75 years since the Battle of Iwo Jima Collecting more than 10,000 ashes is an issue March 26 4:12

In the fierce battle at the end of the Pacific War, when about 28,000 people died in both the United States and the United States, the battle for Iwo Jima was 26 years since the organized battle of the former Japanese army ended. At Iwo Jima, more than 10,000 remains, still more than half of the victims on the Japanese side, have not been found yet, and as clues are diminishing, how to proceed with ashes collection is an issue.

Intense battles took place in Ioshima, Ogasawara Islands between February and March 1945, at the end of the Pacific War, with about 21,900 people killed in Japan and 6,800 in the United States.

On March 26, 75 years ago, on March 26, Iwo Jima, Vice Admiral Tadamichi Kuribayashi, who was the commander of the Japanese side, led a total attack with the remaining troops, and organized battle of the former Japanese army finished.

After the war, national government has been collecting ashes from Iwo Jima since 1957, but no more than 11,400 ashes, more than half of the Japanese casualties, have been found.

The remains are believed to be located in an 18-kilometre underground gourd built by the Japanese Army for endurance warfare, but the entrances are blocked and the location is unknown.

For this reason, boring surveys and underground exploration using radar have been conducted, but such exploration has not been possible on cliffs facing the sea, and work has been difficult.

Also, at first, they were looking for remains as a clue based on the testimonies of survivors, but now it is difficult to obtain new testimonies.

The government has stated that collecting the remains of war dead is the responsibility of the state, and how to proceed with collecting the remains is an issue.

Abandoned ashes collection in old age Telling grandchildren

Bereaved families who have been collecting remains at Iwo Jima are aging, and some people are giving up their local activities.

Toshiaki Haraguchi (78) of Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture, lost his father, Iri, in a battle at Iwo Jima. My father's remains have not been found.

Haraguchi, who was two years old at the time of the expedition, has no memories of his father, only one family photo taken by his father and 18 letters received from Iwojima are at hand .

The letter says, "I'm really a hundred times more energetic when I look at my children's photos" and "Take care of everyone's body."

Mr. Haraguchi said, "I didn't write anything about how difficult the task was, and I just said," Is it fine? "" Isn't your body broken? " I wonder how much he wanted to return to his family. "

Mr. Haraguchi pursued his father, and after retiring from retirement, visited Iwo Jima 25 times to collect remains and memorial services.

He entered the underground ruins near where his unit was deployed and collected ashes, but was unable to find his ashes or remains.

In addition, the underground gourd was in a harsh environment with high geothermal heat due to volcanic activity, and Mr. Haraguchi, who became elderly, decided to finish the activity at the end of his adulthood considering his physical condition and chronic disease. .

Mr. Haraguchi recalled, "I have been collecting the remains with a feeling of being sorry that I could not come for a long time. I thought that I could meet my father because it could be a ghost or a ghost, but it did not come true."

Nevertheless, Mr. Haraguchi talked to his high school and elementary school grandchildren for the first time on this month's anniversary of his father's wish to tell the next generation about the fight between his father and Iwo Jima.

Haraguchi showed his grandson a photo and a letter of his collection, saying, "I was hiding in such a cave during the war, but most of the people were killed by the bombs that were shot down by naval fire. The war was disastrous. It's a thing. "

Mr. Ryosuke Arakawa (17), a second-year high school student, said, “I don't have the opportunity to see the real thing like a letter in school class, so I want to make children of the same age more aware.”

Mr. Haraguchi says, `` I really want to talk to my grandchildren about the fact that ordinary people fight the war, how many people suffer and how miserable the war brings. Was.