(NTV) This month marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two.
A national ceremony was held in Tokyo last weekend to remember the people who died during the conflict.
The families of more than one million Japanese war-dead have yet to retrieve the remains of their relatives, but some are finding closure in a different way.
Shiichiro Ogawa was just 16 when he was killed fighting in the Philippines in 1945. His family never recovered his remains, nor any of his personal belongings.
70 years later, the spirit of Shiichiro is finally coming home in the shape of a flag covered with messages from family and friends.
Called “Yosegaki Hinomaru”, the flags were carried into battle by Japanese soldiers. They kept them on their body at all times, as a constant reminder of the loved ones they had left behind.
To their enemies, the flags quickly acquired a different meaning. They became trophies, exotic souvenirs from the war against Japan. Tens of thousands of “Yosegaki” flags are still kept in the United States by people who often don’t realize their significance on the other side of the pacific.
Returning the flags to bereaved families has become the mission of a couple from Oregon.
Keiko and Rex Ziak lead a non-profit organization that offers to locate the personal items of fallen soldiers and send them back to their families.
Every week they receive two or three parcels containing a “Yosegaki” flag. The idea of this project occurred to Keiko eight years ago when the flag of her grandfather, who had died fighting in Burma, suddenly reached her family.
“The flag arrived after 62 years. We felt like grandpa himself had come home to visit us,” she says.
The main challenge is a matter of perception. Collecting military items is a passion for thousands of Americans and “Yosegaki” flags are among the best-selling items when it comes to the Pacific war.
Keiko and Rex are challenging this perception by patiently explaining the significance of these items.
“We are turning battlefield souvenirs into family heirlooms. When these go back to the family, it is no longer an object, it is seen as the spirit of that person,” Rex explains.
The couple’s efforts are paying off. Last November, they received a flag from Massachusetts. The first step was to work on the inscriptions, and to do that they count on volunteers back in Japan.
Little by little, they narrowed down their search until the man behind the flag appeared. After eight months they were able to reconnect Shiichiro Ogawa with his 81-year-old sister.
So far, the couple and their group have retrieved more than 110 flags. Forty-one have been returned to bereaved families in Japan.
Source: http://bit.ly/1Lp73vZ
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