NAHA CITY, Okinawa, Japan -- As silence fell over the crowd, the Japanese anthem played and the flag was raised into the sky. The audience rose to its feet, standing at attention or saluting until the anthem ended.
The somber atmosphere continued during a memorial ceremony held to honor those who fell during the Battle of Okinawa.
During the ceremony, the decades-old Imperial Japanese Navy rear admiral’s flag, which had belonged to Minoru Ota, was passed to his son, Taosa Ochiai, at the Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters memorial service in Naha May 27.
Ota was a rear admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II and the final commander of the Japanese naval forces defending the Oroku Peninsula during the Battle of Okinawa. During the battle, he commanded a force with a nominal strength of 10,000 men, according to Andrew Weist’s book, “The Pacific War: Campaigns of World War II from Pearl Harbor to Hiroshima.”
The Battle of Okinawa, code named Operation Iceberg, was fought on the islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific during World War II, lasting from early April through late June, 1945, according to Chris Majewski, the lead tour guide with Marine Corps Community Services Tours+.
After Ota’s death, his flag was recovered and later donated to the Battle of Okinawa Historical Organization’s display on Camp Kinser.
When members of the Japan Self-Defense Force visited the display, they informed Ochiai, a retired rear admiral himself, of the flag’s whereabouts and formally requested its return.
The flag was returned to Ota’s family out of respect and determination to honor those who sacrificed everything in defense of their nation and home, said Majewski.
During the ceremony, Ochiai was also presented with the Japanese national flag, which was flown over the then Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters alongside the rear admiral’s flag in 1945, according to Majewski.
The Battle of Okinawa has been referred to as the “typhoon of steel” in English and “tetsu no ame,” which means “iron rain” in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from Japanese defenders, and the sheer amount of ammunition used during the battle.
The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific theater during World War II. Japan lost almost 77,000 lives and more than 10,000 were captured, and the U.S. suffered 72,358 casualties of all kinds. Simultaneously, more than 149,000 Okinawa civilians were killed, wounded or committed suicide, according to Majewski.
With a final gun salute and the lowering of the flags, the ceremony came to an end. People placed flowers in front of the shrine in honor of those who had fallen during the battle and Ochiai stepped in front of the crowd one last time.
“It’s a great honor to receive the flag of my father,” said Ochiai.
In memory of Ota, Ochiai donated the flag to the museum at the Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters, where his father made his last stand during the battle.
“People on all sides, American, Japanese and Okinawan, lost so much during the Battle of Okinawa and throughout World War II,” said Majewski. “But our countries have grown together in so many ways since then. I hope returning this flag to its rightful owner adds another brick to the foundation of mutual respect we have developed.”