IOTO, Japan—Making a rare trip to Iwo Jima, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan paid his respects Tuesday to the more than 21,000 soldiers who died in one of World War II's bloodiest battlegrounds—and one that after 65 years is still giving up its dead.
Kan's visit follows the recent discovery of two mass graves on the tiny, volcanic isle where the bodies of roughly 12,000 Japanese soldiers have yet to be recovered. Officials traveling with Kan said the visit underscores his resolve to finally account for all of Iwo Jima's dead.
"We will examine every grain of sand. Please be patient a little longer," Kan said. "I prayed from my heart for the souls who died here."
Now known in Japan as Ioto—that was what the island was called by residents before the war—Iwo Jima was the site of one of the most fateful and iconic battles in the Pacific and helped turn the tide against the Japanese.
For many Americans, an Associated Press photo of U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman raising the flag atop Mount Suribachi has become of the most lasting symbols of the war, and of American sacrifice and bravery. More medals of honor—27, including nearly a third of all given to Marines during World War II—were awarded for valor on Iwo Jima than any other single campaign.
In Japan, however, Iwo Jima is seen by most as just one of many bloody defeats.
It has been generally ignored since the war, has been left largely untouched and is now uninhabited except for a few hundred troops at a small Japanese military outpost. Kan is only the second prime minister to visit the island. Junichiro Koizumi was the first, five years ago.
But Kan's government, inspired in part by the success in Japan of the 2006 Clint Eastwood movie "Letters from Iwo Jima" and concerned that time is running out, has made a strong effort to bring closure on Iwo Jima by stepping up the civilian-run mission to recover all of the Japanese dead.
That project began in July and took a big step forward in October, when two mass graves that may hold the remains of more than 2,000 Japanese soldiers were discovered by search teams.
Working off of documents provided by the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, the Japanese teams found sites listed as "enemy cemeteries" near a runway at the military outpost and at the foot of Suribachi.
"Many troops will be returning home now that these mass graves have been found. I prayed they will rest in peace," said lawmaker Yoshitaka Shindo. His grandfather was commanding officer of Japanese troops on Iwo Jima. "But Ioto's battle is not over until all of the bodies are recovered."
Yukihiko Akutsu, a special adviser to the prime minister who heads the search mission, told The Associated Press the main site is estimated to have about 2,000 bodies and the Suribachi site about 70-200 bodies. The excavation effort was expected to take several months, but Akutsu said the teams have already found 51 remains, some wrapped in olive green body bags, in the two areas.
Akutsu said the government would notify Washington if any American remains are exhumed.
The discovery of the mass graves could be one of the biggest breakthroughs in decades toward recovering Iwo Jima's dead.
"This is a very significant mission," Akutsu said.
"Because we lost the war, for a long time there was not much enthusiasm about projects like this," he added. "But time is running out. The families of the dead, their brothers and sisters, are in their 80s. We would like to settle this issue in the next three years."
Iwo Jima's Japanese defenders were so deeply dug in to caves, bunkers and tunnels, and the shelling of the island by the Americans was so intense, that recovering their bodies has been an almost impossible mission despite small-scale annual searches since the 1950s.
Identification of the remains is another difficult hurdle. Few Japanese soldiers wore dog tags or other identification, and their remains have by now deteriorated badly. Unidentified remains are sent to a tomb in Tokyo for unknown soldiers.
Virtually all the 22,000 Japanese soldiers tasked with defending the rugged crag were killed in the battle, which claimed 6,821 American and 21,570 Japanese lives. Dozens of remains are recovered every year, but about 12,000 Japanese are still classified as missing in action and presumed killed on the island, along with 218 Americans.
The island, 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) south of Tokyo, was seen as key to the United States because it had an early warning radar station and three airfields used by Japanese fighter planes that posed a threat to U.S. bombing raids on Tokyo and Japan's main islands.
The U.S. wanted the airfields for its fighter escort planes.
Fighting began on Feb. 19, 1945, but Iwo Jima was not declared secured until March 26. Japan surrendered in August of that year, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.