‘The family is indebted to you’: Relatives of Japanese-Canadian soldier find closure 73 years after death

The family of a Japanese-Canadian First World War veteran is finally getting closure, months after CTV News shared the story of his abandoned ashes.

The family of a Japanese-Canadian First World War soldier has found closure more than 70 years after his death.

In November, CTV News shared the story of Pte. Sentaro Omoto, and that his ashes were left abandoned in a Vancouver Buddhist temple since his death in 1953.

This week we learned that after a multi-month effort, he is expected to be buried at the Mountain View Cemetery alongside his comrades.

The journey to now began last spring after local historian Debbie Jiang connected with Omoto’s granddaughter, Catherine Uchida, after sending out a request for photos of Japanese-Canadian soldiers for her mass biography.

Since then, Jiang and Uchida have worked together to learn about Omoto and provide a proper burial.

“We wrote an email to the Last Post Fund, and, they listened to our case,” said Jiang.

“Cathy submitted a story about the piece on her grandfather and his abandoned ashes. My role was to write some historical context.”

Unfortunately for the duo, there was a policy in place that in order to receive funding to help bury a veteran, it must be within one year of their death, and Omoto had been gone for 73 years.

But the story caught the attention of Ted Usher, the president of the Last Post Fund’s B.C. chapter.

Usher explained to CTV News that he brought forward a motion to his 15 B.C. and one Yukon members to vote on whether Omoto should receive private donations for his burial.

“My motion was to support up to about $8,000 with regards to buying a plot for Mr. Omoto and so the vote passed unanimously,” said Usher.

“We’re going to correct it and make it right for the family.”

Family response

Uchida told CTV News via Zoom from Los Angeles that when she heard the news that the Last Post Fund was going to help the family deliver a proper burial, she was in shock and at times weeping.

She repeatedly thanked Jiang and Usher for their pursuit to honour her grandfather the way she says he deserved 73 years ago.

“We were going to throw his ashes to the wind, and then he would be lost forever. He didn’t deserve that,” said Uchida.

“The family is indebted to you folks. You don’t understand what this means.”

Burial plans remain underway for an exact date but the family is all hoping to travel to Vancouver to pay homage to their late relative.