WWII Japanese burial site list found

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WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Japanese efforts to find the remains of soldiers imprisoned by U.S. troops in World War II have gotten a boost by an archival find, officials said.

A list has been found at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration containing the names and burial sites of about 6,000 Japanese soldiers who died after being taken prisoner in the Pacific Theater, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Sunday.

The list reveals burial grounds were located across a wide area, with sites in Hawaii, Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Okinawa. The document was drawn up in March 1952 by a U.S. military intelligence agency, the newspaper said.

The discovery of the document is a major find in long-standing efforts to find remains and identify Japanese troops who died in the southern Pacific after little progress had been made in many years.

"Documents listing the burial grounds of POWs have never been found before," a Japanese Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry official told The Yomiuri Shimbun.