Photo/Illutration Ken Furukubo speaks before the cenotaph for the B-29 crew members in the Ryujinmura district of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, on May 5, 2014. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

In the final stages of World War II, U.S. forces rained incendiary bombs on many parts of Japan. B-29 bombers symbolized America’s ruthless onslaught, but they were sometimes shot down.

Ken Furukubo, an 84-year-old former schoolteacher living in the Ryujinmura district of Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, witnessed one such crash on May 5, 1945.

Seven U.S. soldiers lay dead, apparently killed on impact.

Furukubo, who was a second-year elementary school pupil at the time, threw stones at their remains as instructed by the adults around him.

A stone hit the belly of one corpse with a dull thud. The unpleasant sound lingered in his ears, and he regretted what he had done.

The bomber’s other crew members, who had parachuted out, were captured by villagers. Some were said to have been executed by the Japanese military.

But the village’s deputy chief and others mourned the U.S. soldiers, telling the people, “The dead have no enemies or allies.”

Furukubo, who lost his father in action in China, often wondered what his final moments before death might have been like.

Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age as a schoolteacher, Furukubo started researching documents and interviewing people. He compiled his findings on the B-29 crash into a book that was published under the title of “Go-on” (Thunderous roar).

Nine years ago, he traveled to Florida to visit an American woman in her 80s, a younger sister of one of the B-29 crew who had died in the crash.

He handed her a fragment of the plane, and she showed him many pictures of her deceased brother.

Furukubo told her of the remorse he felt on the day he threw stones at the dead.

“The grief of the bereaved families is the same for victors as well as losers,” he noted. “I was reminded acutely of how easy it is to start a war, and how difficult it is to end it.”

Furukubo’s words ring especially true now because of what is happening in Ukraine.

Everyone wants a cease-fire, but there is not even a glimmer of hope. Even when the fighting does stop, the fire of hatred in people’s hearts would probably not go out easily.

On the morning of May 5, a memorial ceremony will be held in the Ryujinmura community.

When I visited the site recently, young flowering cherry trees were growing vigorously near the cenotaph dedicated to the B-29 crew members.

I was told that these trees were seedlings when they were purchased with donations sent from the American families of the deceased.

I thought about the years it took for resentment, caused by war, to transform into love.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 4

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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