Latest news with #World War II
Japan Times
2 days ago
- General
- Japan Times
Efforts continue to recover undersea mine workers' remains, decades on
Efforts are under way to recover the remains of workers who died in a 1942 accident at a now-defunct undersea coal mine in Yamaguchi Prefecture, aiming to build momentum ahead of next month's 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. "We hope that the collection of the remains will be successful this year, 80 years after the end of the war," said a member of a civic group for carrying out diving surveys for the remains of the 183 workers — 136 from the Korean Peninsula and 47 from Japan. At the Chosei coal mine, which opened in 1914 in the city of Ube, a submersion accident occurred in the mine tunnel at a point some 1 kilometer from its portal due to an abnormal water inflow in February 1942, during the war. The mine's entrance was closed, with the remains of the victims left behind. Founded in 1991, the civic group has asked the Japanese government since 2018 to carry out surveys by opening up the entrance. The government answered in 2023 that it was difficult to excavate the remains as their locations were unknown. The group decided to open the portal and identify the positions of the remains. The use of underwater drones was initially considered, but diving adventurer Yoshitaka Isaji, 36, later offered his cooperation. Since October last year, he has dived through the entrance three times to reach a location where many remains are projected to be. However, after reaching a collapsed section about 200 meters inside the portal, Isaji was unable to proceed further. A civic group conducts a diving survey from a cylindrical structure, called a "pier," that leads to the undersea mine in Ube, in June. | Jiji In June this year, the group changed its survey method to enter the mine tunnel from cylindrical structures, called "piers," which were used for ventilation and drainage. Initial attempts had to be abandoned due to buildups of broken timber and steel pipes. In a June survey, however, the group confirmed a path to the spot where the remains are believed to be, after removing timber with support from local companies. From Aug. 6, Isaji plans to conduct a diving survey for up to six hours in total, to search thoroughly and safely for the remains at a depth of some 42 meters. Efforts for the collection of the remains have been made with cooperation from South Korea. South Korean divers have joined such surveys, while South Korean bereaved families attending memorial services for the accident. The Japanese government, however, is said to be reluctant about carrying out on-site surveys, although it is cooperating with gathering information about obstacles left in the mine. "This year marks 80 years since the end of the war end and 60 years since the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea," Yoko Inoue, 75, co-head of the group, said. "To bring back even part of the remains would be of historic significance for our peaceful friendship with people on the Korean Peninsula."
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Underwater expedition unveils new imagery of sunken World War II destroyer
HONIARA, Solomon Islands - Maritime experts on an expedition around the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific recently explored the wreckage of the USS Laffey, a destroyer sunk during a pivotal series of battles in World War II. According to the USS Laffey Association, the ship went down on Nov. 13, 1942, during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal and currently rests upright about half a mile beneath the surface in a region known as the Iron Bottom Sound — a graveyard for dozens of ships and hundreds of planes lost during the six-year-long global conflict. The latest mission, expedition NA173, was conducted by the nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust and supported by NOAA. Over a stretch of 21 days, researchers used a remotely operated vehicle and sophisticated imaging technology to survey the wreckage and other historic sites. War Trophy From George Washington's Army Discovered Amid British Shipwreck Photos released by the team show the Laffey still sitting upright on the seafloor with much of her bow and midsection intact despite more than 80 years underwater. Among the discoveries was a plaque that is still legible, showing the ship's name and builder information despite decades of exposure on the bottom of the Pacific. The ship's wreckage was originally discovered in 1992 during a National Geographic Society expedition led by renowned oceanographer Dr. Robert Ballard, who is most famous for locating the Titanic in 1985. Since that initial discovery, the Laffey has been explored less than a handful of times, making this latest adventure a unique opportunity to document the wreckage's condition. According to the USS Laffey Association, a torpedo led to the ship's demise after sailors engaged several Japanese battleships in a ferocious battle. Historical records indicate that 59 sailors were killed or lost during the attack on the ship, with more than 100 wounded. Noaa Mission Finds Unexpected Discovery At Site Of Sunken Uss Yorktown Historians say during the broader conflict, located more than 1,000 miles northeast of Australia, some 20,000 lives were claimed from both the Axis and Allied powers. Researchers believe at least 111 ships and 1,450 planes were lost in the region during the war, but only a small fraction of these wrecks have been thoroughly explored or documented. During the three-week-long exploratory mission, experts also investigated the wrecks of Australia's HMAS Canberra - the largest warship ever lost in battle by the Royal Australian Navy - and several other sites belonging to the U.S. and article source: Underwater expedition unveils new imagery of sunken World War II destroyer
Travel Weekly
18-07-2025
- Travel Weekly
Advance reservations suspended for USS Arizona Memorial tours
The National Park Service announced that, effective July 9, it has suspended 56-day advance reservations for USS Arizona Memorial tours. This means that reservations cannot be made for Sept. 3 or later for tours to the memorial by boat. The park said the change will not affect existing reservations, as those bookings will be honored. The visitor center, museum galleries and grounds and other tours remain open. "Visitors arriving after Sept. 3 may still be able to tour the Arizona Memorial, but access will be on a first-come, first-served basis, or through the normal reservation process where reservations are released the day before," the park service said in a news release. According to its website, USS Arizona Memorial reservations are released daily at 3 p.m. HST, and tickets can be purchased on The pause comes as preservation work is being done, including "removing two World War II-era salvage platforms attached to the USS Arizona." There is no timeline as to when the work will be completed. The National Park Service said to visit the Pearl Harbor National Memorial website or social media accounts for updates on the status of advance reservations.
CBC
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Q&A: How this Guelph author's research on World War II led to writing her 2nd novel
Social Sharing When aspiring writer Samara moved with her boyfriend J. to the little town of Upton Bay to write a story, she wasn't expecting to discover that behind the town's charming facade is a dark history. That's the premise of Guelph author Karen Smythe's new book A Town With No Noise. The novel will have its official launch next month. Smythe joined CBC K-W's The Morning Edition g uest host Josette Lafleur to talk about her inspiration and her writing process. Audio of this interview can be found at the bottom of this story. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Josette Lafleur: Tell us a little bit more about A Town With No Noise and what readers can expect. Karen Smythe: Well, the book is about two fictional small towns actually, and it's told in two parts. The first part of the book focuses on Upton Bay, which is… a southern Ontario pretty town that is very attractive to tourists. Part two is actually set back in World War II in Norway. But the link is the narrator, whose name is Sam. She's an aspiring writer. She's on assignment in Upton Bay. She's to write an article about the town. The novel opens with Sam traveling to Upton Bay with her boyfriend. His name is J. and they stay with J.'s grandfather, who's a German immigrant. And while there, she does uncover some secrets about the town, including its treatment of migrant workers, but also about J.'s family and its past in Nazi Germany. Then the novel becomes focused on Sam's investigation of her own family's past in occupied Norway. She becomes much more interested in researching and writing about what happened in Norway under the German occupation. So there are lots of surprises in that part of the book also. Lafleur: So what inspired you to write this book? Smythe: Well, I started out writing the book about a town like Upton Bay. There were so many stories that I wanted to tell about the people who lived there and the changes that the town had undergone, from becoming an agricultural area gradually transitioning into kind of a winery destination and a tourism hotspot. But as I was writing and developing characters, the one character who kind of took over for me in terms of the story line was J.'s grandfather, Otto, who had immigrated just after WW II to Canada. And the stories that I was uncovering as I was thinking about and researching, that aspect of that character kind of turned into more of a wide research into WW II. My narrator, Sam, had a Norwegian family background, so the research took off from there, and that's how the book kind of evolved and became what it is. Lafleur: What else did you learn during your research? Because you do combine fiction and nonfiction in this novel. Smythe: So the novel is kind of a hybrid, especially in part two of fact and fiction. When I was researching about the Norwegian experience under German occupation, I discovered a lot of things that I hadn't known. I do have a family background based in Norway. My grandparents on my mother's side immigrated to Canada from Norway, and I hadn't heard about any of the things that I discovered about the war, Norway, and what it was like for not only my family and Norwegians in general but also that the Jewish population in Norway. So it was kind of surprising and shocking to me to learn about how the Holocaust took place in Norway, as well as in other countries in Europe during the war. Lafleur: So Sam almost sounds like you. Smythe: She is – and she isn't. She's a young woman and she is aspiring to be a writer, but she's not a fiction writer. She's more of an investigator, and so she's more interested in writing about history and writing about social issues and things like that. In the book, she changes the course of her future by shifting her career as well. She doesn't become me by any means. Lafleur: The Norwegian connection as well. It does sound like there's a little bit of inspiration there. Smythe: Yeah, although the stories about Norway are completely imagined. None of my family experience is what is experienced by the characters in my novel. But certainly a lot of the research I did uncovered a lot of stories that did happen to people exactly the way they happen in the novel, but they're fictionalized. Lafleur: So Karen, this is your second full length novel. You are usually prone to writing short stories, and they're included in a compilation of short stories called Stubborn Bones. What's your process when you're preparing a short story opposed to a longer novel? Smythe: That's a great question. When I'm writing short stories, which I haven't done for many years, I have been focusing on the novel, but when I'm writing short stories, I'm very alert to details. And as I'm writing stories, I'm always making notes about very specific images, sounds, and details. When you're writing a novel, those things are important and do come into the writing process for sure, but the scope is so much larger. So in my process for writing a novel, I also have notes and keep track of all kinds of thoughts and ideas and images, but also map out a story line and the characters. I put a big white sheet on the wall with markers, and make maps kind of the shape of the novel and how the characters are interconnected. So that's, I guess that would be a general way of describing the difference. The short stories are much more narrow and focused versus the timelines that happen in the novels. Lafleur: So what do you hope readers take away when they pick up A Town With No Noise? Smythe: I think I want them to realize that how we think about the past and remember the past is not always what you think and that it's really important to understand how history is written and remembered. So the novel is not only about these characters and these towns and these stories, but it's about how history is written and how history and memory get passed down through the generations. Lafleur: So what's next for you, Karen? Are you sticking with longform or are you doing more short stories? Smythe: I'm kind of doing a little bit of both. I have some ideas percolating for short stories, but I also have another novel that I'm polishing off and some ideas for yet another one after that. So lots of stuff going on, not exactly sure which one I'm going to tackle first.
CBS News
21-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
U.S., Italy sign pact to recover remains of American soldiers missing from World War II
The United States and Italy signed a pact to bolster efforts to recover the remains of American soldiers who went missing in action during World War II, officials announced Tuesday. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) — the U.S. agency tasked with identifying fallen service members — and Italy's culture ministry signed a deal to improve operations to locate and recover the remains of fallen military members who were never accounted for in Italy. The memorandum also establishes the protection of archaeological sites involved in the search efforts, Italian officials said in a statement. The Italian peninsula was the site of intense battles from 1943 to 1945, following the Allied invasion of Sicily and the campaign to liberate Italy from Nazi forces. It's difficult to pinpoint how many missing U.S. soldiers were killed in Italy during World War II, but roughly 72,000 American servicemembers remain unaccounted for from the war around the world, according to DPAA. The remains of nearly 1,000 Americans who died in World War II have been identified since recovery efforts were renewed in the 1970s. A photo dated May 1944 showing American soldiers of the Fifth Army dashing ashore during the establishment of a beachhead south of Rome, on the west coast of Italy, during World War II. STF/AFP via Getty Images Forensic experts at DPAA spend years using DNA, dental records, sinus records and chest X-rays to identify the remains of service members killed in combat. Earlier this year, a 23-year-old U.S. soldier who went missing in action during an aquatic mission in Italy during World War II was accounted for. The new agreement to recover remains of fallen soldiers in Italy was signed Tuesday by Luigi La Rocca, the head of Italy's Department for Heritage Protection, and Kelly McKeague, the director of DPAA. "The right to research and remember those dead during the war is now combined with the protection of the archaeological heritage for which the ministry of culture is responsible," Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said Tuesday. Giuli said the agreement was a further step in "our decade-long cooperation with the U.S. agency for prisoners of war and missing in action, as a tribute to those who sacrificed their lives to contribute to our freedom."
