MARINE CORPS AIR SATATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- On July 28, 1945, the B‑24 Liberator the “Lonesome Lady” launched from the Yontan Airfield in Okinawa on a mission targeting the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Haruna at Kure Harbor. During their mission in Kure, the aircraft was struck by retaliatory anti-aircraft fire from the battleship Haruna after dropping her bombs, later crashing in the hills near Yanai.
Of the nine American crew members, one died on impact. Two were captured and later transferred to Tokyo, surviving the war. The remaining six, and an additional three airmen from a second B‑24, were held as prisoners of war in Hiroshima and died in the atomic bombing.
In the 1970s, Shigeaki Mori, a Japanese historian and a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, began chronicling the full incident. He visited the crash site, retrieved wreckage, contacted families in the United States, and shared documentation with government officials.
Today, the memorial stands in Yanai, featuring an inscribed stone, honoring the Japanese and Americans who died during the war, and an educational panel detailing the crash of the “Lonesome Lady”. This monument honors the sacrifices of the fallen American aircrew and the Japanese civilians who lost their lives in the incident. Mori said, “Peace is not given by others. You have to create it by yourself.” His focus remains clear: to spread a message of peace to all countries.