SATSUMASENDAI, Kagoshima -- A Hinomaru national flag owned by a Japanese soldier who died on Iwoto island, historically called Iwojima island, was found in the United States and recently returned to his family. The island located in the Ogasawara Archipelago was the site of a fierce battle between Japan and the United States toward the end of World War II.
The flag had been kept by former U.S. marine John L. Platt who found the flag around Iwoto's Mt. Suribachi. He passed away in 1974. Platt's son recently offered to return the flag to its original owner, which led to Japanese and U.S. historians searching for the family to which the flag belonged and they determined that due to writings on the flag, it had come from what was then Sendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. The search continued on part of the association of Kagoshima bereaved society and others who found that the flag had belonged to Tomoyoshi Okamoto.
Tomoyoshi Okamoto from Sendai (currently Satsumasendai), Kagoshima, died on Iwoto in 1945 and his remains were never returned, however his niece Yumiko Okamoto, 64, was glad that at the very least his flag has made it home.
Tomoyoshi is believed to have started soldiering at the age of 23 on Feb. 28, 1941. He belonged to the 145th infantry regiment of the former Imperial Japanese Army and fought in the battle at Iwoto. After U.S. forces landed on the island in February 1945, an intense monthlong battle commenced where more than 29,000 Japanese and U.S. soldiers are said to have perished during the engagement and many in the Japanese infantry regiment of about 2,700 killed in the clash were from Kagoshima.
At a ceremony held at Satsumasendai City Hall on June 23 to commemorate its return, Mayor Hideo Iwakiri handed the flag to Yumiko. The flag is believed to have been given to Tomoyoshi when he was heading off for war and words of encouragement were written on the Hinomaru flag such as names, Sendai's district of Nakamura and a prayer for good fortune in battle.
Yumiko married the eldest son of Tomoyoshi's younger brother. According to Yumiko, there was an altar for Tomoyoshi adorned with his photo in his family's home, and his mother had written on the back of the photo that he "died honorably at Iwoto."
The flag is to be donated to the Sendai Historical Museum. "I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the return of the flag," Yumiko said. "I want many people to see it and think about the consequences of war."
According to the prefectural association, eight offers have been made to return the personal belongings of soldiers killed in the war to their families in the prefecture, but in at least three cases no one has been found.
"More than 70 years have passed since the end of the war, and it is now more difficult than ever to locate the families," said association official Kazunori Hamasaki. In the United States, meanwhile, a nonprofit organization is said to be actively working to return items left by Japanese soldiers to their families. "I want to return as many of them to the bereaved families as possible," Hamasaki said.
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