永井敬司さん死去、９８歳＝激戦地ペリリュー島から生還

　太平洋戦争の激戦地となったパラオのペリリュー島で終戦後も潜伏生活を続け、生還した３４人のうちの１人、永井敬司（ながい・けいじ）さん＝茨城県茨城町＝が４日午前７時２９分、大腸がんのため同町の病院で死去した。９８歳だった。
　同県笠間市出身。葬儀は８日午後１時から茨城町小鶴４２の「メモリアルホールひぬま」で。喪主は長男宏（ひろし）氏。
　２０１５年３月にパラオ訪問前の当時の天皇、皇后両陛下（現上皇ご夫妻）と皇居・御所で面会し、天皇陛下から「本当に長いことご苦労さまでした」と声を掛けられた。（2019/11/06-11:35）

Former Imperial Japanese Army soldier Keiji Nagai, who survived a fierce battle on the western Pacific island of Peleliu, now in Palau, during World War II, died of colorectal cancer at a hospital in the town of Ibaraki in Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan, on Monday. He was 98.
   Nagai, a native of the city of Kasama in the prefecture, was among 34 Japanese soldiers who fought in the Battle of Peleliu and remained in hiding on the island until April 1947 without knowing that Japan had surrendered in the war in August 1945.
   In March 2015, he met with then Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo before the couple's visit to the island.
   Former Emperor Akihito, who now holds the title of Emperor Emeritus, thanked Nagai for his long service at their meeting.