July 1945

Rescue of Ishigaki Residents After Their Evacuation Ship Came Under Machine-Gun Fire and Commemoration of This Event

In July 1945, a ship carrying Ishigaki residents came under machine-gun fire by US jet fighters as it was evacuating to Taiwan, drifting ashore on Uotsuri Island. Police officers and the military were sent from Ishigakijima Island to Uotsuri Island to rescue the 150 survivors (50 residents died in the incident). (Ref. 1)

In 1969, the city of Ishigaki built a memorial on Uotsuri Island and held a memorial service (Ref. 2)

 

 

tit

Ref.1　：Makino Kiyoshi, "Senkaku Retto shoshi" (A Short History of the Senkaku Islands) in "Senkaku Retto" (The Senkaku Islands), in Kikan Okinawa (Okinawa Quarterly) 56 (March 25, 1971), p. 112.
Kikan Okinawa is the journal of Nanpo Doho Engokai (Assistance Association for Okinawa and Ogasawara Islands).

Ref.2　："Ireisai annai bun'an" (Draft Announcement of Memorial Service). Produced by city of Ishigaki; copy in OPRF Center for Island Studies.

 

 

tit

→