Do you know Niihau Island, the westernmost island among the Hawaiian Islands? The island was designated as the place where damaged planes were to make an emergency landing during and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The pilots who had landed on the island were to be rescued by submarines. Actually a damaged military plane urgently landed on the island on the attack day, and an incident happened. According to a theory, this incident might be a trigger of the Japanese Internment. I heard that the plane was preserved in the museum and wanted to see it, but the plane seemed to be burnt and as you see in the following picture, you wouldn't know that the wreckage used to be a plane. I recalled the 76-year-ago unhappy accident seeing the wreckage and paid a short silence.
(Vocabulary)
internment [U] 強制収容, 抑留, 拘禁
ニイハウ島事件
真珠湾攻撃に際し、ニイハウ島が、損傷を受けた航空機の緊急着陸地点だった。パイロットは潜水艦により救助される予定だった。攻撃当日、一機がこの島へ緊急着陸し、この事件は起こった。一説には日系人の強制収容に繋がった事件でもある。その飛行機が現存すると聞いていたので楽しみにしていたのだが、一度焼かれたらしく、写真の通り、元が飛行機だったことさえ判然としないが、７６年前に起こった事件を思い起こし、合掌。
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