JAPANESE DEAD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25562, 15 June 1944, Page 6

JAPANESE DEAD

CEDARWOOD BOXES FOR ASHES THOUSANDS NEAR HOLLANDIA (N.Z.P.A. Special Australian Correspondent) (Rec.- 7.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, June 14. Thousands of cedarwood boxes, made to carry the ashes of Japanese soldiers ‘killed in battle, have been found near Hollandia (Dutch New Guinea). On each box was inscribed the soldier’s name and the date of his death. Most of the inscriptions proclaimed that the soldier had died in March of “ the eighteenth year of the reign of Emperor Showa.” When he ascended the throne in 1926, Prince Hirohito adopted the name Showa, meaning “ enlightened peace.” March, 1943, was the month of the Bismarck Sea battle, when the Japanese lost 22 transports and warships in the ill-fated attempt to reinforce their New Guinea garrisons. The cedarwood boxes, which were ready for shipment, contained no ashes, indicating probably that the men killed had been lost at sea. It is thought that other ashes would have been placed in the boxes in Japan before their ceremonial burial at Yakasuni shrine, the resting place of Japanese warriors.