LINK TO WATCH LIVE STREAM OF THE RETURNING "GOOD LUCK FLAG" IN JAPAN:
The public can watch the event live on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFTRgcXbs6A
ORIGINAL STORY:
You may have seen one of them in your family garage or storage unit. They are Japanese “Good Luck” or Yosegaki Hinomari flags - souvenirs brought home by American servicemembers at the end of World War II. But for Japanese families, they represent the spirit of their soldiers who died on the battlefields.
It turns out one of these “Good Luck” flags was donated and placed on display aboard the USS Lexington Museum for almost three decades.
That is until the non-profit group Obon Society heard from a member of the Mutsuda family claiming that the flag belonged to their patriarch, who was killed in the war in the Pacific War.
Last week, a historic event was held aboard the Lexington to officially repatriate that flag. And now, members of the Lexington Museum and the Obon Society are in Japan to formally present it to the family.
Like other “Good Luck” flags, this one was signed in ink by family members, and it was given to Shigeyoshi Mutsuda to take with him to war for "good luck."
Since Japanese remains from the battlefields are not returned to families, these personalized flags are seen as a homecoming of the dead soldier’s spirit returning to his family.
“It is no more flag. It's not the flag. It is that father. Father is finally coming back,” said Keiko Ziak, co-founder of the Obon Society, whose grandfather’s “Good Luck” flag was returned years ago.
Weeks ago, a member of the Mutsuda family identified the flag on the internet and got in touch with the Obon Society.
“They said that's our father's flag, and then they sent us the picture and circular some of the things, and so I just kept inquiring,” said Rex Ziak, co-founder of the Obon Society.
An official match was made with the family's signatures using an old photo and other evidence.
And the next step was easy; returning it back to the Mutsuda family to be reunited with the ashes of the soldier’s widow at a Shrine in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, July 29. It will be live-streamed at 1 a.m. Corpus Christi time.
“The fact that we could repatriate this flag that is considered by the family to be the remains of their grandfather, man … what an honor,” said Steve Banta, Executive Director of the USS Lexington Museum.
An honor to help heal a family and two allied countries (US and Japan) after a bitter world war eight decades ago.
If you happen to have a "Good Luck" flag and would like to return it, click here for details.
