Victims of US Nuclear Strategy: 63 Years since the Miyamori Elementary School Crash

Published in Ryukyu Shimpo
(Japan) on 30 June 2022
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by D Baker. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
It has been 63 years since a U.S. jet fighter aircraft crashed into Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa (present day Uruma), leaving 18 dead and 210 injured.

“There is nothing novel about the tragedy in Ishikawa.” This was the response that came from the U.S. military at the time, words that trivialized the incident and were an insult to the victims. The children of Miyamori Elementary School were, in essence, victims of U.S. nuclear strategy.

Even 50 years after the reversion of Okinawa to Japan, there has been no decline in the number of incidents involving U.S. aircraft, leaving citizens' lives still at risk. Due to the Status of Forces Agreement, Japanese aviation laws cannot be applied to the U.S. military. This unfair agreement must be fundamentally overhauled so that domestic laws are respected by all and safety can return to the skies of Okinawa.

The F100 jet that crashed into Miyamori Elementary School was deployed from Kadena Air Base. Previous to the school crash, there had been a string of incidents involving this type of aircraft, though this reality was not widely known at the time. According to a summary by the U.S. Air Force, there were 168 serious (or Class A) incidents involving F100s in the year before the school crash, resulting in the deaths of 47 pilots.

The U.S. military's official reasoning for the cause of the Miyamori Elementary School crash was “force majeure due to engine failure.” However, the most significant cause of the crash was actually maintenance error. Under normal circumstances, the aircraft should not have flown. It must also be noted that compensation given to the victims was far from adequate.

The U.S. military took care to ensure the incident did not drive anti-American sentiment and negatively impact American rule. However, in internal U.S. military documents obtained by the Ishikawa Miyamori 630 Association, the U.S. military downplayed the significance of the school crash, emphasizing that “accidental deaths have been an entirely normal occurrence since time immemorial.”

Under the Eisenhower administration, a large number of nuclear weapons were brought to Okinawa in the mid-1950s, with approximately 1,300 left there. Japan's Three Non-Nuclear Principles state that nuclear weapons must not be brought into Japan, but Okinawa was seen as a loophole, as it had been separated from the rest of Japan by the Treaty of San Francisco. This was clearly a double standard. The F100 jet that crashed into Miyamori Elementary School was capable of carrying a Mark 28 hydrogen bomb.

With nuclear weapons secretly introduced to Okinawa, residents were forced to live alongside the potential for destruction. On June 19, days before the U.S. aircraft crashed into Miyamori Elementary School, a Nike missile was accidentally deployed from Naha Air Base (present day Naha Airport) with a nuclear warhead still intact and was shot into the ocean.

Yara Choubyou, who was at the time head of the Okinawa Teachers Association, wrote the following about the state of the crash site in his diary.

“Without the base, there would be no tragedy. The sorrow of Okinawa, the grief of the victims. It is too awful. Too heartbreaking ... This day, June 30, when we witnessed that which has never been witnessed in all of history, is a day of unforgettable calamity.” (Yara's Diary, June 30, 1959)

According to the prefectural government, there have been a total of 826 incidents involving U.S. aircraft since Okinawa's reversion to Japan, which include events such as aircraft crashes, fallen components and emergency landings (as of Dec. 31, 2020). It is simply not acceptable that the lives and livelihoods of residents continue to be endangered and threatened by the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan.


<社説>宮森小米軍機墜落63年 米国の核戦略の犠牲だ

死者18人、重軽傷者210人を出した石川市(現うるま市)の宮森小学校米軍ジェット機墜落から63年を迎えた。
 米軍は当時、事故について「石川の悲劇は何も目新しい要素があるわけではない」と事故を矮小(わいしょう)化し犠牲者を冒瀆(ぼうとく)している。宮森小の児童らは、当時の米核戦略の犠牲になったともいえるだろう。
 施政権返還(日本復帰)から50年を迎えた現在も、米軍機の事故は減らず県民の命は今も危険にさらされている。日米地位協定によって米軍は日本の航空法が適用されない。沖縄の空の安全を実現するためには、不平等な地位協定を抜本的に改定し、国内法を適用させなければならない。
 宮森小学校に墜落したF100は、嘉手納基地に配備されていた。同型機の事故が多発していたことは当時、知られていない。米空軍のまとめによると、事故の前年にF100の重大事故(クラスA)は168件、47人のパイロットが死亡している。
 米軍は宮森小に墜落した原因を「エンジン故障による不可抗力の事故」と発表した。しかし、最大の原因は「整備ミス」だった。本来なら飛ばしてはいけないはずだ。事故後の賠償も不十分だった。
 米軍は事故によって反米感情が広がり米国統治に悪影響を及ばさないよう注意を払った。石川・宮森630会が入手した米軍の内部文書によると、当時の米軍は「不慮の事故死は有史以来全く普通に起きている出来事」と事故を矮小化していた。
 米国のアイゼンハワー政権下の1950年代半ばから沖縄に大量の核兵器が持ち込まれ、約1300発の核が置かれていた。非核三原則によって日本に核を持ち込めないが、サンフランシスコ講和条約によって日本から切り離された沖縄は可能だった。明らかに二重基準である。宮森小に墜落したF100は、水爆「マーク28」を搭載できる機種だった。
 密かに核兵器が持ち込まれた沖縄で、住民は破滅と隣合わせの生活を強いられていた。宮森小に米軍機が墜落する直前の6月19日、那覇空軍基地(現那覇空港)に配備されていたナイキが核核弾を頭搭したまま誤って発射され、海に落下した。
 墜落事故の知らせを聞いた沖縄教職員会の屋良朝苗会長(当時)は、事故現場の惨状を日記に残している。
 「基地なればこそ起る事だ。哀れな沖縄、悲しい被害者等よ。余りにも残念。そして痛ましい。(中略)歴史上かつてない事が起きた六月三十日、今日の日忘れる事の出来ない不幸の日だ」(1959年6月30日付「屋良日記」)
 県によると、日本復帰後、墜落や部品落下、不時着など米軍機による事故は826件(2020年12月末現在)発生している。米軍の駐留によって県民の暮らしと命が危険にさらされ、脅かされることは許されない。
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