対馬丸撃沈７８年で慰霊祭　生存者「言葉で紛争解決を」―沖縄

　太平洋戦争中、沖縄から長崎へ向かった学童疎開船「対馬丸」が米潜水艦に撃沈され、児童ら１５００人近くが犠牲になった事件から２２日で７８年を迎えた。那覇市内で慰霊祭が開かれ、約１５人の参列者が犠牲者の冥福を祈った。
　参列者は慰霊塔「小桜の塔」の前で黙とうをささげた。生存者で対馬丸記念会代表理事の高良政勝さん（８２）は、追悼の言葉でロシア軍のウクライナ侵攻に触れ「武器で戦うのではなく、『ことば』を戦わすことで解決する道を探ってほしいと対馬丸の子どもたちは願っている」と語った。（2022/08/22-11:50）

A memorial service was held in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, on Monday to remember the nearly 1,500 victims, including schoolchildren, who were killed aboard an evacuation ship in a U.S. torpedo attack 78 years ago during World War II.
   Around 15 participants prayed at a memorial monument for the victims of the attack on the Tsushima Maru.
   Touching on Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Masakatsu Takara, an 82-year-old survivor of the attack, said in a speech, "The children who were aboard the Tsushima Maru at the time wish that people fight with words, and not with weapons, to search for a resolution."
   On the night of Aug. 22, 1944, the Tsushima Maru sank off the island of Akusekijima in Kagoshima Prefecture following a torpedo attack from a U.S. submarine while traveling from Naha to Nagasaki, southwestern Japan.
   Of some 1,800 people aboard the ship, at least 1,484, including 784 schoolchildren, lost their lives in the attack, according to a group to remember the tragedy, headed by Takara.