Photo/Illutration Katsuya Toji, the son of an Imperial Japanese Army officer who took part in the executions of U.S. POWs in 1945, offers incense at a memorial service in Fukuoka on June 20. (Kei Yoshida)

FUKUOKA--Buddhist sutras were chanted and incense smoldered during a memorial service here for 43 U.S. soldiers executed while being detained as prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army or who died during horrific surgical experiments performed by army doctors at Kyushu University.

The service was held June 20 at Aburayama Kannon Buddhist temple in the city’s Jonan Ward.

Relatives of two officers of the Imperial Japanese Army who took part in the executions attended, along with John Taylor, principal officer of the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka.

Photos of the victims were flanked by the national flags of both countries. Messages from relatives of the victims were also read out.

Eight of the POWs detained at the Imperial Army’s western district army’s headquarters in Fukuoka were put to death on June 20, 1945, without being given the opportunity of a military hearing. More executions took place in August.

A number of the U.S. soldiers died in May and June of that year after being subjected to experimental surgery.

In total, 43 of the POWs died.

Fukuoka resident Katsuya Toji, 67, whose father Kentaro was part of the execution party, told participants at the ceremony that his father purchased four statues of four guardian deities that he displayed in his home to commemorate the four POWs he helped kill.

Toji’s father was sentenced to death at the Yokohama Class B and Class C War Crimes Trials by the U.S. Army, but was later discharged after his sentence was reduced.

Another member of the execution party was Osamu Satano. His son, Wataru Satano, also attended the ceremony.

“This is my first time to meet representatives of the U.S. side as a member of a bereaved family,” said Satano, 62, a resident of Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward. “I am glad to attend the service in place of my father.”

Taylor, speaking in Japanese, said he was happy to attend the gathering as a representative of the United States, adding that it is the responsibly of people in both countries to ensure they never go to war again.

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