Hibakusha apologizes for Japanese atrocities

TINIAN—A member of the Hibakusha, or atomic bombing survivors, apologized for atrocities committed by Japan during World War II.

“I have mixed feelings,” said Keijiro Matsushima, 76, in his final remarks during Saturday night’s Hibakusha Experience at Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

After a brief pause, he continued, “We feel we have to apologize for giving you trouble because of the war our country started.”

The event, the last of the series of the Hibakusha Experience, a first-hand narration of the survivors of their experiences, was attended by local residents and guests including a number of U.S. veterans and their family members.

Matsushima said his group came to the CNMI “to mourn the death of U.S. soldiers.”

In a separate interview, Matsushima, who was 16 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hirsoshima on Aug. 6, 1945, said he was deeply moved when USS Indianapolis survivor Mike Kuryla approached him to say “sorry” over the atomic attack.

Kuryla, whose ship sank after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine following its delivery of atomic bomb parts here in July 1945, felt sorry “and wished we didn’t have to do it.”

“I told him you don’t have to apologize. I understand what happened and we can’t blame ourselves for it,” said Matsushima.

The Japanese survivor said his side “only seeks peace. We don’t want war.”

Kuryla, during a commemoration ceremony of the Atomic Mission at NorthField where the B-29 bombers took off 60 years ago, recognized that the atomic bombing forced the Japanese government to surrender, resulting in the quick end of the war.

“Freedom is not free,” he told the crowd, noting that the atomic bombing had saved millions of lives.

“Now if war can do it, why not peace?” he asked.

He said people need only to look at the two atomic bomb pits at North Field and they would be moved and be reminded of its impact.

The Japanese government has not made any formal apology for initiating the war against the U.S. and several Asian countries over 60 years ago.

Amid criticisms, the Tinian local government brought together the U.S. and Japanese veterans as well as the Hibakusha this year “to promote peace.”

In an interview, veterans from both sides said they came to the island to commemorate their own events.

B-29 superfortress Next Objective pilot W. Locke Easton said he is very grateful to attending the commemoration event but has no intention to meet with Japanese veterans.

“I’m glad that they [Japanese veterans] are here but I’m not planning to do that [meeting with them]. I don’t have any plan to do that. There’s no reason that I feel I need to do that,” he said.

Don Swindle, 4th Marine Division, said he did not really plan to attend the event.

“…I still don’t have good feelings about it. I was not going to come [here], really… To me, it’s not just the right kind of feeling,” he said.

The U.S. Marines took over Tinian in July 1944, paving the way for U.S. forces to carry out the atomic attacks on Japan.

Japanese Imperial Army veterans Masatoshi Saito and Daizaburo Ooyama, who became prisoners of war on Saipan, said they have no bitterness towards the Americans but they would not force discussions.