What an honor of a life time to recognize a great man who served our country proudly during WW2, Korea and Vietnam.
Col. Shaffer’s war time experience was tremendous. First as a veteran of the first offensive strike against mainland Japan following Pearl Harbor. Col. Shaffer was as a Marine aboard the USS Yorktown when she launched the Doolittle Raiders B25’s for the 1942 raid on Tokyo. Thereafter he served on USS Yorktown during the battle of Midway. Col. Shaffer then became the executive officer of 3rd Battalion 3rd Marine Division which occupied Chichi Jima following the end of WW2. On that Island Col. Shaffer became the lead investigator of the Japanese war crimes investigation into the murder and execution of our brave US Navy flyers who were captured after attacks on the island.

Col. Shaffer’s story is told in the book “sorties from hell”: https://www.amazon.com/Sorties-into-Hell-Hidden-Chichi/dp/1592286879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520883220&sr=8-1&keywords=sorties+from+hell