Victims and bereaved families commemorate the 1965 US Military aircraft crash at Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa, mourning, “Our children died, burned alive. Let that never again happen to us in Okinawa." (30jn24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Ipomoea, roadside Futenma, 28jn24


(URUMA) In 1965, a US Military jet fighter from the US Military Kadena Air Force Base crashed at Miyamori Elementary School and its surrounding residential area in Ishikawa, now part of Uruma City.


18 people, including children were killed and 210 severely injured in the accident that occurred on this date, 30 June, in 1965. So, a memorial ceremony was held at the school to commemorate it. About 250 victims and  bereaved families formed a procession to pray for the repose of those who died.


On 30 June at Ishikawa’s Miyamori Elementary School in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, Yutaka Umisedo sang a song that he had composed in memory of the victims of the Miyamori jet crash. The ceremony was sponsored by the Ishikawa Miyamori Jet Crash Bereaved Families Association and the Miyamori 630 (= June 30) Association. At the “Friendly Buddha” monument stone, bearing the engraved names of the victims, a thousand paper cranes and sunflowers, which the pupils had dearly loved , were placed in offering.


Musician Yutaka Umisedo, who was born in Uruma, performed his song “The 630 Vow”, which he composed on the theme of the accident. He sang out his lyrics, “Miyamoto’s children will remain forever the students of peace.” In his greeting address, Mr. Umisedo stated, “The children of Miyamori Elementary will keep reminding us of that accident. They have created an expectation that we will forge out a peace!” 


630 Chairman Masashi Hisataka exhorted, “Our children died, burned alive. When we think of our victims, a never ending pain wells up within us. This accident does not belong to Miyamori Elementary alone, nor to Ishikawa alone.. Our prefecture’s people as a whole must accept this issue as their own. Let’s create an Okinawa where  accidents, like that crash, will  never happen again!”


Yoshimori Uema, representing the Bereaved Families Association, was a 3rd year student at the school, when   his younger brother Yoshitake was killed in the accident. He said angrily, “The base was here, therefore, that tragic accident happened. Yet, they’re going forward on the construction of a new base at Henoko. So, another accident is absolutely likely to happen.”


 Visiting as a guest, Governor Denny Tamaki promised, “79 years have passed since the war, yet Okinawan is still bearing an excessive burden of bases. I will put my total strength into reducing our base burden!”


Uruma Mayor Masato Nakayama stated,  “I’m grateful to the activities of the 630 Association for continuing its efforts to link the preciousness of peace to our following generations.”



Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published Sunday 30 June 2024 at 11:43. Byline: Asaka Matayoshi.     https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b3b535394cbd89884b9cac9e77778b895b62b6f1


Denny in the News:

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 


This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 


Any suggestion on improving my translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.


Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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