「語り継ぐ意義、変わらず」　米軍機、小学校墜落から６３年―沖縄

　沖縄県うるま市（旧石川市）で１９５９年、市立宮森小学校に米軍の戦闘機が墜落し、児童１２人を含む１８人が死亡した事故から６３年となった３０日、同校で慰霊祭が行われた。米軍機のごう音が響く中、遺族らが犠牲者に黙とうをささげた。
　当時同小５年で、慰霊祭を主催したＮＰＯ法人「石川・宮森６３０会」会長の久高政治さん（７４）は「ロシアのウクライナ侵攻により世界で緊張関係が増し、アジアにも押し寄せている。事故を語り継ぐ意義は、６３年前も今も変わっていない。いつまた同じことが起きるかもしれない」とあいさつした。
　参列した伊波美代子さん（８５）は当時働いていた米軍嘉手納基地（嘉手納町など）から事故を聞いて同小に駆け付けた。サイパンで父や祖父、きょうだいらを亡くした戦争を思い出し、現場を直視できたのは翌日になってからだった。「若い人には戦争の怖さは分からない。平和でないと困るから、しっかり語り継いで」と願った。（2022/06/30-14:39）

A memorial service was held Thursday for a total of 18 students and other local residents killed in the crash of a U.S. fighter jet in the city of Uruma in the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa 63 years ago.
   The ceremony was held at Miyamori Elementary School, which was hit by the incident involving the fighter belonging to the U.S. military's Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.
   Around 10:40 a.m. on June 30, 1959, the fighter crashed into a residential neighborhood in the city, which was called the city of Ishikawa at the time, bounced and plunged into the building of the school roughly 150 meters away. Fires caused by jet fuel from the fighter burned houses and the school building.
   Twelve of the 18 victims were students, while 210 people, including 156 students, were injured in the incident. The incident occurred before the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan from post-World War II U.S. occupation.
   In Thursday's ceremony, bereaved families and others observed a moment of silence for the lives lost in the crash.