It is a Miracle, Say Household of Japanese Soldier Killed in WWII, as Flag He Carried Returns From US

TOKYO (AP) — Toshihiro Mutsuda was solely 5 years outdated when he final noticed his father, who was drafted by Japan’s Imperial Military in 1943 and killed in motion. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an outdated household photograph standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to warfare.

On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. warfare museum the place it had been on show for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, mentioned: “It is a miracle.”

The flag, often called “Yosegaki Hinomaru,” or Good Luck Flag, carries the soldier’s identify, Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, and the signatures of his kinfolk, pals and neighbors wishing him luck. It was given to him earlier than he was drafted by the Military. His household was later instructed he died in Saipan, however his stays had been by no means returned.

The flag was donated in 1994 and displayed on the museum aboard the USS Lexington, a WWII plane service, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Its which means was not identified till it was recognized by the household earlier this 12 months, mentioned the museum director Steve Banta, who introduced the flag to Tokyo.

Banta mentioned he realized the story behind the flag earlier this 12 months when he was contacted by the Obon Society, a nonprofit group that has returned about 500 comparable flags as non-biological stays, to the descendants of Japanese servicemembers killed within the warfare.

The seek for the flag’s authentic proprietor began in April when a museum customer took a photograph and requested an skilled in regards to the description that it had belonged to a “kamikaze” suicide pilot. When Shigeyoshi Mutsuda’s grandson noticed the photograph, he sought assist from the Obon Society, group co-founder Keiko Ziak mentioned.

“Once we realized all of this, and that the household wish to have the flag, we knew instantly that the flag didn’t belong to us,” Banta mentioned on the handover ceremony. “We knew that the suitable factor to do can be to ship the flag house, to be in Japan and to the household.”

The soldier’s eldest son, Toshihiro Mutsuda, was speechless for just a few seconds when Banta, carrying white gloves, gently positioned the neatly folded flag into his arms. Two of his youthful siblings, each of their 80s, stood by and seemed on silently. The three youngsters, all carrying cotton gloves so they would not harm the decades-old flag, rigorously unfolded it to indicate to the viewers.

The soldier’s daughter, Misako Matsukuchi, touched the flag with each arms and prayed. “After practically 80 years, the spirit of our father returned to us. I hope he can lastly relaxation in peace,” Matsukuchi mentioned later.

Toshihiro Mutsuda mentioned his reminiscence of his father was foggy. Nevertheless, he clearly remembers his mom, Masae Mutsuda, who died 5 years in the past at age 102, used to make the long-distance bus journey nearly yearly from the farming city in Gifu, central Japan, to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, the place the two.5 million warfare lifeless are enshrined, to pay tribute to her husband’s spirit.

The shrine is controversial, because it consists of convicted warfare criminals amongst these commemorated. Victims of Japanese aggression throughout the first half of the twentieth century, particularly China and the Koreas, see Yasukuni as a logo of Japanese militarism. Nevertheless, for the Mutsuda household, it is a spot to recollect the lack of a father and husband.

“It’s like an outdated love story throughout the ages coming collectively … It doesn’t matter the place,” Banta mentioned, referring to the Yasukuni controversy. “The essential factor is that this flag goes to the household.”

That’s why Toshihiro Mutsuda and his siblings selected to obtain the flag at Yasukuni and introduced the framed photographs of their dad and mom.

“My mom missed him and needed to see him a lot and that is why she used to hope right here,” Toshihiro Mutsuda mentioned. “At present her want lastly got here true, and she or he was in a position to be reunited.”

Conserving the flag on his lap, he mentioned, “I really feel the burden of the flag.”

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This materials will not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.