Battles of Okinawa

2/5/11

Memorial at the Okinawa Peace Park

Today I went on the Battles of Okinawa Tour which was guided by a survivor (she was 3 months old during the war and indicated that because her mother wasn't educated enough, she did not follow the directives of the Japanese to kill her children if they encountered American soldiers...so when they were found in their hiding place and saved by the American Marines, all of their lives were spared) She really had an amazing story, and appears to be making it her mission to spread her truth regardless of the risks.

In Japan they only teach what they want you to know with history...sound like somewhere else to you?! At any rate, people who speak out about what happened can be jailed and some have even been killed.

The tour started at a cave where Okinawan's hid. The Japanese then sealed the cave when they heard the American soldiers were coming and set the cave on fire killing the people inside. This is an example of one of the things that is not included in classroom history lessons.

Next stop was Sugar Loaf. There was a lot of fighting that occurred here and eventually the 29th Marines were victorious.



Next we went to the Okinawa Park Hotel for a buffet lunch...I thought I picked up an onion ring, after biting into it I quickly learned that it was a squid ring. My bad.

Next stop was the Japanese Underground Navy Headquarters. We went down approximately 50m and were able to walk through a lot of the headquarters, including into a room containing holes in the walls from where a hand grenade had blasted through parts (this room was used for suicide)

The final stop was the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park. This park is huge and has outdoor memorials for each of the prefectures in Japan. It also has a National Cemetery and various other memorials for the casualties of the war.