Photo/Illutration U.S. Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay (From the U.S. Air Force website)

A group of activists is calling for the revocation of a Japanese government honor given to U.S. Air Force Gen. Curtis LeMay, who masterminded the devastating firebombing of Tokyo during World War II.

The petition to the government was filed by Gamafuya, a peace advocacy group from Okinawa Prefecture, on March 10, the 80th anniversary of the Great Tokyo Air Raid.

“LeMay had no remorse for how more than 100,000 civilians were burned to death in a single night during the Tokyo air raid,” said Takamatsu Gushiken, who heads the group. “And he continued indiscriminate bombing that slaughtered citizens across the country.”

LeMay oversaw the strategic bombing campaign in 1945, which destroyed Japanese cities of all sizes in the months leading up to the country’s defeat.

In his memoir, LeMay, who died in 1990 at the age of 83, described the Tokyo bombing as a landmark event in modern air warfare.

Ironically, the U.S. commander was later decorated by the Japanese government in the new post-war security context.

In 1964, LeMay was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun for his role in developing Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force.

In submitting the petition, Gamafuya members condemned the decoration, asserting that the Japanese government had endorsed the massacre of its own people.

However, government officials suggested that canceling the honor granted to LeMay was unlikely.

“Archived documents justifying LeMay’s decoration cite only his contribution to the ASDF,” said a Cabinet Office official who received the petition. “Unless new facts emerge to challenge his achievements, there will be no further debate on the issue.”

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