80 Years On, 105-Yr-Old Ex-Soldier Recalls Hell of Imphal

   Murakami, Niigata Pref., May 3 (Jiji Press)--A 105-year-old former Japanese soldier has recalled his experience of surviving the battle of Imphal in northeastern India during World War II.
   "War must never happen again, absolutely not," the former solder, Tetsuo Sato, said in an interview ahead of the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, referring to the Imphal operation, known as one of the most reckless battles waged by the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army.
   The path along which the Japanese soldiers retreated was called the "skeleton road" because so many troops lost their lives to hunger and disease.
   Born in the central Japan prefecture of Niigata, Sato joined the army in April 1940.
   During the mission at Imphal in India under British rule, Sato crossed the 200-meter-wide swirling Chindwin River in Burma, now Myanmar, in March 1944 to reach the northern strategic point of Kohima. Despite being needed as food rations for the mountain ranges ahead, unruly live cattle and goats had to be dumped from the small boat.

(2025/05/03-11:00)