MABALACAT CITY, PAMPANGA - A group of Japanese and Filipinos attended a ceremony Friday this city north of Manila marking the 75th anniversary of the first suicide air attack deployed by Japanese forces against US warships during World War II.

Organized mainly by Mabalacat City in partnership with the Tokyo-based Tokkotai Memorial Foundation, the event included prayer offerings, a wreath laying ceremony, and the Buddhist "goma" fire offering ritual.

About 200 people took part in the event, held at the Goddess of Peace Shrine inside Clark Freeport Zone.

"Today's celebration is not about reliving the past, but to make our togetherness a statement of peace and friendship with the Japanese and the rest of the world," Gerald Aquino, the city's vice mayor, said in his welcoming remarks.

The first sortie of the Imperial Japanese Navy's special attack unit took off from Mabalacat West Airfield on Oct. 21, 1944, but failed to locate targets. Four days later, a mission from Mabalacat East Airfield, led by Lt. Yukio Seki, hit US targets in Leyte Gulf in the central Philippines.

Japan adopted the suicide air attacks strategy after the U.S.-led Allied Forces returned to reclaim the Philippines. World War II ended with Japan conceding defeat in August 1945.

Dario Dizon, 53, a resident of the neighboring city of Angeles whose father is credited with promoting the nobility of the "kamikaze" pilots, took part in the ceremony wearing an authentic ceremonial uniform worn by the pilots. The attire was given to his father in the 1970s by a wartime Japanese pilot.

"I want to pass down the historical fact that the special attack unit was first dispatched from here," he said with an air of reverence.

Toshiya Okabe, director of the Tokkotai Memorial Foundation, which honors fallen members of the unit, stressed the importance paying respects to those who lost their lives for the sake of their country.

Okabe said his foundation holds "the same kind of ceremony for deceased kamikaze pilots" in more than 50 different places in Japan every year. Holding it on Philippine soil makes him deeply appreciative of the country and its people, he said.