West Sacramento veteran turns 100, spotlighting rare story of military service
A West Sacramento man and United States Army veteran celebrated his 100th birthday surrounded by friends and fellow veterans at his senior living community of Eskaton Wilson Manor on Thursday afternoon.
Minoru "Mino" Ohye had one wish for his milestone birthday: to receive 100 birthday cards to celebrate each year of his life.
By the end of his party, he had already gotten nearly 600 cards.
"Several years ago, I asked him, I said, 'What's your goal, Mino?' And he said, he wants to be 103," said Alfonso Linares, with a laugh, who has been friends with Mino for 40 years and is the closest thing he has to family in town.
Mino was celebrated with birthday cake, a sushi lunch provided by Mikuni and a crowded room of supporters.
John Meugniot is a fellow U.S. Army veteran who came to celebrate Mino's birthday.
"I still enjoy being able to bond with the veterans. It's a community, that's it," said Meugniot. "You know, to get to help out each other through the hard times and the good times."
Linares said Mino used to be his gardener, then they got more connected through the West Sacramento VFW post and have since become very close.
"I've never seen him get angry with anybody. He's very easy to get along with...Everybody loves Mino, you know," Linares said.
Mino's story is so rare that he is likely the only person alive to have experienced what he has.
He was born in Sacramento in 1926, but when his father died in a tragic fishing accident, he and his brother were sent to live with different family members in Japan when they were just babies.
Then, at the age of 13, Mino was forced to join the youth division of the Japanese Imperial Army at the start of World War II to fight the Soviet Union.
After Japan's surrender at the end of the war, Mino was captured as a prisoner of war and sent to a Siberian prison camp in Russia. He survived temperatures of 60 degrees below zero and brutal labor mining coal.
Later, in 1951, Mino returned to find his mother in the United States, who was living in Yuba City in Northern California.
That same year, he then served in the United States Army in the Korean War and was sent to the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
Decades later, in 2012, the Yolo County community helped raise money to send Mino back to Japan to reunite with his brother Hiroshi for the first time in nearly 60 years.
Mino has lived a lot of lives in his 100 years, including experiencing homelessness for a time after a local restaurant he managed went under.
It was the West Sacramento VFW who became his chosen family and helped him get back onto his feet and into permanent housing.
He even served as their post commander in 1995, according to Linares.
Linares says if he has learned anything from his dear friend Mino, it's to lead by example.
"Find something, whether it's a church, veteran organizations, you know, volunteer and get to meet people, be sociable and help out. And don't expect a lot in return," Linares said.
Mino also helps collect clothes for homeless veterans and helps run a support system for veterans to this day.
Additional birthday cards for Mino can be sent to the following address of his senior living community:
Minoru O.
Eskaton Wilson Manor
2140 Evergreen Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95691
