Kuentai partners with BSI to bring WWII fallen soldiers home

Kuentai-USA chair Usan Kurata holds the dog tag of World War II American soldier Thomas Davis that the organization found on Saipan. They will soon deliver the dog tag to his family in Ohio. (Frauleine Villanueva-Dizon)

A non-profit organization whose mission is to bring the remains of fallen soldiers home has partnered with the biggest developer on island.

Kuentai-USA and Best Sunshine International, Ltd. has established their partnership last week to work on some of BSI’s properties in the northern part of the island to collect World War II remains.

In an interview with Kuentai chair Usan Kurata and secretary general Yukari Akatsuka, they said that it is a “great idea” and a “great opportunity” for them to partner with the said developer.

“We have a rich experience. We have been here for six years already. We opened up many burial sites so we can train then for the educational purpose they have to know the culture and history of the island,” Yukari said.

Yukari said that since BSI has some properties up north, they will most likely come across the remains as well.

They added that with the partnership, they will be able to work alongside BSI’s corporate social responsibility volunteers to help them with the tremendous work before them.

Kuentai said they are also thinking of bringing in volunteers from Japan as a form of cultural exchange to help with their dig.

Just recently, Kuentai was able to find a dog tag belonging to a World War II American soldier named Thomas Davis. His family was traced and this item belonging to him will soon be returned home.

Dog tags, unlike other soldiers’ items, are considered a rare find in digging.

To date, Kuentai has found 800 Japanese and eight U.S. World War II soldiers from the Achugao area

However, there are 28,000 more missing Japanese and 400 Americans soldiers missing and buried somewhere around the islands.

They have also identified a number of mass burial graves as well as individual graves on the island.

“That’s still a big number and not so easy,” Usan said.

Last November, Kuentai was able to dig several remains from a burial site but had to stop with the project and rebury them.

Aside from Saipan, Kuentai also has projects in Tinian, Guam, and the Philippines.

For BSI chief services officer Tao Xing, the project is very “honorable” and that Kuentai’s work has been “amazing.”

“It is a very noble cause. The concept is to bring home the soldiers for the U.S and Japan,” Xing said.

“We’re very much interested and will be very much supporting their cause,” he added.