Mass Graves found on Iwo Jima

[Samurai_Jerk]

May contain bodies of thousands of missing Japanese soldiers

Two mass graves that may hold the remains of up to 2,000 Japanese soldiers have been discovered on the island of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most iconic battlesites of World War II, a report and officials said Friday.

A team of Japanese searchers has discovered 51 remains in two areas listed by the U.S. military after the war as enemy cemeteries, one of which could contain as many as 2,000 bodies, Japan's Kyodo news agency said Friday.

The team was to report its findings later Friday to the prime minister's office.

Officials at Japan's health ministry, which supervises search efforts on the remote island, confirmed that 51 bodies had been recovered and two sites believed to be burial grounds had been found. But they could not immediately confirm the potential size of the mass graves or other details of the Kyodo report.

The discovery of the remains would be one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades toward finding the bodies of roughly 12,000 Japanese who remain missing and presumed dead after the 1945 battle on the island, which has been renamed Iwoto by the Japanese government. ....

[McTojo]

May contain bodies of thousands of missing Japanese soldiers

Two mass graves that may hold the remains of up to 2,000 Japanese soldiers have been discovered on the island of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most iconic battlesites of World War II, a report and officials said Friday.

A team of Japanese searchers has discovered 51 remains in two areas listed by the U.S. military after the war as enemy cemeteries, one of which could contain as many as 2,000 bodies, Japan's Kyodo news agency said Friday.

The team was to report its findings later Friday to the prime minister's office.

Officials at Japan's health ministry, which supervises search efforts on the remote island, confirmed that 51 bodies had been recovered and two sites believed to be burial grounds had been found. But they could not immediately confirm the potential size of the mass graves or other details of the Kyodo report.

The discovery of the remains would be one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades toward finding the bodies of roughly 12,000 Japanese who remain missing and presumed dead after the 1945 battle on the island, which has been renamed Iwoto by the Japanese government. ....

This really pisses me off! Sixty years later and bodies are still being found. Japan, shame on you!

[Coligny]

Mass grave, like, if there was a big battul and lot of people died ?

color me...

wait...

for frack sake they are discovering wet water or what ? huge part of eastern France were noncombat zone during WWII because of the unrecovered remains of the soldiers dead during WWI. Some german soldier broke the non fire rule and were immediately court martialed and oredered shot by their hierarchy...

During war and pandemics sh1t happens...

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

It's not as difficult to understand why this sort of thing can happen.
Access to the island has been severely restricted since before the Battle of Iwo Jima (from memory, I think the last remaining civilians were evacuated in around 1940 or so) and there hasn't been a great number of searches carried out for the missing because the island has been under military control since the late 1930s. There is a couple of JSDF bases on the island, but almost nobody has been able to get there at all.
In addition, many of the defenders were deeply entrenched in mazes of caves under Mount Suribachi.
You don't hear about it much, but the Japanese are pretty keen on burying their war dead, so I'm sure that every effort has been made but the logistical obstacles are enormous.
BTW, McTojo, just to remind you, most of the 10,000 plus missing on Iwo Jima were rapid Japanese nationalists and look at the hand fate dealt to them....Lost for decades on an island that smells like a rotten egg fart.

[Ganma]

BTW, McTojo, just to remind you, most of the 10,000 plus missing on Iwo Jima were rapid Japanese nationalists and look at the hand fate dealt to them....Lost for decades on an island that smells like a rotten egg fart.

But not rapid enough, obviously.
To be fair I think brainwashed, misinformed and unwilling participants would better describe most of them. RIP

[McTojo]

It's not as difficult to understand why this sort of thing can happen.
Access to the island has been severely restricted since before the Battle of Iwo Jima (from memory, I think the last remaining civilians were evacuated in around 1940 or so) and there hasn't been a great number of searches carried out for the missing because the island has been under military control since the late 1930s. There is a couple of JSDF bases on the island, but almost nobody has been able to get there at all.
In addition, many of the defenders were deeply entrenched in mazes of caves under Mount Suribachi.
You don't hear about it much, but the Japanese are pretty keen on burying their war dead, so I'm sure that every effort has been made but the logistical obstacles are enormous.
BTW, McTojo, just to remind you, most of the 10,000 plus missing on Iwo Jima were rapid Japanese nationalists and look at the hand fate dealt to them....Lost for decades on an island that smells like a rotten egg fart.

Not a fair assessment. Really. Are you deploring nationalism? Don't blame nationalism for their fate. Just brainwashed white worshippers who were taught to hate their people. That's the problem.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

But not rapid enough, obviously.
To be fair I think brainwashed, misinformed and unwilling participants would better describe most of them. RIP

Oops! Rabid...my bad (again!!!!)
And I think you summed up the situation perfectly, Ganma, though because of the brainwashing and misinformation, I don't know so much about the unwilling...

[Ganma]

Oops! Rabid...my bad (again!!!!)
And I think you summed up the situation perfectly, Ganma, though because of the brainwashing and misinformation, I don't know so much about the unwilling...

Have you seen the Eastwood movie (Japanese version)? I thought it gave a pretty good interpretation of how things might have been.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Have you seen the Eastwood movie (Japanese version)? I thought it gave a pretty good interpretation of how things might have been.

Tremendous flick! Loved it. And thought there was a lot to be said of an American of his vintage making probably the best Japanese-language WWII film in history.

[IparryU]

Like Coligny said.

Really not surprised, I bet you can find a bunch of our US troupes all buried together (RIP). That is just war.

But Iwo Jima has been restricted since the 30s, but no one cared to take a little walk and look around? If it was restricted, I take it they had a couple ships off shore guarding it?

I think I am missing something from the whole story or they just never went and did a lil search...

gets you scratchin your head