[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 128 (Tuesday, September 8, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNIZING THE GOKASHO, JAPAN ``PEACE MEMORIAL MONUMENT COMMITTEE'' 
 AND A WWII ARMY AIR CORPS CREW THAT PERISHED NEAR TAKACHIHO, GOKASHO 
                 WHOSE LIVES THEY COMMEMORATE ANNUALLY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BLAINE LUETKEMEYER

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 8, 2015

  Mr. LUETKEMEYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the ``Peace 
Memorial Monument Committee'' of the Gokasho region of Japan which, 
since 1995, has honored the lives of a World War II U.S. Army Air Corps 
crew that perished near the local town of Takachiho.
   On August 30th, 1945, an American B-29 Bomber with twelve Army Air 
Corps crew members on board clipped the peak of the Oyaji mountain in 
Takachiho. The bomber was on a mission to the Allied POW detention 
center at Kaitanko of Miyawaka, Fukuoka to air drop relief supplies. 
The ensuing crash left no survivors. The crew members' bodies were 
retrieved by the U.S. military with the help of the citizens of 
Takachiho.
   The names of the flight crew members that perished are Alfred Eiken 
of Missouri, Henry Baker of Tennessee, Jack Riggs of Kansas, George 
Williamson of Pennsylvania, John Cornwell of Texas, Henry Frees of 
Illinois, Solomon Groner of New York, Walter Gusteveson of 
Pennsylvania, Norman Henninger of Ohio, John Hodges, Jr. of Virginia, 
John Dangerfield of Utah, and Bob Miller of Utah.
   In 1995, the ``Peace Memorial Monument Committee,'' which is 
organized by the people of the Gokasho region of Japan, constructed the 
Peace Memorial Monument to honor this Army Air Corps crew as well as 
that of a Japanese Army Fighter jet ``Hayabusa'' which crashed in a 
nearby mountain town. A memorial ceremony has been held each year since 
1995 to commemorate these two tragedies and pray for continued peace 
and friendship between the United States and Japan. The ceremony is 
held on the Saturday in August nearest to August 30th, the date of the 
American crash.
   Mr. Speaker, I am humbled to have the privilege of recognizing these 
fallen warriors, as well as the act of commitment to peace and 
friendship by the people of the Gokasho region that has flourished from 
this tragedy.
   In closing, I ask all my colleagues to join me in honoring the 
Gokasho ``Peace Memorial Monument Committee,'' and the twelve American 
Air Corps crew members whose lives they have not forgotten.

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