A large and valuable bronze temple bell, cast in 1465, and taken from the Japanese island of Okinawa by the American marines at the end of World War II, was returned to the island in April from the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, where it had been displayed as war booty. Instrumental in organising the return was Major General Robert L. Day, who had fought on Okinawa as a young corporal. Approval had to be sought from the Department of State, the Foreign Gift Presentation Section of the Defense Department, and more than eighty members of the Sixth Marine Division Association.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'US returns trophy of war to Japan'