Five hundred pounds of steel-shrouded death power whistled through the air above Kochi Village, Okinawa, Japan. It s mission was simple: to destroy all forms of life on that jungle-covered ridge. Most of the bombs dropped here 60 years ago, exploded on impact, changing forever the geographical and political landscape through the most devastating firefight ever recorded in any theatre of WWII.

But this one failed to detonate, burrowing 10 feet below the jungle floor on real estate that would later become ADVENTIST MEDICAL CENTER (AMC). Recently, a bomb squad discovered it just a few feet away from the foundation of the newly built hospice and dental clinic attached to the west side of our 20-year old facility.

April 1, 2005. Denise and I visited AMC, a 48 bed hospital and 12 operatory dental clinic, as part of my duties as health ministries director of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. When Dr. Norris Matsumoto, newly-appointed president, apologized that he would not be hearing me preach on April 2 because the bomb was scheduled to be moved, I knew this was no "April Fool's" joke.

Sabbath, April 2, 8:45 a.m. In 15 minutes the military would close the road. Patients were being moved from the hospital's west to the east side, some were transported to a social welfare center, three miles away. Extra ambulances and emergency teams were in place. As we left the hospital guest room for the Shuri church where I would speak in a few minutes, Denise brought along her unfinished afghan she is crocheting for Jondelle, and I brought my computer, "just in case."

Dr. John McGhee
Sabbath School/Health Ministries Director of the Northern Asia-Pacific Division

An Unexploded Bomb Found Next to the Adventist Medical Center in Okinawa (March 16, 2005)

An unexploded bomb was found in a field near the Adventist Medical Center in Okinawa March 2, 2005. It was told the 250 kg bomb made by the U.S.A had been dropped from a combat plane during the World War II on Okinawa.

The city district mayor, Arakaki Masahiro said “There is a coming international meeting with an unexploded bomb. It seems that the postwar days have not finished.”

A public newspaper reads “Before the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) annual meeting which will be held from April 10-12, 2005, it should be removed urgently. Also because the place where the bomb was found is close to the hospice ward in the Adventist Medical Center, the serious diseased patients should be evacuated first before the bomb disposal.”

Mr. Hirofumi Nakata, AMC Planning and Marketing director said “The bomb is several meters from the Adventist Medical Center. There was no explosion to injure people here. The government teams have searched for the possible blind shells annually.”

Okinawa is well-known as an old Japanese war base where there had been many bombs dropped by air-gunships during the World War II. The government will evacuate and put into action the disposal from April 2-3.

NSD Communication Department