Okinawa school marks 50th year since U.S. fighter crash

Wednesday 01st July, 04:12 AM JST

NAHA —

A memorial service was held at a public elementary school in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture, on Tuesday, the 50th anniversary of a U.S. fighter jet crash that killed 11 students and six others in the neighborhood. On June 30, 1959, an F-100 jet on a test flight from the U.S. Kadena Air Base in then U.S.-occupied Okinawa developed an engine fire and crashed into Miyamori Elementary School and houses nearby at lunchtime. In addition to the 17 fatalities, 210 people were injured including 156 pupils. The pilot was unhurt after parachuting out.

The accident prompted fresh ill feelings toward the U.S. military on Okinawa, where a fierce battle was fought during World War II, and led to mounting calls for reversion to Japan, which was realized in 1972. Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, former pupils of the school at the time of the crash, and the victims’ bereaved families were among the roughly 800 participants in the service. After current student representatives laid flowers and paper cranes at a stone statue built in 1965, a ‘‘peace bell’’ was rung and the participants offered a silent prayer. Mementos of the victims as well as photos taken at the time of the accident were on display in a classroom opened as a temporary reference room for learning about the accident, which principal Yoshio Taira aims to build on a permanent basis. ‘‘We will never forget the horror of the accident even though 50 years have past. We want to forget it but should not,’’ said Taira, 57, who was in the school as a second grader at the time, in an address to the students.

Kyodo