Japanese military personnel who died in naval battles with U.S. forces during World War II were remembered last week at a ceremony unveiling a historical marker in the southern Philippines where many were cremated.
Historians and war veterans say as many as 500 Japanese sailors and soldiers were cremated at a public high school in Surigao City, about 710 km south of Manila. They were defeated by the U.S. Navy in the Battle of Surigao Strait on Oct. 24 and 25, 1944.
"This historical plate is installed on this site in proper mourning for the Japanese soldiers and navy men who died in action in this part of Mindanao. These men died fighting for Japan and the Imperial Japanese Army burned them here," the marker reads.
Japanese forces deployed in Surigao Del Norte Province made what is now the Surigao Del Norte National High School its headquarters, said Leslie Bauzon, a professor at the University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture.