Foes at war, WWII vets from UK, Japan shake hands
Source: AP
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
TOKYO (AP) — In 1944, the two men were in northeastern India as foes, fighting one of harshest battles of World War II between Japan and Britain. More than 70 years later on Thursday, they shook hands and sipped tea in Tokyo.
Roy Welland, 94, a former British sergeant, and Taiji Urayama, 93, a former Imperial Army lieutenant, survived the Battle of Kohima in northern India near the Burmese border and met for the first time at a British embassy reception in Tokyo. Mikio Kinoshita, a 95-year-old veteran who served as an engineer on the notorious Thai-Burma railway, also joined the gathering.
A somewhat formal atmosphere quickly thawed, sending the audience into laughter when the smaller Kinoshita bounced up from the sofa as the well-built and tall Welland sat next to him. Frail-looking Urayama, who was later held captive by Britain, arrived in a wheelchair assisted by his daughter but moved to the sofa to join the others. They exchanged gifts and shook hands.
While the men were mostly quiet, Urayama's daughter, Akiko Macdonald, who is married to a Briton and lives in England, said she was "deeply moved" to see her father meet Welland in Tokyo.
FULL story at link.
British WWII veteran Roy Welland, right, shakes hands with Japanese Kohima/Imphal veterans Taiji Urayama, left, Mikio Kinoshita, center, during a reconciliation reception at British Embassy in Tokyo Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015. Welland, 94, a former British sergeant, and Urayama, 93, a former Imperial Army lieutenant, survived the Battle of Kohima and met for the first time at the British Embassy reception in Tokyo. (AP Photo/ Eugene Hoshiko)
Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/daaf95511a1a49a8852ceb9439e8d4ad/foes-burma-wwii-vets-uk-japan-shake-hands
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We are even now losing that generation. Too few of them remain. We should learn from this. Sadly, I fear that we will not.
Thank you, OS.
Witness all the nonsense on this Board about perpetuating hate and wishing the resolution had been different.
