The Life of an Orphan after the End of the War
The Life of an Orphan after the End of the War
Name: Kinjo Owan (20 大湾近常)
Date of birth: August 24, 1939
Place of birth: Yomitan village
Age at the time: 6 years old
■ Helped by the American forces, I was transferred to a hospital in Kin where my mother was staying
Upon finding out that my mother was in a hospital in Kin, I was taken to that hospital to join my mother, older brother Yoshio, and younger sister Toshiko, who were there. However, my brother Yoshio passed away there in two to three days due to debilitation.
After that, my younger sister, mother, and I were transferred from the hospital in Kin to a refugee camp in Ginoza. Since then, we stayed in a tent at a field hospital in Ginoza, but my mother also died from illness.
■ Death of my younger sister
After my mother passed away, my aunt looked after my younger sister and me at the refugee camp. However, the aunt also had a large family, and the refugee camp was full of people who were brought there every day, so perhaps she was hardly able to take care of us. For me, the time I spent in Ginoza was the most painful memory that I have.
The reason is that my 4-year-old sister searched for our mother, wandering around the tent where she had passed away. During the rainy season, as I walked around with my younger sister, we got drenched, and my sister died in an empty tent due to what I think was acute pneumonia.
Around that time, I was six years old, so I was going out here and there, walking around on my own.
While I was wandering around, I was picked up at a koban (police box) in Kochiya. From there, I was sent to an orphanage, as it was determined that “I had no relatives.”
■ Life in the orphanage
At the orphanage, the children were all orphans. I think the Americans were very careful about orphanages.
At the orphanage, there really were lot of things to eat, and the children gathered and played games or sang songs. Also, there were people like nurses who took care of the children, and I think life was stable there.
Although my memory is fragmentary, I remember making friends there with whom I played various games together, forgetting that there had been a war or something.
After that, an uncle on my mother’s side who had always treated me kindly showed concern and came to get me at the orphanage, calling me “Kamadegwa, Kamadegwa” (my childhood name was Kamadegwa).
■ Death of my older brother Sadao
My older brother Sadao, my aunt, and her grandchild were in Ishikawa. I joined them, and around the time that less a month had passed, my brother Sadao caught malaria and passed away. As a result, all my siblings died, and I was left all alone.
After that, I stayed in Ishikawa with my aunt and her granddaughter. In April, I enrolled in Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa as a first grader.
■ Enrollment in elementary school
I recall that classes were held under a tree at a shrine in Miyamori. I don’t remember writing any characters, but the classes were not like real classes. I think we all gathered and sang songs or listened to various stories and then went home.
■ Life in Yomitan
After that, we were allowed to return to the village in Yomitan. We moved to a community in Sobe where Torii Station is located. There, we rented a thatched-roof building and lived together with another family.
Around that time, a school was finally built in Furugen. It consisted of Furugen Elementary School and Furugen Junior High School.
In those days, we were able to acquire various goods from the neighboring American base. All kinds of people actually gathered around Yomitan in the postwar mess, and there was bustle and various forms of movement.
We were forced to eat all kinds of things. We soaked snails in water overnight to make them clean, and ate them by boiling them. Those were the days when we really had a hard time finding food. It was like that during the war and also after the end of the war. If I think about that now, I feel that it really was a serious hardship to lead a life after the end of the war.
Name: Kinjo Owan (20 大湾近常)
Date of birth: August 24, 1939
Place of birth: Yomitan village
Age at the time: 6 years old
■ Helped by the American forces, I was transferred to a hospital in Kin where my mother was staying
Upon finding out that my mother was in a hospital in Kin, I was taken to that hospital to join my mother, older brother Yoshio, and younger sister Toshiko, who were there. However, my brother Yoshio passed away there in two to three days due to debilitation.
After that, my younger sister, mother, and I were transferred from the hospital in Kin to a refugee camp in Ginoza. Since then, we stayed in a tent at a field hospital in Ginoza, but my mother also died from illness.
■ Death of my younger sister
After my mother passed away, my aunt looked after my younger sister and me at the refugee camp. However, the aunt also had a large family, and the refugee camp was full of people who were brought there every day, so perhaps she was hardly able to take care of us. For me, the time I spent in Ginoza was the most painful memory that I have.
The reason is that my 4-year-old sister searched for our mother, wandering around the tent where she had passed away. During the rainy season, as I walked around with my younger sister, we got drenched, and my sister died in an empty tent due to what I think was acute pneumonia.
Around that time, I was six years old, so I was going out here and there, walking around on my own.
While I was wandering around, I was picked up at a koban (police box) in Kochiya. From there, I was sent to an orphanage, as it was determined that “I had no relatives.”
■ Life in the orphanage
At the orphanage, the children were all orphans. I think the Americans were very careful about orphanages.
At the orphanage, there really were lot of things to eat, and the children gathered and played games or sang songs. Also, there were people like nurses who took care of the children, and I think life was stable there.
Although my memory is fragmentary, I remember making friends there with whom I played various games together, forgetting that there had been a war or something.
After that, an uncle on my mother’s side who had always treated me kindly showed concern and came to get me at the orphanage, calling me “Kamadegwa, Kamadegwa” (my childhood name was Kamadegwa).
■ Death of my older brother Sadao
My older brother Sadao, my aunt, and her grandchild were in Ishikawa. I joined them, and around the time that less a month had passed, my brother Sadao caught malaria and passed away. As a result, all my siblings died, and I was left all alone.
After that, I stayed in Ishikawa with my aunt and her granddaughter. In April, I enrolled in Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa as a first grader.
■ Enrollment in elementary school
I recall that classes were held under a tree at a shrine in Miyamori. I don’t remember writing any characters, but the classes were not like real classes. I think we all gathered and sang songs or listened to various stories and then went home.
■ Life in Yomitan
After that, we were allowed to return to the village in Yomitan. We moved to a community in Sobe where Torii Station is located. There, we rented a thatched-roof building and lived together with another family.
Around that time, a school was finally built in Furugen. It consisted of Furugen Elementary School and Furugen Junior High School.
In those days, we were able to acquire various goods from the neighboring American base. All kinds of people actually gathered around Yomitan in the postwar mess, and there was bustle and various forms of movement.
We were forced to eat all kinds of things. We soaked snails in water overnight to make them clean, and ate them by boiling them. Those were the days when we really had a hard time finding food. It was like that during the war and also after the end of the war. If I think about that now, I feel that it really was a serious hardship to lead a life after the end of the war.
