GUWAHATI, Nov 24 - Remains of the nine World War II Japanese soldiers which were excavated by the Japan Government from the Guwahati War Cemetery located at Navagraha here in 2012, could not be linked to their families back home as the grave remains turned out to be insufficient to conduct DNA tests.
A spokesperson of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan informed The Assam Tribune that the Government could not narrow down on the names of the potential Missing-in Action (MIA) Japanese soldiers, besides the bereaved family members.
The Ministry also informed that of the 11 graves which were dug up in Guwahati War Cemetery, remains or samples of only nine individuals could be sent back to Japan from Guwahati. The initiative was taken by the Japanese Government to facilitate formal burial of the Japanese soldiers who died during World War II.
�The eleven soldiers engraved in the Guwahati War Cemetery were Hachive Tsuyoshi, Ikdimraisao, Ishiwara Hiroja, Kito Zwao, Komatsutomoshige, Miyata kotsuo, Morata Doshu, Urata Yotaka, Okamoto, Shotasaburo and Yamado Kesakti. Of these, the remains of Hachive Tsuyoshi and Okamoto could not be recovered from the grave burials,� the Japan Government official divulged.
In 2012, a three-member Japanese delegation visited the Guwahati War Cemetery which is being maintained by the Guwahati Branch of Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
�The exercise took place in January, 2012 with support from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), and the State of Assam. However, of the eleven individuals (grave remains), we repatriated nine individuals and brought them back to Japan,� informed Chiba-Katsumi of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Japan while corresponding with this reporter via email.
�Unfortunately, the conditions of these remains were degraded. The amount of the remains was also very small.� We could not narrow down of the name of the potential MIA besides the bereaved families.� For this reason, we could not conduct DNA examination nor communicate with bereaved families,� Chiba-Katsumi stated, adding, �For those who cannot be identified, we have national facility, called �Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery� to place these war dead remains to the ossuary, where at present 360,000 individuals are currently buried�.
