Before the war, a memorial service was held in front of the memorial tower in Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture, to commemorate the victims of the Pacific War after moving from Okinawa to Davao in the Philippines.
More than 20,000 Japanese immigrated to Davao on Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines before the war, and more than half of them were from Okinawa, but many people were killed in the Pacific War.
On the 26th, the "Okinawa Prefecture Davao Association" made up of the bereaved families of Okinawans who were sacrificed in Davao held a memorial service for the first time in three years in front of the memorial tower in the Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Itoman City. rice field.
The scale was reduced due to the influence of the new corona, and after about 10 attendees offered a silent prayer, Yoshihiro Yamanoha, chairman of the Okinawa Prefecture Dabao Association, said, "I think of everyone who died without stepping on the soil of their hometown again. It is the height of grief. I pray for your souls. "
A woman in her 80s who was born in Davao and returned to Okinawa after the war at the expense of her father said, "We have returned to Okinawa after the war, but every time we see a war in another country, it is painful. I urge young people to absolutely oppose the war. "