Remains of 23 Japanese WWII soldiers ready for returning home

The remains of 23 out of 24 Japanese soldiers have been exhumed from the Mainamati War Cemetery in Comilla, 81 years after the Second World War. No remains were found in the grave of the remaining soldier.

The excavation works officially concluded on Friday (November 22), and the authorities announced that the remains will soon be handed over to Japan. The excavation began on November 13 to search for the remains of the soldiers.

Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Kazi Sajjad Ali Zahir, Bir Protik, who assisted the Japanese forensic team, confirmed this information to Jago News on Saturday (November 23).

Kazi Sajjad Ali Zahir stated, "Even after 81 years, we have found some skeletal remains, skulls, and various body parts of the soldiers. The entire team had to work tirelessly for this. Each grave was excavated carefully, sometimes using equipment and sometimes by hand. While records exist in other countries of excavating graves 60–65 years old, I believe this is the first time remains have been recovered after such a long period.

"However, nothing was found in one grave. It is assumed that the soldier buried there was very young. From the evidence collected from the graves of 23 soldiers, we hope the Japanese forensic team will achieve positive results in their laboratory. The Japanese forensic team is optimistic as well," he added.

The Mainamati War Cemetery in Comilla is the final resting place of 737 soldiers who died during World War II between 1941 and 1945. Among them, 172 were Muslims, 24 were Buddhists, 2 were Hindus, and the rest were Christians.

The cemetery includes the graves of soldiers from 13 countries: 357 from the United Kingdom, 12 from Canada, 12 from Australia, 4 from New Zealand, 171 from undivided India, 3 from Rhodesia, 56 from East Africa, 86 from West Africa, 1 from Belgium, 24 from Japan, and 1 each from Myanmar, South Africa, and Poland.