Okinawa remembers 1945 battle; defense, foreign ministers attend ceremony

[steve2470]

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201306230058

ITOMAN, Okinawa Prefecture—Okinawans renewed their determination to attain peace on the 68th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa in an annual ceremony attended by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and, for the first time, the defense and foreign ministers.

A total of 5,800 people attended a ceremony held at the Peace Memorial Park in Itoman’s Mabuni district, the site of the last major fighting during the 1945 battle.

In addition to Abe, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida were in attendance. Also present were Toru Hashimoto, co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos.

Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima said Okinawans suffered “great afflictions that cannot be healed in their lifetime” during the fierce battle fought on the southwestern islands.

[Rod Walker]

1. Okinawa was just a preview of the coming invasion of Japan had the A-Bomb not been used.

Killed: 12,500 US soldiers, 95,000 Japanese soldiers, and as many as 140,000 civilians.

Had Japan itself been invaded, the casualties would have been horrific. Estimates range up to half a million U.S. dead, with multiple millions of Japanese dead. 500,000 Purple Heart medals were manufactured in anticipation of the invasion; they are still being issued to this day, there are still 120,000 of them in stock.

Dropping the two A-Bombs ultimately saved millions of lives, mostly Japanese ones.