Here is the basic translation of the
above plaque...
Unknown Scout Soldier -- This statue is
a memorial of a true story of a fierce battle in World War II, which
happened on an island in the South Pacific Ocean somewhere. An American
soldier was seriously wounded, and he was lying where he had fallen. The
sound of gunfire stopped, and the surroundings quieted down. He heard
someone's footsteps approaching him. A Japanese soldier who had a gun
with a bayonet was standing over him when he opened his eyes. He thought
that he was going to be killed by the Japanese soldier, and he fainted.
After a while, he woke up. He found a white slip of paper on the sand by
his side, and he put it in his pocket. He was carried on a stretcher to
the field operations aid station soon after that. When he was put on the
operating table, he remembered the slip of paper in his pocket, and gave
it to the doctor. It was a message from the Japanese soldier, and was as
follows: "When I was about to kill you, you made the three fingered
Scout salute. I am a Scout. A Scout is a brother. Therefore, I could not
kill any person who lost the fighting spirit. I tended to your wound.
Good luck!" After the war the American soldier and his father visited
the Boy Scout headquarters in the United States, and told this story.
They donated money for the Boy Scouts to put up a monument to the
Scouting Spirit. In 1952, Mr. Finnel came to inspect the Boy Scout
movement of Japan from the headquarters in the United States and passed
on this true story as a fine anecdote from during the war. The American
soldier's name is not known. The Japanese soldier was killed. This
monument is to the Unknown Scout Soldier. This is an example of the
Scout Spirit of Japan. |