Tadako Knight collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 04.0251

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Tadako Knight, who was the wife of U.S. Navy veteran Willard Thomas Knight who served in the U.S. Navy from 1937 until 1958. This collection contains newspaper articles about Guadalcanal, personal letters in Japanese, newsletters, magazines, correspondence with Tallahassee resident and Guadalcanal veteran Harry Horsman, photocopies of photographs, and writings penned by Japanese and U.S. soldiers.

Dates

Created: 1980-1991
Other: Date acquired: 2004-09-22
Other: Date accessioned: 2020-03-30

Creator

Knight, Tadako, 1933- (Person)
Knight, Willard Thomas, 1919-2016 (Family)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to all researchers.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to quote, publish, broadcast or otherwise reproduce from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Associate Dean for Special Collections & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Florida State University Libraries as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.

Biographical or Historical Information

Tadako Knight was the wife of an American soldier who fought in the Pacific Theatre. She was born on February 10, 1933, and raised in Kumamoto, Japan, as a daughter of a medical doctor. Before the war started, she was a student. Knight married Willard Thomas Knight, who fought on Guadalcanal. Thomas was born in Clay County, Florida on May 31, 1919, in the house of Thomas J. Knight and Florence Gatlin Knight. He was a 21 year retired Navy veteran who was also a December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor survivor, and World War II veteran. After retiring, he served 23 years and retired as Chief State Fire Marshall, and 7 years as owner of Knight's Private Investigation Agency. In the postwar period, Tadako moved to the United States with her husband. During the 1980's and 1990's, Knight performed as a translator to Harry Horsman. Tadako Knight helped Horsman contact Japanese veterans and translate Japanese letters. Horsman was the major historian for the Guadalcanal Solomon Islands War Memorial Foundation. Willard Thomas Knight, age 97, passed away at home on September 15, 2016. For more information about Willard Thomas Knight, see https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/170257811/willard-thomas-knight For more information about Harry Russell Horsman, see https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49681634/harry-russell-horsman