Command Master Chief Petty Officer Luis Creollo of Sasebo Naval Base lays flowers on the Soto Dam cenotaph in Sasebo, Japan, May 21, 2026. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
SASEBO, Japan — U.S. sailors and members of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force gathered Thursday to remember American prisoners of war and Japanese laborers who died building the Soto Dam during World War II.
The Imperial Japanese Navy began constructing the dam near Sasebo in February 1941 but later assigned 265 American POWs to the project after labor and material shortages developed, according to the Navy.
The dam still supplies water to the city today.
“It’s important that we have this ceremony; it is important we remember that 80 years ago, our nations were at war,” Capt. Michael Fontaine, commander of Sasebo Naval Base, told the gathering.
“We don’t forget history; we learn from history,” he said. “And today, this shows the true friendship between the United States and Japan.”
The annual memorial was scaled back because of heavy fog and rain, but representatives from the naval base, the Maritime Self-Defense Force and the local community placed flowers at a cenotaph near the dam.
U.S. sailors read aloud the names of the 53 Americans who died there, while a Japanese sailor read the names of the 14 Japanese who also perished during construction.
Sailors from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force explore Soto Dam in Sasebo, Japan, May 21, 2026. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Patricia Kerr and her husband, Gerald Carlin, visit the Soto Dam in Sasebo, Japan, May 21, 2026. Her father, Samuel Kerr, survived 18 months as a POW at the site. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Patricia Kerr and her husband, Gerald Carlin, pose in front of the Soto Dam cenotaph in Sasebo, Japan, May 21, 2026. Her father, Samuel Kerr, survived 18 months as a POW at the site. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
The names of dozens of American POWs who died building the Soto Dam are listed on the Soto Dam cenotaph in Sasebo, Japan, May 21 2026. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
A Sasebo Naval Base sailor rings a bell during the Soto Dam memorial ceremony in Sasebo, Japan, May 21, 2026. American POWs and Japanese laborers died building the dam during World War II. (Janiqua Robinson/Stars and Stripes)
Two Japanese buglers then played taps.
Among those attending was Patricia Kerr of California, whose father, Samuel Kerr, survived 18 months as a POW at the site.
She said her father, a civilian surgical nurse stationed on Wake Island, was captured after Japanese forces attacked the island on Dec. 8, 1941, following the assault on Pearl Harbor.
“My dad was taken to Japan and landed on Yokohama, then took a train all the way across the country to Sasebo and then took a truck up here,” she told Stars and Stripes at the ceremony.
She said this was the first time anyone in her family had visited the dam.
“I was only 18 when he died … he always wondered if the dam still stood, so for myself and for my family, it’s really cool to be here,” she said.
Kerr said her father suffered hearing loss and post-traumatic stress later in life from beatings and repeated exposure to explosions while imprisoned.
Still, she said, he never blamed the Japanese people as a whole.
“One of the things that he taught us is that it’s all about individuals … one-to-one, we’re all human beings,” she said.
