Is there anything approaching the Volksbund Grabersuche for the Japanese of WWII, to list and identify the dead?
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Jesse,
I am not aware of any such listing and/or registry.
Eric -
Hello,
I am not sure what the Volksbund Grabersuche is, but the Japanese do have a list of those killed during the "Pacific War". It is maintained and "enshrined" at the War Dead Memorial at "Chidorigabuchi"(sorry if misspelled) in Tokyo, basically across the street and down the road from the Yasakuni Shrine.
I have NO idea of how accurate or detailed the list is, but they say all the millions of civilians and military killed are listed. I have no idea if it is computerized or searchable.
It is not a well know place other than to those whose relatives died. My wife and I go there one a year so she can pay her respects during the Cherry Blossom season (next month).
Regards,
William UnlandComment
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Bill & Jesse,
I am not familiar with the "Volksbund Grabersuche" either, but assumed it to be the on-line data base of German soldiers that died during the Second World War. If I assumed incorrectly, then I apologize. With that said and done, I am unaware of a similar (on-line) data base for Japanese soldiers (or civilians) that died during the same timeframe.
EricLast edited by Eric Doody; 03-31-2005, 07:35 AM.Comment
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About eight years ago, an old friend, who is a forensic pathologist called me with soemthing he had come across. He was in the Boston area for a convention and was invited to the house of the mother of one of his colleagues from the museum he worked at. Following dinner, she gave him a small wood box covered with a rough white burlap type material that contained the creamated remains of a Japanese soldier. Her husband, who had been a civilian technician working for the US Army had bought it from a native in New Guinea who had a stack of these. Due to my contacts in Japan with Japanese swords, he sent it to me in the hopes of returning the remains. Unfortunately, none of the people I knew in Japan were of much help. I finally went to a local Japanese language newspaper thinking they might write a story on this. I talked to a reporter who said she would get back to me. Nothing happened and he remained in my office desk drawer for nearly three years. One day, I got a phone call from the reporter asking what had happened. When I responded nothing, she told me the day after my visit, she had gotten in to a fight with the owner's wife and had left the newpaper. She was now working as an independent journalist and wanted to write a story. She did so and sold it to a national newspaper in Japan. Within three days, the man's family was found. His wife of 86 was still alive and never remarried. He also had four children also alive and well. The story becomes more complicated from here due to bureaucracy, which I would not deal with, but to cut this short, eventually, I was able to return the man's remains to his family through the Japanese Consulate. Two men came from Japan to receive them and take them back. In a foot note, the man's wife wrote us a letter stating she had received his "remains" in 1944. A small box was received that rattled. When she looked inside, there was only a twig from a tree. My wife and I fell very happy to bring closure to this family's loss.
Bob ColemanComment
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That's a touching story Bob, a great act of yours to try and find out the relatives to return that unknown soldier's remainsComment
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Very interesting story Bob. Thanks for sharing it with us, as it brings home the human aspect of the war.
Cheers, Ade.Comment
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Thank-you for the responses to my question on this....
Mr. Unland, how are the names listed? May I give you a few to check when you go?
Originally posted by JesseeComment
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Interesting story, about how you managed to return the remains to Japan.
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