Left to right: Lt. George Barr (navigator), Lt. William G. Farrow (pilot), Sgt. Harold A. Spatz (engineer-gunner), Lt. Robert L. Hite (co-pilot), Cpl. Jacob DeShazer (bombardier).

1945 - Florence DeShazer

Jacob and Florence DeShazer stand at a rail on a deck of the USS General Meigs in San Francisco, CA prior to sailing December 14, 1948 for Japan.

DeShazer greets a young member of his Tokyo congregation in January 1949. He embraced the Christian faith after reading a Bible given to him by a guard while in prison. He vowed that if he were ever freed, he would share what he had learned with the Japanese. Description from the LA Times.

Left is Rev. Don Falkenberg and to the right is Mr. and Mrs. Hoyt Watson.

(Charles Gorry / Associated Press / December 5, 1949) DeShazer holds an outdoor missionary meeting in Tokyo in 1949. After he was released from prison, he returned to the United States to study at Seattle Pacific College, a Christian school. There he met his wife, and the two moved to Japan in 1948 to preach the Gospel. Description from the LA Times.

Jacob DeShazer and Rev. Oda speaking outside to a group of Japanese people.

No Longer Enemies...Captain Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the Japanese squadron which bombed Pearl Harbor, talks with Jacob DeShazer through whose influence he was brought to Christ.

Jacob DeShazer uses his automobile with loud-speaker on top to speak to children. He also uses it to drum up attendance for nightly meetings. Oldest son, Paul, on left and second son, John, inside of car.

(Associated Press / June 25, 1952) DeShazer, a prisoner of war who became a Free Methodist missionary in Japan after he was freed, preaches to a group of youngsters in 1952. He had been captured in Japanese-occupied China after his plane ran out of fuel following the Doolittle Raid. Description from the LA Times.

DeShazer family together in their home in Nagoya. Back row: John, Jacob, Florence with baby Ruth on her lap and Paul. Front row: Carol Aiko and Mark.

John, Florence, Ruth, Carol Aiko and Jacob DeShazer (Paul and Mark are missing) sharing Bible stories in a farm village in Nagoya, Japan. Florence is reading, in Japanese, the Bible story of The Prodical Son from a Kamishibai where the pictures are in front and the words to the story are in back. John is holding the mic for Florence, Carol Aiko is holding hands with Jacob and Ruth is listening by Florence. An old Japanese lady is taking to Jacob DeShazer.

Author Carol Aiko DeShazer Dixon

(Bruce L. Flashnick / Associated Press / April 17, 2002) DeShazer attends a commemoration of the Doolittle Raiders in 2002. Description by the LA Times.

2004 - Jacob DeShazer with his daughter, Carol Aiko.