“Emotional Numbness toward Dead Bodies” – Everybody Becomes Crazy When War Breaks Out –
“Emotional Numbness toward Dead Bodies” – Everybody Becomes Crazy When War Breaks Out –
Zenichi Yoshimine (40吉嶺全一)
Date of birth: November 10, 1932
At the time: 12-year-old public school student
Interviewers: Child, grandchild
○ Doubts about the strength of the Suicide Attack Units
There was a gate used by the Japanese forces at the south exit of Shuri Castle. Soldiers came out from there and said: “The Suicide Attack Units are here.” Then, the school teachers said: “American warships will be completely destroyed when the Suicide Attack Units arrive.” So, I thought: “This is good.” After that, all of us including my grandfather and grandmother were looking toward Naha, which looked dark, from Shuri.
Seeing the warships floating on the ocean off Naha, we watched the war situation with expectation that the warships “would all be destroyed.” When Japanese fighter planes came flying by, hundreds of American warships started firing all at once, making blasting noises. It was a tremendous attack, and the waters off Naha become a sea of fire. Among the Japanese planes, there were some heading straight at the enemy warships and blowing up.
We were happy, shouting, “Hooray, hooray!” After a while, however, we no longer heard any sounds. It seemed that they (Japanese planes) were all shot down. Then, the warships began firing toward Shuri where we were, so we desperately fled from there.
When we went to see how Naha looked the following morning, the American warships, rather than being completely wiped out, were all still there. Since the teachers were saying that “American warships will be completely destroyed when the Suicide Attack Units arrive,” we became doubtful about the strength of the Suicide Attack Units because the American warships had hardly received any damage.
○ Artillery shells rained down on Mabuni where refuges gathered
Suddenly, artillery shells were flying toward the hills of Mabuni in the middle of the night, making spattering noises. Then, I heard dying screams of children and women crying, “I’ve been hit,” or “Help me,” or “It’s painful, it’s painful.” A lot of people had been cornered into that small Kyan peninsula. We were also running around trying to escape and hide in air raid shelters. There were some air raid shelters, but they were all full of people hiding in them, and there were no shelters to accommodate us family of three.
○ Water-drawing places became targets of enemy fire and there were piles of dead bodies
You need water to live. Everyone worked hard to draw water. They all desperately drew water while keeping an eye out on warships. When I tried to draw water, adults shoved me out, and I was unable to draw water. Just then, when I turned around and looked toward the ocean, I sensed danger and ran toward the rocks before anyone. Then, there were shooting sounds, and the water-drawing place came under attack.
On the following day, when I went to draw water during the time when it was quiet, there were dead bodies all around the place. There was a dead body with its head stuck in the spring. There was blood all over the place as well as piles of dead bodies.
○ Nearly hit directly by an artillery shell
The area around the air raid shelter where we hid was blown away by artillery shells, and there was not even one tree left standing. However, there was a large rock in front of this air raid shelter, so it was safe even if we came under bombardment that was accompanied by booming sounds.
After a while, we saw warships heading this way, so we rushed into the air raid shelter, but just at that moment, we heard this low roaring sound and felt a sensation of being compressed. After that, it was completely dark and silent. After we fled into the air raid shelter, we kept coming under attack day and night, so when it was dark and I could not hear anything, I thought perhaps I was finally dead. Since I had seen so many dead bodies so far, I had been thinking that we would eventually get killed, so I thought I was dead.
However, as I kept sitting there, it became brighter gradually, so I knew that I was alive.
After that, my mother who was in the same air raid shelter woke up and was looking around restlessly. As I took a close look, I noticed that her face was black with smoke from the artillery shells. When I touched her face, I noticed rock fragments stuck in her face. The explosive pressure due to the bombardment had blown away pieces of the large rock (Ryukyu limestone) that was in front of the shelter. Removing those fragments was an all-day affair. However, our family managed to survive because this big rock was there. Five or six of our neighbors who had fled to the surrounding area were all killed.
○ Searching for food while stepping over dead bodies
After that, it was very troublesome to go outside. Around the middle of June, my mother, who usually went together with me to dig sweet potatoes, said: “I don’t want to go digging sweet potatoes anymore.” The reason was that there were so many dead bodies all over the place, and moreover, the bodies were torn apart by artillery shells that kept flying here one after another. When we stepped on something that we did not know whether they were dead bodies, we slipped and fell down many times because they were slimy. Therefore, my mother said: “Even though they may be dead bodies, they are still human beings, so I don’t want to step on them anymore. That is why I don’t want to go anymore.”
○ Increasing emotional numbness toward dead bodies
Around that time, I was so hungry that I saw nothing except food such as sweet potatoes, sugarcane, and water. If there was a dead body nearby, I merely thought: “Oh, this person is dead.”
At one time, my mother said: “There’s a man next door who is eating a puffed cereal.” Since I was only interested in food at the time, I stuck my face out of the air raid shelter, wondering, “Could there be puffed cereal nowadays?” There were maggots bubbling out from the man’s mouth. My mother had described that as puffed cereal, a white candy. If you were to see something like that now, you would certainly get stunned and faint. However, at that time my optic nerves and mind were totally paralyzed. Once war breaks out, everything turns crazy.
Zenichi Yoshimine (40吉嶺全一)
Date of birth: November 10, 1932
At the time: 12-year-old public school student
Interviewers: Child, grandchild
○ Doubts about the strength of the Suicide Attack Units
There was a gate used by the Japanese forces at the south exit of Shuri Castle. Soldiers came out from there and said: “The Suicide Attack Units are here.” Then, the school teachers said: “American warships will be completely destroyed when the Suicide Attack Units arrive.” So, I thought: “This is good.” After that, all of us including my grandfather and grandmother were looking toward Naha, which looked dark, from Shuri.
Seeing the warships floating on the ocean off Naha, we watched the war situation with expectation that the warships “would all be destroyed.” When Japanese fighter planes came flying by, hundreds of American warships started firing all at once, making blasting noises. It was a tremendous attack, and the waters off Naha become a sea of fire. Among the Japanese planes, there were some heading straight at the enemy warships and blowing up.
We were happy, shouting, “Hooray, hooray!” After a while, however, we no longer heard any sounds. It seemed that they (Japanese planes) were all shot down. Then, the warships began firing toward Shuri where we were, so we desperately fled from there.
When we went to see how Naha looked the following morning, the American warships, rather than being completely wiped out, were all still there. Since the teachers were saying that “American warships will be completely destroyed when the Suicide Attack Units arrive,” we became doubtful about the strength of the Suicide Attack Units because the American warships had hardly received any damage.
○ Artillery shells rained down on Mabuni where refuges gathered
Suddenly, artillery shells were flying toward the hills of Mabuni in the middle of the night, making spattering noises. Then, I heard dying screams of children and women crying, “I’ve been hit,” or “Help me,” or “It’s painful, it’s painful.” A lot of people had been cornered into that small Kyan peninsula. We were also running around trying to escape and hide in air raid shelters. There were some air raid shelters, but they were all full of people hiding in them, and there were no shelters to accommodate us family of three.
○ Water-drawing places became targets of enemy fire and there were piles of dead bodies
You need water to live. Everyone worked hard to draw water. They all desperately drew water while keeping an eye out on warships. When I tried to draw water, adults shoved me out, and I was unable to draw water. Just then, when I turned around and looked toward the ocean, I sensed danger and ran toward the rocks before anyone. Then, there were shooting sounds, and the water-drawing place came under attack.
On the following day, when I went to draw water during the time when it was quiet, there were dead bodies all around the place. There was a dead body with its head stuck in the spring. There was blood all over the place as well as piles of dead bodies.
○ Nearly hit directly by an artillery shell
The area around the air raid shelter where we hid was blown away by artillery shells, and there was not even one tree left standing. However, there was a large rock in front of this air raid shelter, so it was safe even if we came under bombardment that was accompanied by booming sounds.
After a while, we saw warships heading this way, so we rushed into the air raid shelter, but just at that moment, we heard this low roaring sound and felt a sensation of being compressed. After that, it was completely dark and silent. After we fled into the air raid shelter, we kept coming under attack day and night, so when it was dark and I could not hear anything, I thought perhaps I was finally dead. Since I had seen so many dead bodies so far, I had been thinking that we would eventually get killed, so I thought I was dead.
However, as I kept sitting there, it became brighter gradually, so I knew that I was alive.
After that, my mother who was in the same air raid shelter woke up and was looking around restlessly. As I took a close look, I noticed that her face was black with smoke from the artillery shells. When I touched her face, I noticed rock fragments stuck in her face. The explosive pressure due to the bombardment had blown away pieces of the large rock (Ryukyu limestone) that was in front of the shelter. Removing those fragments was an all-day affair. However, our family managed to survive because this big rock was there. Five or six of our neighbors who had fled to the surrounding area were all killed.
○ Searching for food while stepping over dead bodies
After that, it was very troublesome to go outside. Around the middle of June, my mother, who usually went together with me to dig sweet potatoes, said: “I don’t want to go digging sweet potatoes anymore.” The reason was that there were so many dead bodies all over the place, and moreover, the bodies were torn apart by artillery shells that kept flying here one after another. When we stepped on something that we did not know whether they were dead bodies, we slipped and fell down many times because they were slimy. Therefore, my mother said: “Even though they may be dead bodies, they are still human beings, so I don’t want to step on them anymore. That is why I don’t want to go anymore.”
○ Increasing emotional numbness toward dead bodies
Around that time, I was so hungry that I saw nothing except food such as sweet potatoes, sugarcane, and water. If there was a dead body nearby, I merely thought: “Oh, this person is dead.”
At one time, my mother said: “There’s a man next door who is eating a puffed cereal.” Since I was only interested in food at the time, I stuck my face out of the air raid shelter, wondering, “Could there be puffed cereal nowadays?” There were maggots bubbling out from the man’s mouth. My mother had described that as puffed cereal, a white candy. If you were to see something like that now, you would certainly get stunned and faint. However, at that time my optic nerves and mind were totally paralyzed. Once war breaks out, everything turns crazy.
