I’m just glad we could do something for that family.”Dr. Mark and Jennifer Shelton surrounded by children and grandchildren

Dr. Shelton has been diligently healing the people of his Louisiana hometown for more than three decades and now, withhis generous humanitarian sense, he is healing families both here in America and on the other side of the world.

You can recognize the care and attention
we give to every bereaved family.
This special effort is made possible bygenerous support from people like you.
Can’t you help continue our workwith a donation?

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OBON SOCIETY
P.O. Box 282
Astoria, Oregon. 97103
503-741-3733

obonsociety.org