まゆの部屋

Battle of Okinawa remembered



The Yomiuri Shimbun

Marking the 60th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa on Thursday, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed his determination to reduce the burden Okinawa Prefecture shoulders in hosting U.S. military forces.

At the prefecture's Memorial Day service held at Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Itoman, Koizumi said in a speech, "The government has been consulting with the United States toward reducing local burdens while maintaining the deterrent power of the U.S. forces stationed in Japan."

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine said in a speech calling for world peace, "We'll work for the realization of everlasting peace by becoming a bridge of world friendship with a spirit of forbearance."

Inamine read the peace declaration after a moment of silent prayer was observed at noon to start the service, organized by the prefectural government.

Okinawa Prefecture is the only place in the nation where a ground battle took place during World War II. Citizens were conscripted to mount organized resistance against the U.S. forces that lasted about three months. The Battle of Okinawa, which started with the invasion by U.S. forces in April, ended on June 23, 1945.

Koizumi has attended the annual service each year since becoming prime minister in April 2001, except for the 2003 service.

The names of 720 people, including 202 members of the human torpedo squad on the battleship Yamato, were added to the list of war victims engraved on the Cornerstone of Peace at the park, bringing the total number of names on the stone to 239,801.

Prior to the service, about 1,000 people, including families of the war dead and local primary and middle school students, took part in a peace march on a 10.3-kilometer path in an area of the city where fierce battles were fought.