Archaeologist to Recover Japanese Soldiers on Iwo Jima

[Guyfolan]

Archaeologist to Recover Japanese Soldiers on Iwo Jima
By Stephen 15/12/2010 15:46:00



The finding of Japanese Soldiers during excavation

Naoto Kan became only the second Japanese prime minister to visit the World War II battlefield of Iwo Jima Tuesday. He came to pay his respects to over 21,000 Japanese soldiers who fell in battle on the Pacific island—many whose bodies are only now being recovered by archaeologist on the island

 

The battle of Iwo Jima began on February 19, 1945, and continued to March 26, 1945. The battle was a major initiative of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. The Marine invasion, known as Operation Detachment, was charged with the mission of capturing the airfields on the island, which up until that time had harried U.S. bombing missions to Tokyo. Once the bases were secured, they could then be of use in the impending invasion of the Japanese mainland.

The Imperial Japanese Army positions on the island were heavily fortified, with vast bunkers, hidden artillery, and 18 kilometers (11 mi) of tunnels.  The battle was the first U.S. attack on the Japanese Home Islands and the Imperial soldiers defended their positions tenaciously. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers present at the beginning of the battle, over 20,000 were killed and only 1,083 taken prisoner.

 

[Guyfolan]

The iconic image of the raising of the America flag on Iwo Jima

 

Two mass graves were discovered on the volcanic isle by civilian search teams in October, more than sixty-five years after the five fierce weeks of fighting that culminated in an American victory. The graves—one at the foot of Mount Suribachi, where U.S. troops famously raised their flags—are thought to contain, together, the remains of up to 2,200 men.

Archeologists are now engaged in the grim task to exhume the bodies in addition to trying to get enough evidence to help identify the bodies.  One of the archaeologist said the bones were badly jumbled which reflect they way the Americans hurriedly buried the bodies after the battle.  The remains that cant be identify will be sent to a tomb for unknown soldiers in Tokyo.  The Japanese government has said any remains uncovered  which might be one of 218 America soldiers still missing they will immediately notify the American government. 

The discovery of the remains has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades toward finding the bodies of roughly 12,000 Japanese who remain missing and presumed dead after the 1945 battle on the island, which has been renamed Iwoto by the Japanese government.

The former battleground was deliberately forgotten by the Japanese people, most of whom associate it with a dark period in its nation history.  However recent films like Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning film Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) and The Pacific have brought the battle back into the nations consciousness.  The Government in Tokyo has now decided that the time is right to recover the bodies of its soldiers who fell in the battle. It has set itself a deadline of three years to complete this grim operation

Small-scale searches conducted since the 1950s have done little to recover the bodies of Japanese fighters, many of whom huddled deep in subterranean tunnels and bunkers during the struggle. 12,000 Japanese and 218 American are still missing in action and assumed to have died on the island, now known in Japan as Ioto, its name before the war.

One of the searches in 1984 concentrated on the cave systems, which formed a key point of the defense network, designed to defend the island.  A number of the caves when searched uncovered a number of semi mummified remains belonging to the Japanese defenders.

“We will examine every grain of sand,” Prime Minister Kan said during his trip. “Please be patient a little longer. I prayed from my heart for the souls who died here.” The first Japanese PM to have visited the site of the fateful battle was Junichiro Koizumi, five years ago.

The decision by the Government and Prime Minister Kan is a bold step to help address and bury the shame along with the  guilt associated with the defeat not only at Iwo Jima but for the war in general.  It is believed that if the excavations at Iwo Jima are successful other battles site will also be excavated to recover the remains of more soldiers

 http://www.archnews.co.uk/featured/4322-archaeologist-to-recover-12-000-japanese-soldiers-on-iwo-jima.html