Rakusen, Manassah Nat, SSgt, 4167, HKVDC

Sendai #2 Main     Back to Roster From Ron Rakusen, 7 Jan 2004 My father was in the Pay Section of the HKVDF and continued in that until he retired and died in Hong Kong. He was eventually, after the war, in charge of the Pay Section and rose to the rank of Major. He was awarded the ED (Efficiency Decoration) for his work for the Pay Corps as well as an M.B.E. Extract from a personal letter by Staff Sergeant Manasseh Nat Rakusen in November 1945: "I omitted to mention two regrettable mishaps: the day that the big planes came over, one lot of packages which had broken away from their parachute (this happened very often), dropped on an American soldier and killed him outright [S/Sgt. Joseph Sarata], also smashed the foot of another man. No one was to blame as the parachutes and loose boxes were dropping all around you, and to dodge one you would run into another. I was only 20 yards away at the time and I could only stand still and hope for the best. It was cruel to go through all those years (he took part in the “death march” from Bataan) and then be killed in such a manner. After that everyone took heed and spread out. On another day when it was very misty and we didn’t expect a visit, some planes came over and one bomber crashed into a mountain a few miles away and nine men were killed or burnt to death." [4 Sept 1945: This was B-29 No 42-65345 (T21) - see crew details, MACR]