AFTER canceling the memorial ceremony for three years in a row due to travel restrictions in response to the global Covid-19 pandemic, the Saipan Mayor’s Office and Kuentai-USA on Tuesday vowed to hold it next year to honor the World War II soldiers who died during the “Banzai Attack” on July 7, 1944 at Tanapag beach.
Kuentai-USA Chairman Usan Kurata and Secretary General Yukari Akatsuka on Tuesday visited the Saipan Mayor’s Office and met with the mayor’s special assistant, Henry Hofschneider.
Saipan began memorializing the Banzai Attack on July 7, 2016, eight months after Kuentai-USA discovered the common grave of thousands of Japanese soldiers and hundreds of American soldiers who died in the Banzai Attack.
The memorial ceremony on July 7, 2019, was attended by Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Saipan Mayor David M. Apatang, Bishop Ryan Jimenez, and then-Japanese Consul Ono Kazuhiko.
Akatsuka told Hofschneider that they wanted to hold the ceremony on July 7, 2022, but there were still difficulties with international travel from Japan. “We hope that we can have the ceremony next year,” she added.
Apatang, who is running for lt. governor in November, will work with the incoming mayor to make sure that the Saipan Mayor’s Office will continue to take part in organizing the annual event, Hofschneider said.
“Whoever the new mayor will be, we will let him know that the Banzai Attack ceremony happens every year and we will also inform him about the work of Kuentai-USA,” he added.
Kuentai-USA Chairman Usan Kurata, right, Secretary General Yukari Akatsuka, center, archeologist Danny Keay, left, and Kuentai-U.S.A. member Matt Small, second left, pose for a photo with the special assistant to the Saipan mayor, Henry Hofschneider, during a visit at the mayor’s office on Tuesday.