November 19, 2024
DHAKA – The remains of 24 Japanese soldiers martyred during the Second World War are being exhumed from the Mainamati War Cemetery in Cumilla for relocation to their home country after 81 years.
A team of seven Japanese forensic experts arrived at the cemetery on November 12. The works are scheduled for completion by November 24. Lt Col (retd) Kazi Sazzad Ali Jahir, a freedom fighter, is helping the team alongside the Commonwealth Graveyard Commission, said the commission’s administrator Abdur Rahim.
Entry and photography to the cemetery will remain restricted during this period, he added.
A total of 737 soldiers, hailing from 13 countries, were buried at the cemetery in the district’s Mainamati upazila between 1939 and 1945.
Of them, 357 were from the United Kingdom, 178 from British India (now Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan), 86 from West Africa, 56 from East Africa, 24 from Japan, four from New Zealand, three from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), 12 each from Canada and Australia, and one each from South Africa, Myanmar, and Belgium.
The remains of the American soldiers were relocated in 1962, while the relocation process of Japanese soldiers’ remains is underway.
The relocation of these 24 graves was initiated in 2015 but was hindered due to administrative delays. Twenty deceased soldiers were identified from the names on their gravestones while the process of identifying the others is underway, said Lt Col (retd) Kazi Sazzad Ali Jahir.
“The soldiers will finally be reunited with their loved ones and buried in their home ground with the honour they deserve,” he added.