Accident
At 10:40 a.m. on June 30, 1959, a United States Air Force North American F-100D Super Sabre, piloted by 34-year-old Captain John G. Schmitt Jr. of Chalmers, Indiana, became uncontrollable during a training or test flight from Kadena Air Base. Captain Schmitt ejected from the aircraft and landed safely, uninjured. The unmanned F-100 crashed into Miyamori Elementary School and surrounding homes in the city of Ishikawa, on the island of Okinawa, which was under United States occupation at the time. The crash killed 11 students and 6 other people, and injured 210 individuals, including 156 students at the school. At the time of the accident, approximately 1,000 children and teachers were present, with most children taking a milk break at the end of the second hour of classes.
Immediately after the crash, armed police troops rushed to the scene and began rescue operations. Most doctors on central Okinawa Island responded to treat the victims. The resulting fire was extinguished about one hour later. The accident destroyed 27 buildings, including three school buildings and one public building; two school buildings, two private houses, and eight other structures were half-destroyed.
Aftermath
The F-100 crash became a major tragedy in Okinawa due to the large number of young child victims, fueling anti-American sentiment and protests calling for the end of US occupation and the return of the islands to Japanese control. The US military initiated a compensation scheme, paying $4,500 for each deceased victim and $2,300 to $5,900 for serious injuries based on disability. Total compensation amounted to $119,066, about 10% of what the victims had requested.
US authorities determined that the defective F-100 had experienced an engine fire despite recent repairs in Taiwan, and that Captain Schmitt had attempted to aim the aircraft at an unpopulated hilly area before ejecting.
In 1965, a memorial statue for the victims was erected at the crash site in Ishikawa. In 1976, a former student of Miyamori Elementary School died at age 23 from complications related to burns sustained in the crash, bringing the total number of fatalities to 18. That victim's name was added to the monument in 2010.
On June 30, 2009, approximately 800 people, including former students and relatives of the victims, attended a 50th-anniversary memorial service at the crash site, now located in the city of Uruma. Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima spoke, stating that the people of Okinawa were deeply saddened by the loss of children with dreams and hopes for the future.
The crash and its aftermath were dramatized in the 2012 film "Himawari," directed by Yoshihiro Oikawa.