5 days ago
'No justified wars': Ceremony marks 80 years since WWII bombings of Fukuoka by US
FUKUOKA -- Marking 80 years since the devastating air raids on this southwest Japan city that left over 1,000 people in the city center dead or missing, about 110 residents and others gathered in a joint memorial service at the city hall in Chuo Ward June 19.
From late on June 19, 1945, to the early hours of the following day, U.S. forces dropped at least 1,300 metric tons of incendiary bombs onto Fukuoka from B-29 bombers, inflicting catastrophic damage in the city center. The reinforced-concrete Fukuoka branch of Jugo Ginko (fifteenth bank), which stood near the present-day Hakataza Theater, frequently served as an air raid shelter, with residents rushing into its basement every time sirens sounded.
However, during the air raid that night, a power outage caused by bombardment made the basement's electric shutters inoperable, and 63 people perished in the ensuing flames and heat.
Yoshitaka Mizobe, 85, now a resident of the town of Keisen, Fukuoka Prefecture, attended the memorial service. He and his family were among the local residents who used the basement as their primary refuge. Mizobe lived in a house behind the bank with his mother, younger sister and others in a household of five. On that evening 80 years ago, they took shelter in the basement after dinner, and a late air raid struck after they temporarily returned home. When his mother heard a firefighter saying, "You can't enter," she guided them in a safer direction away from flames, avoiding harm.
Mizobe's father, Kahei, died aged 33 fighting on Guadalcanal, a fiercely contested island battleground during World War II. For the past decade, Mizobe has shared his story at elementary and junior high schools as part of the schools' peace education curriculums.
After offering flowers at the memorial this year, Mizobe said, "There absolutely is no such thing as a justified war. I felt strongly this sort of tragedy must never happen again." He emphasized the importance of passing down wartime memories to future generations as living witnesses fade away, adding, "Wars persist even today, taking countless precious lives. We must continue sharing our experiences."
