Patricia Schmidt meets Katsuya Toji at Aburayama Kannon Temple in Fukuoka, Japan, Sept. 18, 2026. Toji’s father was convicted of war crimes after carrying out executions on Schmidt’s second cousin and three others during the war. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
FUKUOKA, Japan — Sgt. Charles Eugene Palmer survived his B-29’s destruction over Japan in the final months of World War II, only to die weeks later after being subjected to medical experiments while in captivity.
More than eight decades later, Palmer’s relatives joined descendants of a convicted Japanese war criminal at a Buddhist temple to remember him and other American troops who died during the war.
The memorial ceremony Friday at Aburayama Kannon Temple also included representatives of the U.S. Consulate in Fukuoka and others who took part in Buddhist prayers and remembrances.
Chief priest Kozen Ujita chanted sutras and read aloud the names of the dead beside Jizo statues donated by Katsuya Toji, whose father, Kentaro Toji, was convicted of war crimes after carrying out four executions during the war.
“During the sutra reading just now, the head priest called out the name of Sergeant Charles Palmer,” Toji said during the ceremony. “To call someone’s name is to call their soul to this place.”
Chief priest Kozen Ujita chants a sutra at Aburayama Kannon Temple in Fukuoka, Japan, Sept. 18, 2026, during a remembrance ceremony for U.S. troops killed in World War II. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. Army Air Forces Sgt. Charles Eugene Palmer served as a tail gunner aboard the Tinny Anne, a B-29 Superfortress shot down during a mine-laying mission over the Kanmon Straits on May 27, 1945. (Hiroyuki Fukao)
Toji said his father was sentenced to death after the war, but the sentence was later reduced and he was released. He later placed five statues in his yard representing the four men he had executed and their children and prayed for the souls of the men and for the healthy growth of their children.
Palmer was a tail gunner aboard Tinny Anne, a B-29 Superfortress shot down during a mine-laying mission over the Kanmon Straits on May 27, 1945.
Of the 11 crew members aboard, Palmer was the only one to parachute safely from the bomber, said Patricia Schmidt, his second cousin. She and her son, Christopher, traveled to Fukuoka from Sherman Oaks, Calif., for the ceremony.
Palmer was taken into custody by the Imperial Japanese army and delivered to Kyushu University’s medical school hospital, Schmidt said.
“In 1945, the medical staff used him in vivisection experiments,” she said. “He died on the 20th of June 1945. Our family learned of the circumstances of his death shortly thereafter.”
Katsuya Toji speaks at Aburayama Kannon Temple in Fukuoka, Japan, Sept. 18, 2026, during a remembrance ceremony for U.S. troops killed in World War II. His father was convicted of war crimes after carrying out executions on service members during the war. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Patricia Schmidt and her son, Christopher, are led to the Tinny Anne B-29 crash site in Kitakyushu, Japan, Sept. 18, 2026. Her second cousin, Charles Palmer, survived the crash but died weeks later after being subjected to medical experiments while in captivity. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Howard Mumm, nephew of Charles Ebert Siddens, the Tinny Anne’s central fire-control gunner, emailed a statement about the commemoration to Stars and Stripes on Sept. 14.
“May we honor those who were lost not through more conflict, but through the quiet, daily practice of peace — in how we speak, how we listen, and how we treat one another across every border and belief,” he wrote.
The ceremony concluded with a traditional Buddhist meal prepared without animal products and a tea ceremony for the participants.
“All of us share grief and overwhelming and everlasting sadness because of the tragedies and horrors endured by both of our peoples during World War II,” Schmidt said. “Yet this shared, common grief forever binds us together.”
Afterward, Schmidt and her son traveled to the Tinny Anne’s crash site in Kitakyushu for a separate ceremony honoring the bomber’s crew. A sutra was chanted and a bell rung for each of the 11 airmen aboard.
“War has no winners,” Schmidt said there. “I pray for humanity to learn from the history of World War II and for everyone to use that knowledge to bind us all together in everlasting peace.”