Many people visited the "Cornerstone of Peace" at the Peace Memorial Park, where the memorial service for all Okinawan war dead was being held. Relatives were praying together = Morning, June 23, Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture. (©Sankei by Kotaro Hikono)
Sunday marked the 79th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa. A memorial service for all the individuals who died in that horrendous battle was held on that day at Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni in Itoman City. This area at the southern end of Okinawa Island was the last fiercely contested battleground.
The bloody Battle for Okinawa was an especially hard-fought land battle. Around 188,000 Japanese soldiers and some 12,000 American soldiers lost their lives.
Mindful that the peace we enjoy today was made possible by their collective sacrifice, we offer our sincere condolences to all who died in the war. At the same time, we must commit ourselves to safeguarding this precious peace.
History of the Battle
The Battle of Okinawa unfolded over three long months. It began on March 26, 1945, when US forces landed on the Kerama Islands to the southwest of the main island of Okinawa. Finally, it concluded when organized resistance ended at Mabuni. That happened when Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, who commanded the 32nd Army of the Japanese Imperial Army (JIA) tasked with defending the Ryukyu Islands, committed suicide by seppuku.
The battle took an appalling toll on human life. As part of the defense of Okinawa, 2,571 special attack ("kamikaze") airplanes and ships were dispatched. They traveled from Kyushu and elsewhere on orders of the Imperial Army and Imperial Navy to prevent the Americans from landing. Secondary school students within the prefecture were also mobilized. They served in units like the Takketsu Kinnotai and the Himeyuri Student Corps. Many of them died too.
The death poem of General Ushijima, who had strongly opposed war with the United States, reads in part:
Green grass dies in the islands without waiting for autumn, Yet it will be reborn in a new springtime for our homeland.
Okinawa was administered by the United States for 27 years following the war. The spring of which Ushijima wrote finally came with the reversion of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. We should reflect on that bitter history of hardships.
A Prayer for Okinawa's Revival
However, recently controversy arose when the 15th Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces (GSDF) posted General Ushijima's death poem on its homepage. The brigade's headquarters is in Naha City. That led to repeated bashing of the SDF by some local media in Okinawa. They were joined by other left-wing forces in Okinawa and in Japan proper.
Media outlets in Okinawa accused the SDF of things like engaging in "beautification of the Japanese military." They also accused the JSDF of being imbued with a "prewar imperialist ethos." That was despite the fact that the poem was actually a prayer for Okinawa's revival.
Actually, the poem in question has been on the 15th Brigade's website since 2018. Yet it had never been a major issue. That is until a reporter who had recently relocated to Okinawa from elsewhere in Japan wrote about it in a local paper.
Respecting Their Lives, Safeguarding Okinawa
Every year in Okinawa, some leftist elements seek to denigrate the memory of IJA officers and enlisted men. It becomes especially prevalent as Okinawa Memorial Day approaches. Moreover, it comes with an apparent attempt to boost the complaining party's opposition to US military installations and other issues.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that many Japanese officers and enlisted men lay down their lives in Okinawa. They did so for the sake of all of Japan. Moreover, the people of the prefecture also cooperated with the Japanese military and fought wholeheartedly alongside the soldiers.
The malformed postwar ideology that distorts the truth is simply wrong. It does not honor the memory of the war dead both military and civilian. Furthermore, it does not safeguard the peace for Okinawa.
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(Read the editorial in Japanese.)
Author: Editorial Board, The Sankei Shimbun
