Memorial Held for Victims of Iwojima Battle

January 17, 2020

Tokyo- A memorial service was held on Iwojima on Thursday to remember those who perished in the fierce battle on the Pacific island near the end of World War II.

Fifty-four bereaved relatives prayed for the victims and made a fresh pledge of peace during the ceremony, hosted by the Tokyo metropolitan government on the island, part of the Tokyo village of Ogasawara.

"Memories of the war are increasingly fading into oblivion," Kentaro Iwai, 75, who represented the bereaved, said near the cenotaph established by the metropolitan government.

"We must pass on to the next generation our thought that no country must wage a war and create sad bereaved families ever," Iwai also said.

At the ceremony, a senior metropolitan government official read a message from Governor Yuriko Koike stressing her resolve to hand down the island's sad history to the next generation and strive further to realize a peaceful society.

In the battle of Iwojima, over 20,000 servicemen of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese military died. Jiji Press