A ceremony to pay tribute to university students who were mobilized at the frontline of the Pacific War was held at the new National Stadium in Tokyo on Oct. 21. The day marked the 77th anniversary of the departure ceremony held for them back in 1943 at the Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium, which formerly stood at the same venue.
During the ceremony, flowers were offered in honor of the former student soldiers by three of their children at the memorial stone, which has returned to its original site in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, after six years of relocation during the reconstruction of the national stadium. Takashi Suzuki, 97, one of the former student fighters from Adachi Ward, Tokyo, placed his hands together from outside the stadium's premises.
The departure ceremony for the university students was held for the first time by the then Education Ministry on Oct. 21, 1943. The ceremony was aimed at encouraging those students who were to be enlisted, due to the suspension of the exemption from military service. More than 20,000 students enrolled at 77 universities are said to have taken part in that departure ceremony, with students clad in school uniforms marching on the track in the rain, carrying a gun on their shoulder.
Suzuki, who was studying politics at Nihon University, was one of the student soldiers. "During the classes at university, military drills like proceeding at a crawl were held commonly. I attended the departure ceremony with the frame of mind that I was not frightened of going to the frontline," Suzuki recalled.
Later, Suzuki belonged to the Navy Air Service's Tsukuba Air Station in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture, and others until the end of the war. A part of his job entailed sending off many young people of his generation who, aboard an airplane, were to make a suicide attack on an enemy's warship. "My heart will almost burst even now when I think of the grief on the part of those bereaved relatives," Suzuki said. "I hope that today's peace will continue."
The memorial stone was installed at the old National Stadium in 1993 by a group of supporters, including former student soldiers. It was relocated to Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Stadium in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in October 2014. This was due to the rebuilding of the national stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, but it was returned to its original site in June this year following the construction completion of the new stadium. It was situated at a site on a peripheral road of the stadium.
Although the site of the memorial stone is off-limits at this time due to preparations for the Tokyo Games, Suzuki said, "I hope that many people who come to the Tokyo Games, the festival of peace, would take an interest in the stone commemorating the departure ceremony held for the student soldiers who went off to the frontline during the war."
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