Village officials led a memorial service in Zamami, Okinawa on Wednesday to commemorate the beginning of ground battles there 80 years ago.
US forces made their first landing there in 1945. It was the first such remembrance ceremony in 10 years. Attendees mourned the victims and reaffirmed efforts for peace.
During the Battle of Okinawa in the closing days of World War Two, more than 200,000 people lost their lives. About one quarter of the prefecture’s population was wiped out.
US forces landed in Zamami Village on the Kerama Islands, about 40 kilometers west of Okinawa’s main island, on March 26, 1945. They then entered the prefecture’s largest island on April 1.
In the confusion of the fighting, many residents on the Kerama Islands took their own lives. The prefecture estimates more than 560 islanders died by mass suicides, some using hand grenades given to them by soldiers of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army.
Mass suicides also occurred across Okinawa’s main island and on Iejima Island. It is thought that people killed themselves because they were taught in school and by the military to do so to avoid being taken POWs.
The challenge now is how to pass down the memories of the battles to future generations as survivors are aging.
AloJapan.com