80 years on: Thai man wants to return soldiers' remains to Japan
A Thai man who built a memorial to Japanese soldiers killed by members of a Thai resistance group during World War II hopes that their remains will be returned to their home country.
The memorial in the Long district in Phrae Province, northern Thailand, was built by Puchong, 83, a local man whose father was a member of the Free Thai resistance group, which fought against Imperial Japan.
During World War II, Japan allied with Thailand, using the Southeast Asian country as a base for operations in India and Burma, now Myanmar.
Thais dissatisfied with the alliance formed the anti-Japanese group, which expanded its presence in the country with support from the Allied forces.
According to Puchong, whose father was a senior member of the group in the province, the two Japanese soldiers died in a gunfight with Free Thai fighters in the Wiang Ta subdistrict in Long about two years before the end of the war.
Their bodies were buried at the site of the conflict. The soldiers are believed to have come from neighbouring Lampang Province, where Japan had a garrison, for reconnaissance.
Puchong, who manages a museum on the Free Thai movement, built the memorial to the two soldiers near the burial site in 2018.
During the war, Japan was an enemy to the Free Thai group, but the soldiers were victims of the war, which was unnecessary, Puchong said.
The memorial features an inscription in Thai, Japanese and English that reads, "In honour of two brave unknown Japanese soldiers who perished while performing their duties in searching for Phrae Free Thai during WWII."
"The bones of the Japanese soldiers should be brought back to Japan. Those poor souls would love to go home," Puchong said, expressing his wish to recover the remains and return them to Japan.
"We are aware of information that the remains of people who died in war are in Phrae Province," said an official of the Japan Association for Recovery and Repatriation of War Casualties, which works to recover the remains of Japanese soldiers who died overseas.
"We are coordinating with the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry and local organisations to conduct an on-site investigation in fiscal 2025," the official added.
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, but wars continue to occur in many parts of the world, Puchong remarked.
"There is nothing good about war. No one gains," he said. "We don't want it to happen again."
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
