Tinian wrote its own history this year by hosting a rather controversial group\u2014the Japanese atomic survivors\u2014together with American veterans and bringing the two groups together in one place at the same time as part of the 60th year commemoration of the 1945 atomic bombing.<\/p>\n
Spearheaded by the Mayor\u2019s Office and the Tinian Municipal Council, the event attracted three Hibakusha from Nagasaki and Hiroshima and two Japanese imperial army veterans.<\/p>\n
About 30 American veterans came.<\/p>\n
The Tinian government set two separate events at the same time: peace ceremonies for the Japanese group at King Peace Gardens in San Jose and Atomic Mission commemoration at the U.S. North Field for the U.S. veterans. North Field is a military property where the 1945 bomb pits are located.<\/p>\n
Although they had separate events, members of either group were free to attend each other\u2019s events.<\/p>\n
Further, all guests were billeted at the same hotel, Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino. So it was almost inevitable that the two groups would meet\u2014a fact that troubled some people in the CNMI and worried them no end as to how the two groups would react.<\/p>\n
But to some participants, it was a chance to verbally promote peace and reconcillation.<\/p>\n
A member of the Hibakusha, 85-year-old Keijieo Matshushima, apologized for atrocities committed by Japan during World War II in various places in the Pacific.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have mixed feelings. \u2026We feel we have to apologize for giving you trouble because of the war our country started,\u201d he said in his final remarks during a Hibakusha Experience event held at Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Matshushima said his group came to the CNMI \u201cto mourn the death of U.S. soldiers\u201d who died during the war.<\/p>\n
He was 16 years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945.<\/p>\n
Matshushima revealed that early on, USS Indianapolis survivor Mike Kuryla approached him to say sorry over the atomic attack.<\/p>\n
Kuryla survived when his ship sunk after it was torpedoed by the Japanese after delivering atomic bomb parts to Tinian in July 1945.<\/p>\n
Kuryla reportedly said he \u201cwished we didn\u2019t have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI told him you don\u2019t have to apologize. I understand what happened and we can\u2019t blame ourselves for it,\u201d said Matshushima in an interview.<\/p>\n
In a separate event held at Northfield, Kuryla recognized that the atomic bombing forced the Japan government to surrender and resulted in the quick end of the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cFreedom is not free,\u201d he told the crowd, noting that the atomic bombing had saved millions of lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow if war can do it, why not peace?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
NO PLAN TO MEET<\/p>\n
The feeling of having to say sorry was not an issue to other veterans.<\/p>\n
B-29 superfortress Next Objective pilot W. Locke Easton said he was very grateful to attend the commemoration event but had no intention to meet with Japanese veterans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad that they [Japanese veterans] are here but I\u2019m not planning to do that [meet with them]. I don\u2019t have any plan to do that. There\u2019s no reason that I feel I need to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Don Swindle, 4th Marine Division, said, \u201cI still don\u2019t have good feelings about it. \u2026To me, it\u2019s not just the right kind of feeling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Marines took over Tinian in July 1944, paving the way for the U.S. forces to carry out the atomic attacks on Japan.<\/p>\n
Other visitors to Tinian were Martin Zach, an American prisoner of war in Japan, USS Indianapolis survivor Woody James, Dr. Harold Agnew and Leon Smith who were involved in the assembly of the bombs, and about B-29 crew involved in the actual strike, 2nd Marine veterans Donald Swindle and Donald Milleson, and two Seabees who were involved in the building of the Tinian harbor, runway, and bomb pits.<\/p>\n
The organizers also invited Anderson Giles as speaker on Tinian\u2019s WWII history, John Coster-Mullen, known across the U.S. as the expert in WWII weapons, and professor Haguchi from Kyoto University and an adjunct faculty at Harvard.<\/p>\n
LIFETIME EVENT<\/p>\n
Organizers, led by Phillip Mendiola Long of the Mayor\u2019s Office and his cousin, James Mendiola of the Municipal Council, hailed the weeklong event, stretching up to Aug. 9, as once-in-a- lifetime event that can only happen on Tinian.<\/p>\n
Long said the Tinian commemoration aims \u201cto balance\u201d the presentation of WWII history as far as Tinian is concerned.<\/p>\n
While others feared that the presence of the Japanese might ignite bitter memories, he said the Japanese side cannot be ignored \u201cbecause they\u2019re part of history.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the commemoration of the atomic missions \u201cdoes not belong to the Commonwealth but to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some members of the foreign media, including the Washington Post, covered the event.<\/p>\n
The Tinian\u2019s 60th commemoration of the Atomic Mission to Japan received no official representative from the Naval Forces Marianas in Guam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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